Facts about Ashford
Geography
Ashford is a town almost wholly in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, with a small area contained within the boundaries of the London Borough of Hounslow, approximately 14 mi (23 km) west-southwest of central London. Its name derives from a crossing point of the River Ash, a distributary of the River Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town’s wards have been part of Surrey County Council since 1965. Ashford consists of relatively low density low- and medium-rise buildings, none of them being high rise. If excluding apartments (at the last census 27% of the housing stock) most houses are semi-detached.
History
Bronze Age artefacts have been found in Ashford (at 51.432708N, 0.485174W) giving rise to the name Bronzefield and a henge may have been present in that period. The settlement as indicated by its name but small assets[clarification needed][in Domesday Book?] just after the Norman Conquest was part[clarification needed][what was the rest?] agricultural settlement in Saxon times. Ashford appears on the Middlesex Domesday map as Exeforde, held by Robert, Count of Mortain. Its Domesday assets were: 1 plough, meadow for 1 plough; a separate manor in 1066, it was part of the manor of Kempton in 1086. It rendered (in total) 14s 0d. Throughout the early medieval period the place was also referred to as Echelford.
A stone bridge was built over the ford in 1789 by the Hampton and Staines Turnpike Trust, part of which[part of the original bridge?] is used as the rather scenic Fordbridge roundabout with its large weeping willow trees at the centre.Ashford Common was a large area of common land in the south and east of the town that the British Army used for military displays in the reign of George III. It was inclosed in 1809.
