- published: 12 Apr 2013
- views: 1808
Coordinates: 51°27′00″N 0°26′24″W / 51.45010°N 0.43998°W / 51.45010; -0.43998
Bedfont is a small suburban town in Greater London, some 13 miles (21 km) to the west of central London and only 2 miles (3 km) from Heathrow Airport. It straddles the Staines Road at the west of the London Borough of Hounslow from Baber Bridge on the River Crane to the Surrey boundary at Ashford.
Referred to in the Domesday Book as “Bedefunde”, the name is thought to be derived from Anglo-Saxon Bedfunta = "Bed’s spring", or Bydenfunta = "spring provided with a drinking-vessel".
The Staines Road follows the Roman Via Trinobantes linking Londinium (London) to Pontes (Staines) and the West Country, though the name suggests older origins as the Trinobantes were a powerful Celtic tribe before the Roman invasion. Excavations prior to the building of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 site a few miles north west of Bedfont found evidence of settlement during the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman periods, suggesting there may have been people living in and around the Bedfont area during these periods.