Day 87 - Uxbridge

Oh my! The first of December and we are now into our fourth month of our journey. For me, today is about travelling to London to to attend a conference tomorrow at Brunel University (more about this university tomorrow). As the conference starts early in the morning, I am staying down the night before in Uxbridge. This part of Greater Metropolitan London is, as most of the outer parts of the larger city are, its own town. A major commercial centre, it has its own share of interesting historical events.

The name of the town is from the name "Wixan's Bridge." The Wixan were Saxons who lived in this area during the 7th century. Anglo-Saxons had been farming in this part of the country since the 5th century, and Bronze Age (before 700 years BC) relics have been found here.

King Charles I used this location to negotiate with the Parliamentarians to end the first English civil war with negotiations toward the Treaty of Uxbridge in 1645. Charles thought that with recent victories by the monarchists in Scotland that he was in a position of power in negotiating with Cromwell.  The Parliamentarians thought otherwise, and after a month of meetings in Uxbridge, neither side would agree. The Crown Inn pub where most of the negotiations occurred is now called the Crown & Treaty and it still exists today.

In the town is also the Battle of Britain Bunker. During both the Battle of Britain and the D-Day invasion it was the underground control centre for fighter aircraft operations. The Battle of Britain lasted from the middle of the summer in 1940 through to the autumn of that year.  The Germans had decided that instead of an immediate invasion after having driven the British and French armies back to Britain after Dunkirk, they would establish air superiority over Great Britain first and then invade. However, the success of the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain turned the tide of the war. One of the young Canadian airmen whose graves we visited on Remembrance Day lost his life during the Battle. The name of the battle came as a result of Churchill stating "The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin."

Ale of the Day: Guardsman, Windsor & Eton Brewery, Windsor.