Editing Feltham (section)

==History==
Feltham formed an ancient parish in the [[Spelthorne (hundred)|Spelthorne]] hundred of [[Middlesex]].<ref name=parish>Vision of Britain – Feltham parish [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10165039 history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071222222627/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10165039 |date=22 December 2007 }} ([http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/bound_map_page.jsp?first=true&u_id=10165039&c_id=10001043 historic map] )</ref> The [[Domesday Book]] records 21 households and an annual value of six pounds sterling; it was held as lord and tenant-in-chief by [[Robert, Count of Mortain]]. A large area of ten cultivated ploughlands is recorded.<ref>[http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TQ1073/feltham/ Domesday map]</ref> Following Mortain's son's forfeit of lands (William's rebellion triggering the [[attainder]]), the land was granted to the [[Rivers baronets|Redvers/de Ripariis/Rivers]] family. The heir in that family, [[Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent|Hubert de Burgh ('Chief Justiciar and Earl of Kent')]] swapped Feltham and [[Kempton Park, Surrey|Kempton]] with [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] for his manors of [[Aylsham]] in Norfolk and [[Westhall]] in Suffolk.<ref name=Page/> In 1440 [[Henry VI of England|Henry VI]] granted numerous privileges to his joint royal custodian of the two manors, including a daily income of up to 12 [[shilling]]s and that "corn, hay, horse and carriages and other goods and chattels should not be seized for the king's use".<ref name=Page/>

While under total royal control following [[Henry VIII]]'s full [[annexation]] of the manor into the [[honour (feudal barony)|Honour of Hampton Court]], a lease of all of its [[manor court]] rights and "franchises, privileges, emoluments, and hereditaments" was granted under his daughter [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]] to the Killigrew family of Kempton Park, for 80 years.<ref name=Page/>

However the large manor itself passed 40 years later in 1631 by grant to [[Francis Cottington, 1st Baron Cottington|Francis (Lord) Cottington]], established at his new [[Hanworth Park]], who had become Lord Treasurer, ambassador and leader of the pro-Spanish, pro-Roman Catholic faction in the court of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]].<ref name=Page/> His nephew sold it, after a major fire and a very temporary loss caused by John Bradshaw, who arranged the King's execution, under the [[Commonwealth of England]], to Sir Thomas Chambers. His son inherited Feltham manor, whose daughter by an empowering marriage to [[Baron Vere|Admiral Vere (created Lord Vere)]] of Hanworth in the same historic county of [[Middlesex]] (created for him 1750) led to its next owner having a very high title and degree of wealth: her son, [[Aubrey Beauclerk, 5th Duke of St Albans]] inherited the manor and a dukedom with considerable land from a cousin. The Duke was a British landowner and a collector of antiquities and works of art, seated occasionally at Hanworth, who funded an excavation in Italy which produced many sculpture [[Cultural artifact|artifact]]s. Parting with much of the Duke's surfeit of large country houses, minor plot sales dividing the two ancient manors took place in the 19th century. Finally in the early 20th century, until death, the land now considered Feltham was either already subdivided by developers and farmers or owned by senior judge Ernest Pollock turned politician, (1st) [[Viscount Hanworth]]. He saw the very large Hanworth manor, which covered most of Hanworth parish divided up due to taxation; it became well-placed to cater to the demand for new homes with new intra-Borough transport links.

In this period in 1784 [[William Roy|General William Roy]] set out the baseline of what would become the [[Ordnance Survey]] across Hounslow Heath, passing through Feltham.<ref>Harley (1969)</ref> General Roy is commemorated by a local pub. The [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|MOD]] Defence Geographic Centre maintains a base in Feltham, announced for disposal in the 2015–2020 Parliament.<ref>{{cite web | title = Defence Minister Mark Lancaster announces release of MOD sites for development | date = 18 January 2016 | publisher = [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] | url = https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defence-minister-mark-lancaster-announces-release-of-mod-sites-for-development }}</ref>

In 1831, Feltham occupied an area of {{convert|2620|acre|km2|0}}, stretching into [[Hounslow Heath]] and had a population of 924.<ref name=pop>Vision of Britain – Feltham parish [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_table_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_AREA_A&u_id=10165039&c_id=10001043&add=Y area] and [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_table_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TPop&u_id=10165039&c_id=10001043&add=N population]</ref> The [[Waterloo to Reading Line]] established a station here from its construction in 1848. From 1894 to 1904 the Felham parish was included in the [[Staines Rural District]].<ref name=parish/> In 1901 the parish had a population of 4,534<ref name=pop/> and accordingly in 1904 it was split from the rural district to form the [[Feltham Urban District]].<ref name=ud>Vision of Britain – [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10086991 Feltham UD] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930235126/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10086991 |date=30 September 2007 }}</ref> In 1932 the parishes of Hanworth and East Bedfont were also transferred from the Staines district to Feltham Urban District.
[[Image:FREDDIE MERCURY - 22 Gladstone Avenue Feltham London TW14 9LL.jpg|thumb|upright|Former home of [[Freddie Mercury]]. A [[blue plaque]] commemorates his time here.]]

