Another author that mentions Brentford in his works is William Makepeace Thackeray, a 19th century English author, who was famous as a satirist.
Thackeray’s poem The King Of Brentford pokes fun at King George IV.
When exploring Brentford’s rich and exciting history during the 16th and 17th centuries, I have come across a fascinating form of communication of that time, the broadside ballad, and wondered if there were any connected to Brentford.
I found tales of thirteen poor cuckolds, a philanderer, a bonny lass and a punk from Brentford. .....
Who would have thought, when looking over to the serene beauty of Brentford Ait, that instead of nesting cormorants, it once hosted an infamous tavern, The Three Swans, which was used as a secret rendezvous by the Prince of Wales and his mistress.
Local residents in Kew complained about the noisy Inn and described it as a great nuisance to the parish, a house of entertainment, where riotous and indecent scenes were exhibited.
Relax! It only happens in a novel,
The Rising of the Moon (1945), by Gladys Mitchell, but I can recommend it as an interesting read, especially for Brentfordians trying to identify the locations she describes in Brentford.
The Three Pigeons was once a bustling tavern that used to grace the south-west corner of the Brentford Market Place. In its heyday in the 17th and 18th century, when Brentford was a busy market and resort town, it was a coaching inn, which could stable up to one hundred horses. It sadly closed in 1916.
Brentford author, George Manville Fenn was a writer of fiction for over fifty years. He wrote over 170 novels. He lived at Syon Lodge, London Road, just before Busch Corner.
It is 350 years ago since Samuel Pepys started his famous diary on 11 July 1660. See the BBC News article “Who was the man behind the diaries, Samuel Pepys?” which has a pointer to the diary online.
John Milton’s Sonnet VIII, ‘When the Assault Was Intended to the City’, was inspired by the Royalists’ attack of the Roundheads at Brentford in 1642, when Milton was then a school teacher in Aldersgate Street, in London.
What started as a search for all references to Brentford in Charles Dickens’s novels, led me to a more curious connection to Brentford.
Vincent van Gogh lived in Isleworth and sometimes walked through Syon Park to Turnham Green.
I wonder what he thought of Brentford?
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