Other notable buildings

Cherington House

Cherington House, next to Hanwell Library, was built in the late 1830s in the style of a small country house. The residence included eight bedrooms, a dressing room, dining room, an office, bathrooms and a conservatory. The house also had a coach house and vinery. 

Its first known owner, in the mid-nineteenth century, was Dr John Nicoll, a Fellow of the College of Surgeons. Unusually for the time, his wife Mrs Anne Nicoll was also a surgeon. The house was almost certainly named after Dr Nicoll's birthplace, Cherington, in Warwickshire.

In 1891 Hanwell local government purchased the now vacant Cherington House for £1,100, with a further £400 spent on alterations, and moved there the following year. The building was enlarged in 1910 in order to accommodate the council's fire station and library. By 1922 the clerk to the council, medical officer, sanitary inspector, surveyor and the rate collector all had offices in the building.

Hanwell Council was dissolved in 1926 and in the following year, Ealing Council decided to use the building as a maternity and child welfare centre, as well as a school clinic. The rate collector for Perivale, Greenford, Hanwell and West Twyford remained there until 1931. From that year onwards the building was used as a health centre. A newspaper report in 1927 said of the building: 'The whole house, in fact, is commodious and convenient for the purpose (of healthcare), and for many years it should continue to provide for the Hanwell part of the borough a public service as complete in every respect as it is possible for a municipality to provide'. 


We would like to thank Dr Jonathan Oates, borough archivist and local history librarian, for the use of his information.