East Acton Middlesex Family History Guide

East Acton is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Middlesex, created in 1880 from Acton St Mary ancient parish. East Acton ecclesiastical boundary was altered in 1891 to help create Hammersmith St Saviour Ecclesiastical Parish, in 1915 to create Acton Vale Ecclesiastical Parish, and in 1931 to help create North Acton Ecclesiastical Parish.

Parish church: St. Dunstan

Parish registers begin:

• Parish registers: 1879
• Bishop’s Transcripts: 

Nonconformists include: 

Parish History

The hamlet of East Acton originally consisted of farmhouses north and south of East Acton green. By 1800 the south side of the green was lined by houses, from a group of cottages at the eastern end as far as the later East Acton House and from the other side of Crown Lane as far as a house later called the Beeches. The north side had three detached houses and a row of cottages from the junction with Friars Place Lane to a point opposite Crown Lane. At the west end stood the Elms, in its own grounds, and Manor House. Several of the former farmhouses were improved or rebuilt.

The Grange, at the east end on the southern side of the green, was probably early 18th-century, having replaced a timber-framed building, and was afterwards extended. East Acton House was also 18th-century, with later alterations. The Goldsmiths’ Company of London built its almshouses facing towards Uxbridge Road in 1812 and other improvements around the green were reported in 1818, the ditch in front of the houses having been bricked over and railed enclosures made in front of the houses.

In 1816 James Heath had been leased two cottages by the Goldsmiths’ Company, on condition that he replaced them with a new house, as he had done by 1818, probably with the Beeches. In 1829 the Goldsmiths’ Arms was built at the corner of Friars Place Lane and East Acton Lane.

In 1842 the village consisted mainly of detached buildings. The Elms, the Horse and Groom, and a forge stood at the west end of the green. On the north side were the Goldsmith’s Arms, with some cottages next to it, then Hindley House, the White House, Glendun House, the Stud Farm, and a small house at the east end. On the south side from east to west stood the Bull’s Head, some cottages and outbuildings, the Grange, East Acton House, the Chestnuts, the Lodge, Shakespeare House, Ivy Lodge, and the Beeches. East Acton Lane contained Manor House, Manor Farm, and the almshouses.

Few further additions were made until after the First World War, apart from the building of a National school in 1870. The pond on the green near East Acton House had been filled by 1894. Hindley House was demolished in 1902 and later replaced by a parish hall. The dilapidated Manor House was pulled down in 1911 and its site used for playing fields. Land around the village was rapidly built up in the late 1920s, when changes were made to the houses along the green.

The White House was bought by the Goldsmiths’ Company in 1935 and had made way for a block of flats called East Acton Court by 1937. Glendun House was used by Acton golf club until 1919 and demolished in the 1920s, Glendun Road being laid across the site, and the Stud Farm was probably pulled down at the same time.

The Chestnuts, the Lodge, and Shakespeare House had all been replaced by semi-detached houses by 1938, the ground behind being taken for allotments, and a Baptist church was built in the grounds of Ivy Lodge. East Acton House became a private school but was damaged during the Second World War and demolished before 1955 to make way for Bromyard secondary school.

In 1956 the site of Manor Farm was built over with flats around a garden and in 1977 a row of cottages next to the site of Hindley House was replaced by town houses. In 1980 only the Beeches and Ivy Lodge remained of the older houses, while the green had been severely reduced by road widening.

Source: Diane K Bolton, Patricia E C Croot and M A Hicks, ‘Acton: Growth’, in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7, Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden, ed. T F T Baker and C R Elrington (London, 1982), pp. 7-14. British History Online [accessed 25 August 2023].

Parish Records

See Acton Middlesex Family History Guide

East Acton Historical Directories

Kelly’s Directory of Middlesex 1890

EAST ACTON, 1 mile north-east, is a hamlet of Acton and was formed into an ecclesiastical parish in 1879. Acton Wells House is 2 miles north-east, near the North London railway and Wormwood Scrubbs : here are three mineral springs, which were in great repute about the middle of the last century.

The church of St. Dunstan, built in the year 1879 by the Goldsmiths ‘ Company, is a modern edifice of red brick with stone dressings in the Gothic style, consisting of 
chancel, nave of five bays, aisles, south porch and one bell : there are 750 sittings, half of which are free. The register dates from the year 1879. The living is a vicarage, net 
yearly value £500, with residence, in the gift of the Goldsmiths’ Company, and held since 1879 by the Rev. Thomas Miller Hayter M.A. of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

For full listing of Private & Commercial Residents See Acton Middlesex Family History Guide

Schools

Board School (mixed) , East Acton, erected in 1870, for 170 children.

Bromyard secondary school