Ickenham is a town in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It has developed into a suburb located west-northwest of Charing Cross. Ickenham tube station in the town is served by the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines.

History

Ickenham first appeared in the Domesday Book under the name 'Ticheha'. St Giles' church dates back to the 14th Century. The church formed a covenant with the United Reformed Church when it celebrated its 650th anniversary in the 1980s.

The focus of the town is 'The Pump' - a water pump donated to the village by Charlotte Gell in 1866. The Pump was in use until December 1914 and was recently restored in partnership with a local building company. It stands close by the village pond, at the intersection of Swakeleys Road and Long Lane.

Ickenham is also home to Swakeleys House, a 17th Century Jacobean mansion, which now includes office space. The house was leased to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office during the Second World War.

The town's library was opened in 1962. Following much discussion, Uxbridge Borough Council were persuaded to place a three sided clock commemorating the Coronation of Elizabeth II into the library's tower in 1954, where it remains, rather than within the eight sided Village Pump.

Swakeleys School moved from Ickenham to share the site of Abbotsfield Boys School in Hillingdon in 1973.

Ickenham has its own miniature railway open to the public on the first Saturday of every month.

The original name Tichenham has been adopted by the town's Wetherspoons pub, The Tichenham Inn, built in 1999 on the site of a former petrol station. The Ickenham Residents' Association is an active part of the community. The association has recently been involved in stopping Tesco and Ikea developments in the local area that would affect Ickenham.

Ickenham Festival

The biennial Ickenham Festival has taken place in the town since 1976, originally with the aim of highlighting the variety of societies and groups in the area. The festival normally centres on a charity gala day in June, when various groups such as Scouts, church groups and schools parade through the town, finishing with a large fête in the grounds of Swakeleys House. Fireworks mark the end of the festival in the evening.

Education

• Vyners School - opened as a Grammar school in 1960 and named after Robert Viner.
• Breakspear Junior School
• Glebe Primary School
• The Douay Martyrs School

Sports clubs

• Ickenham CC - Ickenham Cricket Club
• Ickenham RFC
• Also Hillingdon Athletics Club (an amalgamation of the Ruislip-Northwood and Uxbridge clubs), attracted many athletes from Ickenham from its founding in the 1960s.

References

1. History Ickenham Online
2. History Ickenham Online
3. History Ickenham Online
4. Swakeleys School Website
5. Ickenham Miniature Railway
6. Ickenham Pubs - The Tichenham Inn - a JD Wetherspoon pub J D Wetherspoon
7. IckenhamResidents.co.uk Ickenham Residents' Association
8. Ickenham Festival
9. Breakspear Junior School
10. Glebe Primary School
11. Douay Martyrs School

• Ickenham Online - Residents' Association

Ickenham's best flower shop, SCENTSATIONAL!