It is located 12.5 miles (20 km) west of Charing Cross and immediately east of Heathrow Airport, from which it is separated by the River Crane.

[2][3] Before the Norman Conquest, the village was a small Saxon settlement in all senses completely surrounded by its open fields abutting the north of Hounslow Heath and was in Elthorne Hundred for troop-mustering and taxation purposes.

[5] Cranford also has one of only two remaining "lock-ups" in the Metropolitan Police area, this one built in 1838 to hold drunks and vagrants overnight, before finding use as a mortuary for the parish council.

[5] The Berkeley family also gave their name to Berkeley Parade, where there are now many shops, largely convenience or regular services, which were built on remaining common land open fields on the south of the Bath Road in the 1930s – the "château-type" buildings with little slated turrets were branded "ingenious architectural fun" in the journal Architectural Review in 1939.

The parish is drained by its one large stream that flows gently southwards past it and waters its relatively flat gravel subsoil, the surface being hardy loam.

The London Borough recommends the expansive views across Rectory Farm as part of a walk along Bath Road; to the far side is low-rise housing in Heston.

In some parts the housing takes the form of single storey bungalows, some of which have unusual tall Dutch gable ends.

[5] The middle of the locality's position, directly below the flight path of the northern runway of Heathrow Airport led to a ministerial statement-backed undertaking by the airport operator: the Cranford Agreement given on 31 July 1952 at a meeting of the Cranford Residents' and District Amenities Association – as far as possible, the northern runway would not be used for landings or take-offs to the east.

The current building, in Cranford High Street, was opened by Mary Lalle Foley-Berkeley, 17th Baroness Berkeley and Ronald, Bishop of Kensington, on 26 September 1970.

The benefice is a rectory – no secular church tithe appropriation ever took place in return for chancel upkeep, by an impropriator, which gives rise to the need to have a vicar.

His brother, Earl Fitzhardinge, was the patron of the church, although convicted for criminal conversation (adultery): he died unmarried and without legitimate children.