From the 1860s until late 1920s Feltham was also home to the "Cabbage King", A.W. Smith.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Lucas |first=Alfred E. |title=The great A.W. Smith |date=2000 |publisher=Gables Publishing in association with Feltham Notes History Group |others=Calder, R. J., Feltham Notes History Group. |isbn=0953816508 |location=Ashford |oclc=59576929}}</ref> Smith was considered one of the most successful market gardeners of the time, and his "Glass City" of greenhouses along Feltham's High street was unmatched.<ref name=":0" /> Smith also lived in the Feltham House (now in the middle of MOD site in the town) for a time. His greenhouses have since disappeared, but many of the fields still remain.

Feltham Urban District was disbanded in 1965 along with the [[Middlesex County Council]] following the [[London Government Act 1963]], which transferred administrative control over parts of Middlesex to the new county of [[Greater London]].

Although opened in 1910, major expansion took place in a similar period, at the extreme south-west of the [[post town]], at [[Feltham Young Offenders' Institution]] or HM Prison Feltham, which is a major such institution providing a range of employments and rehabilitation schemes for young people.<ref name=offend>politics.co.uk – [http://www.politics.co.uk/issuebrief/public-services/prisons/young-offenders-institutions/young-offender-institutions-$366692.htm politics.co.uk] – What is a Young Offender Institution? {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071222152213/http://www.politics.co.uk/issuebrief/public-services/prisons/young-offenders-institutions/young-offender-institutions-$366692.htm |date=22 December 2007 }}</ref> It has a border with [[Ashford, Surrey|Ashford]] and the neighbouring village of [[East Bedfont]].

Famous former resident [[Freddie Mercury]] (born Farokh Bulsara in Zanzibar, 1946–1991) of [[Rock music|rock]] band [[Queen (band)|Queen]] was commemorated by a permanent, Hollywood-style granite star in Feltham's town-centre piazza, unveiled on 24 November 2009 (the eighteenth anniversary of Mercury's death) by [[Queen (band)|Queen]] guitarist [[Brian May]], alongside Freddie's mother, Jer Bulsara, and his sister. In 2011, owing to neglect and weather damage, Hounslow Council removed the memorial, resolving to substitute a smaller one elsewhere.

===Recent developments===
[[File:Feltham, The Centre 1.jpg|thumb|right|The centre, Feltham]]
Feltham's town centre developed in the period 1860–2010 when the focus of the village moved north from by St Dunstan's Church after the coming of the railway in 1848. For most of the twentieth century, it had a traditional-looking High Street, including more [[mock tudor]] shop fronts, and a large medieval [[manor house]] which was controversially demolished in the mid-1960s to make way for a car dealership and petrol station. This has since been demolished but replaced with a hardware, carpets and supermarket site ''Manor Park''.

Most of the original [[High Street]] shops were also demolished in the mid-1960s through to the early 1970s. Victorian and Edwardian tall-storey terraced, semi-detached and detached homes are found on Hanworth Road and adjoining roads, and in the small [[conservation area]] at Feltham Pond on the High Street. Many old cottages and workman's terraces were demolished alongside the railway line to make way for [[brutalism|brutalist]] [[high rise]] blocks of housing, of originally purely [[social housing]] to house the homeless and overcrowded people in the borough, such as Belvedere House, Hunter House and Home Court, demolished in the 2000s and replaced with mixed-ownership apartments in a more ornate style in a [[nucleated village|cluster]], incorporating designer balconies and architectural demonstrations of free-form structure such as propped overhangs and an unobtrusive at street-level, multi-faceted [[floor plan]].{{cn|date=May 2024}}

The current shopping hub,<ref name=future/> The centre, Feltham (also known as the Longford Centre, if only by the original developers and some retail tenants), opened in 2006. It retained and refurbished many of the shop units built in the 1960s to replace the demolished buildings, along the High Street frontage, but replaced most of the others with new, larger units. Also added as part of the re-development was a Travelodge hotel, 800 homes, a new and larger library, and a medical centre. The anchor (and largest) store in the centre is an [[Asda]] hypermarket, coupled with fashion chains, small restaurants, a [[public house]] and cafés. Near to the retail park mentioned is a [[Tesco]] superstore and numerous grocery outlets are dotted along the area's High Street. Added to this are regular local trades/services in small clusters in the main named neighbourhoods of North Feltham and Lower Feltham.<ref name=future/> Prior to this large-scale redevelopment, the rock band Oasis filmed the video for their song [[Stand by Me (Oasis song)|''Stand by Me'']] in The Centre in 1997. Rap group [[So Solid Crew]] also filmed the music video for their 2003 single, ''Broke Silence'', on Highfield Estate (nearby The {{not a typo|Centre}}), before its eventual regeneration.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

In retail, the closest destination with more than 100 outlets is [[Hounslow]], centred less than {{convert|2|mi}} to the north-east, followed by [[Kingston upon Thames|Kingston]] and [[Staines upon Thames|Staines]]. Late 2017 saw the approval of the "Feltham Masterplan" by Hounslow council which will see the transformation of Feltham for the next 15 years.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

In June 2024 a [[Surrey Police]] officer, who repeatedly drove his police car into a 10-month-old breeding [[heifer (cow)|heifer]], called Beau Lucy, in Raleigh Road, was removed from frontline duties.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vernon |first=Hayden |date=2024-06-16 |title=Surrey police officer who rammed cow removed from frontline duties |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jun/16/surrey-police-officer-who-rammed-cow-should-be-fired-says-owners-partner |access-date=2024-06-28 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>