Fifty years ago the greater portion of Kensington and Paddington was
under cultivation for corn, market gardening, nurseries and grass land.
It would appear from ancient records that in past time the temperature of
England must have been much higher than at present, for we read of
vineyards and of wine being produced in very large quantities. Of those
vineyards, especially about Brompton, there are many records.
“Bewick” writes of a spot of ground called Brompton Park as being famed
all over the kingdom for the growth of plants, and adds the stock is so
large that if reckoned only at a penny each plant the whole value would
be above £40,000.
PADDINGTON in the time of Edgar was given to the monks of Westminster at
the cost of two hides of land. As the value of a hide of land in Henry
the First’s time was 3/-, the monks had a good bargain.
The name is of doubtful derivation, Pad may mean a path or a robber. It
may also mean a saddle. The place may have been infested by robbers, or
it may have been a place where travellers stopped to bait their horses
and “re-padded.”
Pope Nicolas IV. gave the whole proceeds of the manor of Paddington to
the poor.
This manor at the reformation passed into the hands of the Established
Church. Much as I value the Reformation I cannot pass on without asking
what the people to whom this manor of Paddington was given have done for
the poor. If the poor had that which others have taken from them we
should not have the sad spectacle of old couples driven into a workhouse
in which no provision is made for them to end their days together.
Married by a church which says “What God has joined together let no man
put asunder.” That very church has become possessed of the means which
would have enabled them to end their days in peace and comfort.
In Henry the Eighth’s time the manor of Paddington was valued at £41 16s.
8d. Edward the Sixth granted the manor and rectory to Bishop Ridley,
then Bishop of London, and to his heirs and successors.
KENSINGTON church lands were also very extensive, as much property was
given in the reign of Henry the First to the monastery of Abingdon. St.
Mary Abbot’s district of Kensington will indicate the ground which was
thus handed over to the abbots.
In 1527 a curate of Kensington (Sebastian Harris) was charged with having
in his possession a New Testament and a Lutheran book.
He was ordered to leave Kensington within 2 days and not to return within
4 miles of the place for 2 years.
Tyndale’s New Testament was published 1525.
In 1612, in the reign of James I., the Archdeacon and other officials of
churches were commanded to make answer to certain questions which threw
some light upon the condition of the church and people of Kensington.
From those answers I gather—