Revisit Three Brentford Battles with Hounslow Heritage Guides
Last walk of the season taking place this Sunday
The Battle at Brentford Bridge, from a painting by John Hassall RA, 1928
October 23, 2026
The Hounslow Heritage Guides will bring their 2026 season to a close this Sunday (25 October) with a walk that delves into Brentford’s long and surprisingly turbulent past. Beginning at the western corner of the Market Place, opposite Morrisons, the tour traces three major battles that have shaped the town across two millennia, offering residents a chance to stand on the very ground where armies once clashed.
The route begins with Brentford’s earliest recorded conflict: Julius Caesar’s crossing of the Thames in 54 BC. The Guides will explain how Roman forces pushed westward, encountering fierce resistance from local tribes along the riverbank. From there, the walk moves forward to 1018, when Saxon forces defeated the Danish King Cnut in a battle that helped secure the future of the English crown. The final chapter revisits November 1642, when Brentford was captured and sacked by Royalist troops during the Civil War—an event that sent shockwaves through London and remains one of the most dramatic episodes in the town’s history.
As with all Heritage Guides walks, there is no need to book. Participants simply arrive in time to pay the £5 fee (children go free) and set off at 2.30pm. The tour is designed to be accessible, engaging and suitable for anyone with an interest in local history, whether long-time residents or newcomers curious about Brentford’s past.
The Hounslow Heritage Guides organise guided local history walks on Sunday afternoons every summer in Brentford, Chiswick and Isleworth with additional walks planned, in some walking seasons.
All walks can booked as private guided tours as required. For more about local history walks see Exploring Hounslow Borough's Heritage.
The guides reserve the right to cancel any walk without notice in exceptional circumstances
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