Follow Chiswick’s Arts & Heritage Trails on foot, online – or on your phone
Chiswick has inspired – and been home to – great writers and artists for 400 years, from John Donne, William Hogarth, Alexander Pope & WM Thackeray to the Nobel Prize winners WB Yeats and Harold Pinter.
Our organisations came together to encourage people to explore the area’s arts and heritage through the local trails – online and on foot. Click these links and/or scroll down for more.
Enjoy the maps … the art … the buildings … the gardens … the writers … the churches … the markets … and the festivals.
The trail maps can be downloaded below, to mobiles or computers, and printed copies can be picked up, free, from St Michael & All Angels Church and other locations. There are also walks led by qualified tour guides (see below).
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UPDATES: 2024 has seen a new image unveiled on Abundance London’s W4th Plinth by Turnham Green tube station, enhancing the new Public Art Trail which incorporates four public art projects on Turnham Green Terrace, from Chiswick High Road to St Michael & All Angels Church (above).
2023 marked the Centenary of WB Yeats’s Nobel Prize for Literature and the 50th anniversary of Artists at Home; the WB Yeats Bedford Park Smartphone Trail was launched – see ‘Discover Bedford Park with the young WB Yeats’ with a video narrated by Ciarán Hinds – and there is now an ‘Exploring St Michael & All Angels’ Smartphone Trail. The new extended edition of the Chiswick Book Festival Writers Trail map was published in the Spring and in June the glories of Chiswick were proclaimed by the Wall Street Journal: Don’t Skip Chiswick, a lush Paradise that inspired Van Gogh, W.B. Yeats and More.
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Arts and heritage trails
- Chiswick Timeline Art Trail – 23 artworks and 16 maps illuminating Chiswick (best viewed on Chrome). Download the map/flyer. Created by Abundance London.
- Chiswick Timeline Writers Trail – 36 acclaimed novelists, poets and playwrights. Download the map/flyer (detail right, zoom in). Created by the Chiswick Book Festival
- In Georgian Footsteps – Explore the lanes and paths of 18th century Chiswick (detail below). Created by Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society, Chiswick House & Gardens and William Hogarth Trust.
- The Battle of Turnham Green – Follow the trails created by the Battlefields Trust and Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society
- ‘Explore Bedford Park with WB Yeats’ – Follow the Smartphone Trail created by the WB Yeats Bedford Park Artwork Project and watch the video ‘Discovering Bedford Park…’ (narrated by Ciarán Hinds) on YouTube.
- Chiswick House & Gardens – Audio tours of the house narrated by Elizabeth McGovern (for adults) and Sophie Ellis-Bextor (for children) are included in the price of a ticket, open again from late May 2024. The Kitchen Garden re-opens on Thursday March 28th 2024.
- Read ‘An A-Z of the Chiswick House Archives’ by its volunteer archivist Cluny Wells: A is for Althorp. B is for Burlington. C is for Coad Stone. D is for Dogs. E is for Elephants and lots more!.
- Abundance London Treasure Trail – find some of their Chiswick gardens. The trail is no longer active but is still fun! Download the map/flyer to print out (detail right – click to expand)
Exploring further
– Chiswick Timeline: A History in Art & Maps – over 400 years of Chiswick history (images, above)
– Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books – over 400 writers from Chiswick (including stories and anecdotes in the Writers Tales pages)
– Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society – fostering interest in the area’s history
– Gill Clegg’s Chiswick History – people and places, by one of Chiswick’s best-loved historians
– The Bedford Park Society has a ‘Guide to Bedford Park in the form of Two Walks’ – order for £2 (plus p&p) from their Publications page.
– Chiswick Pier Trust offers several trails and walks by the river to download
– How the arts trails began – The Chiswick Calendar
– Ealing and West London Tour Guides offer tours of Chiswick led by qualified guides.
– Chiswick – Wikipedia
Chiswick churches – history and heritage (see a fuller list here):
– St Michael & All Angels Bedford Park – Engaging with the arts – Stained-glass windows, Lent reflections
– Maps and WW1 memorials – Parish Hall history
– St Michael’s, Elmwood Road
– St Nicholas, Chiswick – Notable tombs – Graves of artists and architects – Stained-glass windows – Chaloner Monument – History
– St Paul’s, Grove Park – including a 24-page History to download
Chiswick in film
Chiswick has been a popular location for filmmakers for many years and many actors, directors and other creatives live here. In September each year, The Chiswick Cinema and The Chiswick Calendar organise The Chiswick In Film Festival. Click to see some of Chiswick’s writers, directors, actors and films.
Watch ‘Discover Bedford Park with WB Yeats’ (2:42)
Watch ‘Bedford Park – a brief history’ (12:42)
Chiswick shops, markets, pubs, restaurants, cinema, theatre – and other businesses
Chiswick is a thriving area for food, drink and culture. Many offer discounts to holders of The Chiswick Calendar Club Card.
Firms actively support local arts and community events through partnerships such as those with the Bedford Park Festival and the Chiswick Book Festival (several of their estate agent partners publish online guides to Chiswick).
Thanks to Val Bott, Karen Liebreich, Sarah Cruz, Torin Douglas and many others who are credited in the trails and archives – and to Horton & Garton for sponsoring the printed Art Trail and Writers Trail.
Further reading
– Bedford Park bibliography – Bedford Park Society
– Book Shop – Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society
– Chiswick’s art, architecture & history – Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books
– Novels, scenes set in Chiswick – Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books
– Chiswick in fiction/ History of Chiswick – ChiswickW4.com
– Waterstones Chiswick, Foster Books and Chiswick Library have sections about Chiswick
