Place Name
Stockley Park takes its name from the former hamlet of Stockley, which is believed to be a portmanteau word derived from Cowley stock, the generic name given to the locally produced brick in West Middlesex. The hamlet of Stockley came into being with the renaming of the hamlet of Starveall (or Starvhall) in 1912. By the middle of the 19thCentury a giant brickfield has been established to the west of Starveall farm. An arm known as Starveall dock was cut from the Grand Junction Canal to service the bricks works. In 1872 it was extended south of the farm into the Parish of West Drayton. In 1879 the leaseholder of Starveall, Samuel Pocock, stated he made 15-20 million bricks per year there. Five years later the business had been transferred to Clement Burgess Broad and George Harris, of South Wharf, Paddington. On January 1, 1912, Broad & Co issued a circular stating the following: “The Directors of Broad and Co., Ltd beg to inform you that in response to the general desire of their tenantry, and others concerned at Starvhall, West Drayton, to have a ‘more suitable designation of the place and works than that of ‘Starvhall’ and ‘Starvhall Brickfields’, they have decided, as from this date, to re-name the place ‘Stockley’ and the works to be known as ‘Stockley Works’.” This was news to Yiewsley Urban District where at a meeting eight days later Councillor J A Holland stated: “It is entirely out of order: they ought first to have applied to this Council.” However there was general agreement with the name change. Vice-Chairman of the council T Hancock added to laughter: “He saw no reason why the name should not be altered. Starveall was not a correct name, for nobody had been starved there.” Starveall was subsequently expunged, with Starveall Road, Starveall Farm, Starveall School, Starveall Church Mission hall, Starveall Football Club, Starveall Dock, and Starveall Brickworks all being renamed Stockley. The only reference to Starveall today lies on the canal network managed by the Canal & River Trust and one street name. The Grand Union Canal Bridge 195 is still known as Starveall Bridge. Stockley continued to be a centre of brick production throughout the 1920s. However brick-earth was running out and by 1930 the Stockley brickworks were producing only two million bricks a year. In 1935 the brickworks was closed down.
