Osterley Park

Osterley Park is a mansion set in a large park of the same name. It is in the London Borough of Hounslow, part of the western suburbs of London.

When the house was built it was surrounded by rural countryside. It was one of a group of large houses close to London which served as country retreats for wealthy families, but were not true country houses on large agricultural estates. Other surviving country retreats of this type near London include Syon House and Chiswick House. The park is one of the largest open spaces in west London, although the M4 motorway cuts across the middle of it.

History

Elizabethan

The original building on this site was a manor house built in the 1570s for banker Sir Thomas Gresham, who purchased the manor of Osterley in 1562. The "faire and stately brick house" was completed in 1576. It is known that Queen Elizabeth visited. The stable block from this period remains at Osterley Park. Gresham was so wealthy he also bought the neighbouring Manor of Boston in 1572.

Osterley

Coordinates: 51°29′05″N 0°21′00″W / 51.4848°N 0.3500°W / 51.4848; -0.3500

Osterley is an affluent district of the historic parish of Isleworth in west London approximately 9.5 miles (15.3 km) west south-west of Charing Cross and is part of the London Borough of Hounslow. Most of its land use is mixed agricultural and aesthetic parkland at Osterley House (National Trust), charity-run, much of which is open to paying visitor access.

Osterley is on the most elevated soil of the parish, dissected by A4 (The Great West Road) and extends further north than the M4 Motorway. Syon Lane forms the border to the east, while the border with the town of Heston is to the west. Osterley extends to the south of the A4 to at least Church Road based on house deeds, much housing existed before mid 1930's and before the A4, St Marys Church south of the A4 is also in Osterley. Historic map

Most of the land of Osterley is the large ancestral private estate of Osterley Park (one of the largest open spaces in west London) and its mansion. These were formerly owned by the Jersey family and were used during World War II as the home for Tom Wintringham's Home Guard training school. They are now National Trust property. During the inter-war period of the 1930s when the Great West Road was completed ribbon development housing appeared, and this gradually expanded to form the comparatively small residential sections within Osterley.

Osterley (1780 EIC ship)

Voyages

Voyage #1 (1781–83) — Battles with the French

Osterley, under the command of Captain Samuel Rogers, left Portsmouth on 13 March 1781, bound for Bombay and China.Osterley was part of a convoy of Indiamen accompanying a British squadron under Commodore George Johnstone.

Osterley reached São Tiago on 10 April. Six days later, Osterley was present at the Battle of Porto Praya, when a French squadron under the Bailli de Suffren attacked Johnstone. Both squadrons were en route to the Cape of Good Hope, the British to take it from the Dutch, the French aiming to help defend it and French possessions in the Indian Ocean. The British convoy and its escorting squadron had anchored at Porto Praya (now Praia) in the Cape Verde Islands to take on water, when the French squadron arrived and attacked them at anchor. Due to the unexpected nature of the encounter, neither fleet was prepared to do battle, and the result was an inconclusive battle in which the French warships sustained more damage than did the British. The French did capture the Indiamen Hinchinbrook (recaptured the next day), and Fortitude, and the victualer Edward, and gained a strategic victory, because Suffren beat Johnstone to the Cape and reinforced the Dutch garrison before continuing on his journey to the Ile de France (now Mauritius). Johnstone went on to capture five Dutch East Indiamen and destroy a sixth at the battle of Saldanha Bay on 21 July.

Osterley (East Indiaman)

Three ships with the name Osterley served the British East India Company (EIC) as an East Indiaman between 1758 and 1800: