ISLEWORTH, a parish in the hundred of ISLEWORTH,
county of MIDDLESEX, 9 miles (W. S. W.)
from London, containing, with that partof the town of
Hounslow which is within the parish, 5269 inhabitants.
This place was principally distinguished for a splendid
monastery, founded originally at Twickenham, in 1414,
by Henry V., and dedicated to Our Holy Saviour, the
Blessed Virgin, and St. Bridget, for sixty sisters, thirteen
priests, four deacons, and eight lay brethren of the
order of St. Augustine, as reformed by St. Bridget: in
1432, the community removed to Isleworth, where was
erected a spacious edifice called the monastery of Sion,
the revenue of which, at the dissolution, was £ 1944.11.8.
The site was granted, in the 1st of Edward VI., to
Edward, Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector, who erected
the superb mansion of Sion house, which, in the
seventh year of the same reign, was granted to John
Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. In the reign of
Mary, the convent was re-founded for an abbess and
nuns, but was finally suppressed in that of Elizabeth, and
continued vested in the crown till the reign of James I.,
when it was given to Henry Percy, the ninth Earl of
Northumberland. The Dukes of York and Gloucester,
sons of Charles I., and their sister, the Princess Elizabeth,
were placed here by the parliament, under the care of
the countess, in 1646. This mansion, which about the
middle of the seventeenth century underwent several
alterations and repairs, and received considerable addi-.
tions, under the superintendence of Inigo Jones, is a
spacious quadrangular and embattled structure, with
towers at the angles. The entrance from the western
road is through a handsome gateway, on each side of
which is an open colonnade, into a spacious lawn, ornamented
with clusters of stately trees, and shelving to
the margin of the Thames, which pursues its winding
course along the border of the park and grounds. A
noble flight of steps leads to the great hall, which is
decorated with colossal statues and a fine bronzed cast
of the dying gladiator: the hall opens into a handsome
vestibule, the floor of which is of scagliola marble, and
the walls richly ornamented in relievo, and embellished
with gilt trophies; twelve columns of verd antique, supporting
gilt statues, and sixteen pilasters of the same rare
and costly marble, impart an air of sumptuous magnificence
to this part of the building, from which there is an
entrance into the dining-room: this apartment is characterised
by a chaste simplicity of style, and ornamented
with marble statuary and paintings in chiaro-oscuro j at
each end is a semicircular recess, separated by columns
of graceful proportion, and the ceiling is elegantly
worked in stucco, and enriched with gilding. The
drawing-room is splendidly furnished; the walls are
hung with rich tri-coloured damask; the mirrors are
nine feet high, and nearly six feet hi breadth, and the
tables are of costly mosaic, found in the baths of
Titus, and purchased at Rome; the ceiling, which is
coved, is divided into small compartments richly gilt,
and displaying designs from the antique, executed by
Italian artists. The gallery, which contains the library
and museum, is one hundred and thirty-three
feet in length, and is finished after the antique style, hi
stucco, of the most light and elegant design: the ceiling
is embellished with paintings, and ornamented with various
devices, harmonising with the general character
of the whole; and immediately below it are paintings
in medallions exhibiting a series of portraits of the
Earls of Northumberland, of the Percy and Seymour
families. At the west end are folding-doors opening
into the gardens and pleasure grounds, which are laid
out with a degree of taste and skill that has rendered
them in every respect worthy of the splendid mansion,
to which they are an appendage.
The village is pleasantly situated on the northern
bank of the Thames, and consists of one principal street,
well lighted with gas; the houses are in general respectable
and well built, and the inhabitants are amply
supplied with water -. the environs are profusely rich
in beautiful scenery, on both banks of the river, being
adorned with elegant mansions and villas, with their
appendant pleasure grounds and shrubberies. A considerable
portion of land in the neighbourhood is
cultivated by market-gardeners, who supply the London
markets. Among the various fruits for the perfection
of which the soil is peculiarly favourable, are raspberries
and strawberries, of which great quantities are carried
to Covent Garden market; of the latter, a new species,
called the Scarlet Emperor, has within the last year
been grown here, which for beauty and flavour is unequalled.
