Eastcote

infobox UK place
country = England
map_type = Greater London
region= London
population=
official_name= Eastcote
latitude= 51.5842
longitude= -0.3897
london_borough= Hillingdon
constituency_westminster= Ruislip Northwood
post_town= PINNER
postcode_district = HA5, HA4
postcode_area= HA
dial_code= 020
os_grid_reference= TQ115885

Eastcote is a place in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The 2001 UK census gave the population of the Eastcote and South Ruislip Ward as 11,480.

History

Formerly home of an American Air Force Base and elementary school, Eastcote is home to the historical dovecot and coach house to the now demolished Elizabethan Eastcote House. Eastcote House was home to the Hawtrey family. Two other key houses were the centres of life in old Eastcote, Haydon Hall (again demolished in the 1960's) whose most famous resident was Lady Bankes, who resisted soldiers in the Civil War from taking Corfe Castle, Dorset. Highgrove House is the third, and this still stands, although it was rebuilt in c1879 after a fire gutted much of the original building. Churchill is said to have stayed there during his honeymoon and the Queen of Sweden was resident during World War One.

In the same place is also a walled garden which is believed to be of the same age. Similarly Haydon Hall, another grand manor house from the area was pulled down in the 1960s.The tube line came to Eastcote in 1904, and now both the Piccadilly and Metropolitan lines run through Eastcote.

During and just after World War II, Eastcote had an outstation from the Bletchley Park codebreaking establishment, where some of the Bombes and two Collossus code breakers which were used to decode German Enigma messages were housed. This closed when GCHQ was established at Cheltenham.

Culture and Entertainment

Eastcote is home to several pubs split between the more modern establishments on the main shopping parade, such as The Manor on Field End Road and further along Field End Road Venue 5 (formally The Clay Pigeon). More locals pubs are the Black Horse and The Case is Altered in Eastcote Village. For live music and clubs the adjacent tube station connects to Harrow, Uxbridge and Central London easily. It is also home to many parks and open spaces and close to Queensmead sports centre.

Notable people associated with Eastcote

* The Sweet - 70's pop band also lived in Eastcote.
* Siobhan Donaghy (born 1984) Pop singer.
* Robert Cowlin - [http://www.themumblesofficial.vze.com The Mumbles] ' vocalist and drum-machine programmer and [http://www.stickam.com/nightshift_radio Internet Radio DJ]
* Fearne Cotton - TV Presenter

Transport and locale

Nearest places

* Pinner
* Rayners Lane
* Northwood
* Ruislip

Nearest tube station

* Eastcote tube station (Piccadilly Line & Metropolitan Line)