LOOKING BACK surprise
DID YOU KNOW ? In the First World War the summit was used as an anti-aircraft gun position to guard against Zeppelin bombers ; and , in the Second World War , as a search light station to protect local factories .
DID YOU KNOW ? Horsenden Hill has been used for many film and TV shoots including Snatch , Only Fools and Horses ( 1985 ) and an episode of Dr Who ( Survival 1989 ).
commanded a powerful tribe on the banks of the Thames , proved successful and married Ealine and took her away .
It was not a happy marriage and , in modern parlance , Bren / Brent was soon ‘ playing away ’. Ealine vowed her revenge and sent a pet starling she had trained to speak with a message to Horsa , who was enraged and sent his warriors to battle Bren . The two armies met and crossed at the ford in the river which has ever since been called Brentford ; here Bren was slain and Horsa mortally wounded . Horsa was buried with great pomp on a large mound
Pictures ( From top clockwise ): Panorama overlooking the fourth green on the Horsenden Hill golf course copyright of David Harvey ; residents enjoying the hill in summer 1915 ; view by David Harvey . Background map of the hill copyright of Nick Horgan ; signpost on the hill by John Sturrock . which then bore his name , Horsa Don ( with don meaning hill fortress ). This then corrupted to Horsingdon and then Horsenden , as we know it today .
That is not the extent of the links to modern place names because Ealine , it is said , retired with her mother to live in a nearby forest . Ealine apparently lived there to a grand old age before being buried on a spot which Farthing noted was named Ealine ’ s Haven in her honour . Not too much of a jump to get from there to the name Haven Green in Ealing , which was called Ealing ’ s Haven or Fling ’ s Haven on old maps .
SPIES IN THE COLD WAR In 1985 the hill was mentioned in the trial of Michael Smith when he was accused and convicted of spying for the Russians , supplying details of the top secret Rapier missile system . Smith worked at a research centre in Wembley and used the hill and other locations as drop points to communicate with his Russian controllers . The trial was prominent at the time because it featured Oleg Gordievsky as a witness , a famous Russian KGB defector to the west .
TODAY … As well as a Gruffalo trail for children and families to follow , beautiful parkland , nature trails and walks , the hill also boasts a golf course where you can play nine holes of golf or enjoy the new sport footgolf . You can find out more at www . londonpitchnputt . com and www . ealing . gov . uk / parks
DID YOU KNOW ? In 1933 the hill and a total of 254 acres was bought for £ 98,000 by a partnership of the councils of Ealing ( which paid 25 %) and Wembley ( 12.5 %) and Middlesex County Council ( 62.5 %) with the purpose of making it public parkland . A 999- year lease was passed to Ealing .
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