Calico-printing was formerly carried on
here to a considerable extent, but within the last three
years it has been discontinued: there are two extensive
corn-mills, one of which formerly belonged to
the monastery; and there is also a large brewery. A
branch of the Paddington canal joins the Thames at
the eastern extremity of the parish, near Brentford. A
pleasure fair is held here on the first Monday in July,
and at Hounslow are two annual fairs. Isleworth is
within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, and
within that of a court of requests held at Brentford
during the summer half-year, and at Uxbridge during
whiter, for the recovery of debts under 40s. The Duke
of Northumberland holds courts leet and baron in April
and October, and the Dean and Canons of Windsor
hold an annual court leet.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of
Middlesex, and diocese of London, rated in the king's
books at £ 18, and in the patronage of the Dean and
Canons of Windsor. The church, dedicated to All Saints,
occupies an elevated situation near the margin of the
river, and forms a conspicuous and interesting feature
in the landscape; the venerable tower, overspread with
ivy, and surmoxinted by a belfry-steeple, in the early
style of English architecture, has a picturesque appearance:
the body of the church was taken down and
rebuilt of brick in 1704, and repaired and beautified
in 1829. The interior, which consists of a nave -with
north and south aisles and a chancel, contains many
handsome monuments, among which are, one of white
marble, with a finely-sculptured bust, to the memory of
Mrs. Ann Tolson, who founded almshouses here; one to
Sir Orlando Gee, registrar of the court of Admiralty after
the Restoration; and one to George Keate.Esq., F.R.S.
and F.S.A., author of an account of Captain Wilson's
Shipwreck among the Pelew Islands. A small brass
plate, with the effigy of a nun, belonging to the original
convent, has been inlaid in the door of the Duke of
Northumberland's pew. There are places of worship
for the Society of Friends, Independents, and Wesleyan.
Methodists, and a Roman Catholic chapel. The charity
school, or Blue school, since united with the National
school, was first established in 1715, and is endowed
with funds which had accumulated from savings invested
in the three per cent, consols, arising from a
bequest of lands at Langley-Morris, in the county of
Buckingham, by Lady Elizabeth Hill, in 1680; and from
houses and tenements left, in 1672, by Mrs. Ann Oliver,
and exchanged for lands at Orpington, in the county
of Kent, by William Chelcott, Esq., who, hi 1658, bequeathed
a rent-charge of £20 on lands at Nettlebed,
in the county of Oxford, for apprenticing boys, and
other benefactions, producing in the aggregate more
than £280 per annum: one hundred boys and sixty
girls are instructed hi this school, of which number
forty of each sex are clothed, the boys being apprenticed
and the girls placed out as servants. An infant school,
established in 1829, in which eighty children are instructed;
and a Sunday school, which has also a small
endowment, are principally supported by subscription.
Almshouses were founded, in 1671, by Sir Thomas Ingram,
Knt., for six aged widows, to each of whom he assigned
a pension of £4 per annum, secured upon his house at
Isleworth; and for the further endowment of which, his
wife, Frances, gave, in lieu, a sum of money for the
purchase of land; to which several benefactions having
been added, the inmates now receive £10 per
annum, with other allowances. There are almshouses
for six aged unmarried men and six aged widows, or
maidens, founded and endowed with the sum of £5000,
given by Mrs. Ann Tolson, in consequence of having
unexpectedly succeeded to property of the value ot
£40,000, after having been obliged to keep a boardingschool
for her support: she died in 1750, having
married a third husband, who survived her, and contested
the validity of the donation, which, by a decree
of the court of Chancery, he was at length compelled
to pay, with interest, amounting in 1756 to £6125.2.9.
Mrs. Gosling subsequently left £210 three per cents, to
these almshouses, the whole income belonging to which
is £171. 6. per annum, the inmates receiving each an
allowance of £9. 4. per annum, with clothing, coal, and
other assistance. An almshouse for six aged women was
built, in 1764, by Mrs. Mary Bell, who endowed it with
lands producing an income of more than £ 60 per ann.,
which is distributed among the inmates, after defraying
the expenses of repairs, in money, bread, clothes, and
firing. There are numerous charitable bequests for
distribution among the poor. Anthony Collins, a deistical
writer, and the correspondent and friend of Locke,
was born here in 1676.