Whitton is first mentioned in historical documents in around 1200, though it had probably been settled a century or so earlier. As recently as Victorian times Whitton was renowned as a ’market garden’, famous for its roses, daffodils, Lily of the Valley and for its apple, plum and pear orchards; indeed until the 1920’s the village was still separated from the surrounding towns by open fields. Within a decade all had changed and urbanisation was confirmed by the opening of the railway station in 1930.

Whitton is the home of Kneller Hall, the Royal Military School of Music (RMSM). Built in 1709, Kneller Hall was originally the country house of the celebrated court portrait painter Sir Godfrey Kneller. During and after the Second World War, Kneller Hall was used as a hospital for wounded servicemen. Kneller Hall Website.

At the north east corner of the High Street, opposite the Admiral Nelson public house, the parade of shops included an Odeon cinema, which functioned until the 1960s.

New houses of the 1930s did not last very long as a number were damaged by enemy bombing in the early years of the Second World War and in June 1944 No 81 High Street received a direct hit from a V1 flying bomb. Part of the parade of shops and the flats above them were totally destroyed and several people were killed. Around the same time a house in Lincoln Avenue was also destroyed by a V1 and several adjoining houses were severely damaged. Earlier in the war, No. 86 Hounslow Road received a direct hit from a German bomb and was badly damaged, though not destroyed.

Nearby, the Twickenham Museum covers the history of Twickenham, Whitton, Teddington and the Hamptons. Twickenham Museum website.