A short history of Redlees
by Peter Smith
The Artists at Redlees have been based at Redlees Studios in Isleworth, London for 30 years. We wanted to mark the milestone by celebrating the history of Redlees Studios; the building that we refer to as our artistic home.
It is understood that there has been a riverside settlement in the area that is now known as Isleworth for over 4,000 years with evidence of Neolithic remains found between Syon and Brentford.
The earliest traceable origin of a place name for Isleworth is the appearance of Gislheresuuyrth in an Anglo Saxon Charter written in 695AD. Through iterations that include Gistelesworde in the 1086 Domesday Survey, the earliest reference to the present placename of Isleworth comes from a 1742 engraving by Thomas Priest.
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Isleworth 1742
With the rapid growth in the population of the City of London to over 6 million in the 19th century and the arrival of transport links in the form of the railways, areas such as Isleworth became sought after for living away from The City. Hippersley House was built in this era, just North of the site that is now Redlees Park. The house was acquired in 1852 by Charles Farnell whose family owned Isleworth Brewery and was renamed as Redlees House. Brewing of ale was first documented in Isleworth 1726, with the Isleworth Brewery Limited located on St John’s Road being formed in 1886. Their local ales were popular and renowned until production ended in 1952.
We do not have any pictorial representation of Redlees House, but the grounds included a gravel pit which is now Redlees Park and a gatehouse and stable block that remain in use today. The four-sided clock tower is a striking feature of the stable block, which was built by Charles Frodsham & Company of The Strand between 1830 and 1840.
During the early 20th century, with the house having been removed, the area was extensively used for tomato growing with some 21 large greenhouses and use for horticulture continued until well after the world war periods. This led to the acquisition of the area by Heston and Isleworth Urban District Council and Redlees Park being opened as a recreational open space from 1932.
Subsequently, Redlees Park and the stable block came to be owned by the London Borough of Hounslow (LBH) with the stable block used for storage, latterly by the Council as a parks maintenance machinery store.
As a major development within the LBH’s arts and culture strategy of the time, a Lottery Fund grant was secured in 1993 to convert the stable block into a studio complex for artists and craft makers. The conversion created a gallery space, which is unique for such studio facilities, along with two communal studios and a series of smaller occupancy spaces. A small reception was added to the Eastern wing of the building and specially commissioned railings and gates installed to enclose the courtyard of the stable block. Bespoke tiles were also laid into the courtyard floor, some bearing the shape of a horseshoe; the lines of these tiles trace the paths of the horses that would have resided in the building during its use as stables.
The first artists took up leased studio spaces in 1995 and ‘Artists at Redlees’ was born. In the 30 years since that time, many artists have benefited from relatively low cost dedicated arts space in a communal setting. The Artists at Redlees have opened the doors to the gallery and studios twice every year throughout this time and the Open Studios weekends have become a regular and well supported feature of the Hounslow cultural scene.
Many artists have held exhibitions and workshops at Redlees over the years, including life drawing, art for everyone, ceramics, batik and even bicycle maintenance. A monthly open gallery on Sunday was very popular, but with increased use of the gallery space for community events and workshops, the reconfiguration of the space became prohibitive and so the flagship event for the Studios remains the Open Studio weekends, which continued, except during lockdown, through Covid restrictions.
Our artistic community prides itself on presenting a professional gallery show for each open studios and although each exhibition is curated to a high standard, there have been some exceptional presentations that still get talked about.
In December 2010, Artists at Redlees presented their Peep Show in the gallery, aimed at testing viewers' perceptions by enticing glimpses and optical tricks. A set of walls, inspired by the way building site hoardings have viewing windows, meant that visitors were viewing the artwork through walls, restricting and challenging the usual gallery walking experience.
To celebrate International Women's Day 2016, Visible Women was a multi-discipline exhibition, performance space, confessional, feminist bookfair and set of talks that explored personal and shared experiences of how women’s identity is shaped by visibility.
And more recently, Redlees received a 2022 Hounslow Summer of Culture grant to put on a week-long series of free taster workshops. Under the banner of 'Art for Everyone!’ local residents were treated to linocut printing, painting with acrylics, children's play with clay, paper origami and expressive botanical drawing.
Today Redlees Studios continues to be a thriving artistic and cultural space for Hounslow. Throughout 2024/2025, there has been a collaborative effort between the resident artists and LBH to bring fresh artistic talent into the space. Long may the studios inspire creativity and artistic development within the Borough of Hounslow.
Sources and Further Reading
Edith's Streets - a blog that covers London local history
https://edithsstreets.blogspot.com/2013/03/duke-of-northumberlands-river-mogden.html
MOLA - one of the UK's leading archaeology and built heritage practices
Blog: A Brief History of Isleworth https://www.mola.org.uk/discoveries/news/brief-history-isleworth
Isleworth Society Website
Brief History of Isleworth
https://isleworthsociety.org/isleworth-history
Brentford TW8.com - Brentford's Local Web site https://www.brentfordtw8.com/default.asp
Cara Doyle, Redlees Studios, Isleworth, West London - Visible Women exhibition 2016
MS Bing Videos - performance at Visible Women
Author’s Note
This article is prepared from internet research. I do not claim authoritative accuracy over any information presented and would be happy to receive any additions or comments from readers to improve the detail of the story of Redlees Studios. Please feel free to contact me at peteds333@gmail.com.