West Twyford

Traditionally defined as 281 acres (1.14 km²), it is today by common consensus smaller, bounded by the Hanger Lane gyratory to the west, the A406 North Circular and the River Brent to the north, Park Royal to the south and Harlesden to the east.[3][4]

The long circular road Lakeside Drive in the south is historically part, a contemporaneous section of Park Royal reinforced by being in that part in the London Borough of Brent. The Borough of Ealing has west London postcodes save for the NW postcode of West Twyford shared with its neighbours including North Acton and Park Royal.

Twyford Abbey west elevation

The area now known as West Twyford began as a manor house[5] in the fourteenth century. A small community built up to the west around St Mary's Church which had originally been a chapel belonging to the manor house. In 1902 the Alexian Order took over the manor house as a nursing home; it has since been known as Twyford Abbey. The brothers ran short of funds in 1988 and joined another part of their order in Manchester.[6]

The abbey, which is a Grade II listed building, now lies derelict.[7] Various applications for planning permission have been made but not granted. The best view of this beautiful building is from next to St Mary's Church in the wintertime.

The name Twyford relates to Twyford Brook. The brook now runs almost entirely underground. It formerly fed the Guinness brewery in Park Royal. The word itself 'Twyford' is said to mean 'Two Fords'.

The area became a civil parish under the Extra-Parochial Places Act 1857 and formed part of Greenford Urban District from 1894. In 1901 it occupied an area of 281 acres (1.14 km²) and had a population of 97.[2] When the urban district was abolished in 1926 the parish was transferred to the Municipal Borough of Ealing. Then in 1934 it was transferred to the Municipal Borough of Willesden.[2] The area now forms part of Greater London.

Much of the housing on Twyford Abbey Road was originally built by Guinness in order to house employees working in at the brewery in Park Royal. Abbeyfields Close is one such residential development, built in 1984 around a series of communal gardens, on land formerly owned by Guinness, although its name hints that it might have originally been agricultural land forming part of Twford Abbey estate.

The parish of St Mary's[8] was combined with the parish of the Church of the Ascension in neighbouring Hanger Hill. In the 1950s the chapel of St Mary's was extended with a new large church building, which later fell into disrepair and disuse, due to safety issues. In 2010 the new church was totally renovated to become a community hall and the original chapel was re-dedicated to St Mary to become the church again. The church itself is quite tiny, having originally been the chapel of Twyford Abbey, located just behind. St Mary's churchyard contains one of the oldest headstones in Middlesex.

Bus route 226 runs through Twyford Abbey Road towards Ealing Central and Golders Green (via Harlesden). Routes 83, 95 and 112 also stop nearby on the Hanger Lane Gyratory and the A406 North Circular Road, respectively. These buses run towards Ealing Hospital (via Ealing Broadway), Shepherd's Bush, Southall and Brent Cross, as well as Golders Green (via Wembley).

West Twyford is close to two London Underground stations:

• Hanger Lane (Central line)
• Park Royal (Piccadilly line)

West Twyford is well served for groceries, banking, post office and health services at the nearby 'Park Royal Neighbourhood Centre' where there is also a popular Lebanese Restaurant, a Spice Shack restaurant and Subway cafe. A new building is going up at the moment on Acton Lane next to the Central Middlesex Hospital which will have retail and restaurant space on the ground floor.

For Vue Cinema, Megabowl ten pin bowling, Pure Gym and a choice of about ten popular chain restaurants there is 'Park Royale', a leisure park immediately to the south of the A40 and West Twyford and accessed by the underpass by Park Royal tube station. The Boden flagship store is located next to Park Royal Tube station.

There is a primary school in West Twyford that caters for children from 3 to 11 years old. It has around 300 pupils on the school roll.

West Twyford Park was formerly called Bodiam Fields, after the area of the same name in Sussex, where hops were grown for the Guinness brewery. There are plans for improvements to West Twyford Park as well as new lakeside walks and cycle paths nearby. The Grand Union Canal runs through West Twyford and provides level pathways alongside for walking a running. It is a short walk along the canalside to the Grand Junction Pub, which has much outdoor seating alongside the canal. The pathway continues to Little Venice and Paddington.

Crystals on Twyford Abbey Road is a bar and function room, but also holds Zumba classes in its function room.

There are a number of active community projects in West Twyford, including the 'West Twyford Community and Youth' project and 'West Twyford Children’s Centre'. The latter provides a range of services and activities, including mother and toddler groups, health services, daycare, before and after school clubs, Women into Work and English classes.

St Mary’s Church Community Hall, on Brentmead Gardens provides a range of activities for local people.

West Twyford will soon benefit from a new public plaza with shops, cafes, a restaurant and health and fitness club. There will also be new public play, games and fitness areas in West Twyford Park.[9] There will be an improved pedestrian/cycle route from West Twyford to Park Royal Underground station, and the station itself is also due to be improved. The public park, walkways two children's playgrounds plus a new games court are now completed, however the plaza seems to be on hold for the time being.

Flats in the Royal Waterside development (Bodiam Court and Abbey Court) are due to be finished from summer 2015.

In the Mayor's plans for the Park Royal Opportunity Area, it says that one of their objectives is to obtain public access to the grounds of Twyford Abbey heritage site.[10]

• West Twyford Primary School