TWICKENHAM, a parish in the hundred of ISLEWORTH,
county of MIDDLESEX, 9 miles (W. S. W,)
from London, containing 4206 inhabitants. The name
of this place, formerly written Twiclcnam, is said to refer
to its situation between two streams, or brooks,
that flow into the Thames at each end of; the village,
which occupies a most delightful position on its western
bank, on the road from London, through. Isleworth,
to Hampton Court. At the southern extremity of the
village, fronted by a lawn sloping to the verge of the
hriver, is a modern residence, which occupies the-site
of Pope's villa, the only remaining vestige of which is
the favourite grotto, erected by the poet for his own use.
In the centre of the river, nearly opposite to the
church, is an island, called Twickenham Ait, compris-
ing about eight;acres, the chief part of which is laid
o"ut in pleasure ground. The Eel Pie househas been
noted for the last two hundred years, as .-a favourite
resort for refreshment and recreation to-water parties,
and persons repairing hither for the amusement of
fishing; the old house was taken down in 1830, and a
very handsome and commodious edifice, comprising a,
good assembly-room, measuring fifty feet by fifteen, haj3
been erected on the site by the present proprietor.
There are powder and oil mills in the parish. Fairs
are held on Holy Thursday and August 9th and IQtJi.
The inhabitants are within the jurisdiction of a cotmt;
of requests, for the recovery of debts under 40s., held
at Brentford during the summer half-year, and at Ux.
bridge during the winter.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Middlesex,
and diocese of London, rated in the king's books
at £11, and in the patronage of the Dean and Canons
of Windsor. The church, which stands near the river, is
dedicated to St. Mary, and is a neat structure of brick;
ornamented with stone, of the Doric order, with an an,-
cient embattled tower of the eleventh century; it vjas
rebuilt in 1714; in the interior is a monument to the
memory of Pope, erected by Bishop Warburton; a,nd
another to Mrs. Clive, the actress. Midway between
Twickenham and Richmond is a chapel of ease, erected
about .1721. There are places of worship for Independents
and Wesleyan Methodists. A National school
was formed, in 18.09, by the union of three schools, and
the appropriation of some small endowments belonging
to them, amounting to about ,£135 per annum: one
hundred and tten boys and seventy girls are educated,
of whom about thirty boys and twenty-four .-girls are
clothed annually: the salary of the master and mistress
is £100 per annum. Six boys and one girl of this
parish are eligible for "instruction and apprenticeship,
or to be put ,to service, on the foundation of John and
Frances West, who conveyed estates in trust to the
Governors of Christ's Hospital for that purpose; .£20
being paid with each boy, and £5 with each girl. One
man or woman of the parish receives £5 per annum
also from a benefaction by Frances West of £2600, to
be laid out in land for the use of the Clothworkers'
Company, to pay to each of ten blind men and ten
blind women that sum annually.