Isleworth

Isleworth ( EYE-zəl-wəth) is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hounslow, west London, England. Its main retail street London Road becomes Hounslow High Street and adjoining Treaty Centre for shopping centre only a few hundred metres away from its westernmost point. No physical signs mark this boundary, which reflects how Isleworth contained the east of Hounslow, originally. Isleworth sits west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane and the original area of settlement, alongside the Thames, is known as Old Isleworth. The northwest corner of the town, bordering on Osterley to the north and Lampton to the west, is known as Spring Grove. Both postally and historically Osterley is part of Isleworth, however it has its own tube station. Isleworth's former Thames frontage of approximately one mile, excluding that of the upmarket attractions of Syon Park, was reduced to little over half a mile in 1994 when a borough boundary realignment was effected in order to unite the district of St Margaret's wholly within London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. As a result, the riverside is those parts overlooking the 8.6-acre (3.5 ha) islet of Isleworth Ait: the short-length River Crane flows into the Thames south of the Isleworth Ait, and its artificial distributary the Duke of Northumberland's River west of the Isleworth Ait, one of two Colne distributaries constructed for aesthetic reasons between 1600 and 1750. The town is the birthplace of broadcaster David Attenborough.