Bedfont is a district in the London Borough of Hounslow in West London. It is 21 km west-southwest of Charing Cross and 2 miles from Heathrow Airport. It consists of the area that is informally referred to as North Feltham along with the neighbourhood of Hatton.
Bedfont is described within the Domesday Book as ‘Bedefunde’, which is believed to result from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘Bedfunta’, which means ‘bed’s spring’. It states that the manors of Bedfont, Hatton and Stanmore had been all held by William Fitz Other. Just before Heathrow’s Terminal 5 was built, just a few miles north of Bedfont, archaeologists found Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman artefacts, suggesting that individuals were residing in and around Bedfont during these eras.
The population of Bedfont stood at 12,701 at the 2011 census. The amount of inhabitants began to rise when Heathrow Airport was opened in 1946. This caused increasing demand for nearby housing, specifically as the village of Heathrow was lost in addition to part of the Hamlet of Hatton.
Bedfont has two surviving manor houses: Pates Manor, once owned by the Page family, and Fawns Manor. Pates Manor is behind the Church of St Mary the Virgin and dates from the late 15th century. Fawns Manor is on the south side of the Green and dates from the 16th century, now belonging to the British Airways Housing Association.