Directions:Off A316 (from Dan Mason Drive or from Stavelely Road; from Recreation Ground Approch gates in Edensor Road for pedestrians)
website: Dukes Meadows Trust
Open: every day. Farmers Market every Sunday am.
Events: free events every other Sunday between Easter Sunday (8 April) and 29 June, 1 to 5pm
History: This large area of open space now occupied by playing fields and sports clubs was once meadowland belonging to the Duke of Devonshire. The fact that this `lung for London’ has been preserved as such is something of a miracle. In 1902 it was intended to be the location for a model village called Burlingwick, in 1914 the site of a large gasworks and in 1926 the place for a large electricity generating station. None of these schemes came to fruition and in 1923 Chiswick Urban District Council acquired the land from the Duke of Devonshire. The Council designated the land for public use, laying out a riverside promenade, a children’s playground and installing a bandstand. Unfortunately, Dukes Meadows became sadly neglected over the years, the bandstand went out of use, the playground and promenade became sad and forlorn. A volunteer group, The Friends of Dukes Meadows, formed in 1998 (now called the Dukes Meadows Trust) is working with Hounslow Council and The Community Initiatives Partnership to restore Dukes Meadows to something like its former glory, by clearing litter, planting trees and painting buildings. A new Children’s Play area was opened in August 2006.