Hamilton Electricity Works (HEW) is an important part of this Borough’s history and one of the only examples of Twickenham’s industrial heritage still standing today. The Electricity Works were built in 1901 and provided power to an initial 3,000 lights in the Borough including the nearby workers’ cottages. In 1931 the Town Council declared that all remaining gas lamps were to be converted to elec
tricity. A reporter from the R & T Times who visited the new works said, “the building which extensive though it is now, is nothing near the size the company hopes it will eventually assume, is being built by Mr T J Messom. Thomas Joseph Messom, a local builder and undertaker, was responsible for carrying out the renovation work on the Twining property Dial House when it was converted into a vicarage in the 1890s. He was also contracted to build a very fine prestigious house in fashionable Mayfair known as 31 Green Street. In comparison to this elegant house, the Electricity Works were very frugal in design. The same reporter who visited them quotes “ that money has not been wasted on a lavish scheme. There is a pleasing business-like air about the whole place, which plainly shows the class of men who have in hand the task of
supplying electricity to Twickenham, and further betokens that they will acquit themselves well of their task”. Mr T J Messom was a versatile man and he has left his creative mark with the carved red brick aprons on the windowsills of the Electricity Works. Hamilton and Warwick Roads were built next to the site to provide accommodation for the workers. They are also fine examples of industrial social housing with their long terraces of austere Edwardian houses, more commonplace in the mill towns of the North of England. In 1983 Richmond Council recognised that the Electricity Works was an important piece of industrial archaeology within the Borough and designated it as a building of townscape merit (BTM). In January 2006, Richmond Council further acknowledged the importance of the Electricity Works and its environs by making the site and surrounding roads into Conservation Area No 72. A developer bought the site in 2005 and proposals were submitted to demolish the majority of the buildings and erect a large-scale housing development. Local residents have objected to this and other planning applications since October 2005. The last application was accepted because it involved retention and refurbishment of the main buildings plus some new builds to maximise profit. Please see the campaign and history website for details of the campaign. www.hew.org.uk
The Hamilton Electricity Works are situated at the end of Hamilton Road in the quiet backstreets north of Twickenham Green. In 2014 work started on the site to refurbish the old buildings and create a housing development which has been named Athelstan Place. Athelstan was the original name for Hamilton Road.
