The Villa of John Soane, Great Ealing

Ealing lay some seven miles from London and was divided into Great and Little Ealing. The church, completely rebuilt by 1740, was dedicated to St Mary. There were a number of Sunday schools established in the parish in 1786. By 1810 sixty boys and more than 100 girls were educated in these schools which were meant to "increase the comforts and reform the manners of the poor." There was also a school for industry for forty girls employed in the making of coarse shirts.