Brentford is often referred to as the former county town of Middlesex, mainly because throughout most of the 18th and 19th centuries county elections were held and declared here, at The Butts. In fact, Brentford did not become a town in its own right until the 1870s, when New and Old Brentford were finally joined together, first under a local board of health and later, under Brentford Urban District Council. The town is one of considerable antiquity; many Elizabethan and Jacobean houses survived well into the 19th century, when they were surrounded by the transport and industrial infrastructure of a new prosperity. Its antiquity is highlighted at the foot of Ferry Lane, where with splendid civic pride the Brentford council of 1909 erected a monument, commemorating four of the town's historic events: the council of the church held by Offa, King of Mercia, in 780-1; the defeat of Cnut and his Danish army, driven across the Thames by King Edmund Ironside in 1016; the Battle of Brentford in the Civil War; and the defence of a fortified ford by Cassivellaunus and his British tribesmen against Julius Caesar in 54 BC.
This stone pillar now stands outside the County Court in the High Street. There is no firm evidence that Julius Caesar actually crossed here, though the existence of Roman settlements and an early ford makes it perfectly likely. Monument to Battle of Brentford 1723. There were also Battles of Brentford in 1016 and 1462. Industry began to arrive in the latter half of the 18th century. The first industries tended to rely on Brentford's corn market, with numerous malthouses, normally attached to inns, as well as breweries and distilleries. Several of the former still survived into the 1890s, and at least three breweries were still active, including one in Boston Manor Road and another in Catherine Wheel Yard. This particular industry went into decline locally as Fuller, Smith & Turner bought the independent breweries and sold off the premises. Only the Royal brewery survived beyond the turn of the century. 
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