Past & Present

  Southlands - Grade 11: The front of the house was built in the reign
  of Queen Anne by George Cowdrey, yeoman farmer. The rear part of
  the house was built in the 19th century and replaced an earlier Tudor
  building.

  The author Cosmo Hamilton lived here in the early years of the 20th
  century and wrote 'A Blindness of Virtue' which was based on West
  Drayton and its inhabitants. Southlands was purchased in 1964 by
  the Urban District Council and is now an Arts Centre and the home
  of the West Drayton Arts Council.
 

  Drayton House was a Tudor mansion standing
  on the West side of Swan Road. The extensive
  grounds covered the whole of the area between
  Swan Road and Cowley Mill Road. In 1923 it
  was sold to a developer for £9,000 and the
  gates for £200. The gates are now at Oxhey
  Grange, near Bushey.

  West Drayton Mill: The Domesday Survey states that a water mill
  existed at West Drayton. By 1559 there were two wheat mills and a
  malt mill housed under the same roof. By the end of the 17th century
  Nicholas Falcon, a paper miller, became the lessee and a century
  later Nicholas Mercer rebuilt the whole complex. In 1876 it was the
  largest millboard in existence. There were several fires over the years,
  but the most disastrous was the one in 1913 which gutted the building.
  The mill has now been converted into flats.

  Sipson House: Late 18th century. Grade 11 listed building. Charles
  Dickens regularly stayed at Sipson House and it appears that on one of
  his visits he met a shepherd, in a field called Scroogeall, trying to get his
  sheep through narrow gate. Dickens suggested this was not possible,
  but the shepherd replied 'They'll manage to scrooge their way through
  somehow'. The word appealed to Dickens and he said he would use the in his next book and as
  we now know he used it as the name for the main character in 'A Christmas Carol'. (D. Rust)
    The house remained empty for many years and suffered from vandalism and being left to the
  elements. The house was rebuilt for offices and currently there are plans for a childrens home.

  Buildings that housed the Yiewsley & West Drayton Town Council:
  Key House, the old Town Hall, replaced the Yiewsley District Council
  Offices, on the same site, in 1930. It was designed by Soutar, Architect at
  Hampstead Garden Suburb, in a Free Classical
  style. After several years of decline the building
  has been restored and houses the Hillingdon
  Voluntary Services. Drayton Hall was the seat of
  the Yiewsley & West Drayton Urban District Council
  from 1952 to196 when the Council was absorbed
  into the newly created Hillingdon Council.

  St. Matthew's Church, Yiewsley: St. John's, Hillingdon was the Parish
  Church for Yiewsley until 1874 when Yiewsley beame a Parish in its own
  right. By the middle of the 19th century the population of Yiewsley had
  grown to such an extent that it became apparent that a church in Yiewsley
  was needed. A small chapel of ease, dedicated to St. Matthew, was built
  to the design of Sir George Gilbert Scott. Sir Gilbert Scott was responsible
  for the the restoration and alteration of some 730 buildings and some of
  his best works include the Albert Memorial, the Foreign Office and the
  Midland Hotel at St. Pancras.

  British National Schools - 1859. The first Master and Mistress - Mr & Mrs
  Styles - were paid £60 per annum and they lived in the school house. The
  house was demolished in 1939 to make way for the widening of Station
  Road. The school closed in 1946 and was demolished in 1962.
  The original foundation stone has been incorporated in the wall of West
  Drayton Library car park.