Road. A great part of the district lying to the east of this, and
including Clarendon Road, Portobello Road, and Ladbroke Grove, was
formerly covered by an immense racecourse called the Hippodrome. It
stretched northward in a great ellipse, and then trended north-west and
ended up roughly where is now the Triangle, at the west end of St.
Quintin Avenue. It was used for both flat racing and steeplechasing, and
the steeplechase course was more than two miles in length. The place was
very popular, being within easy reach of London, but the ground was
never very good for the purpose, as it was marshy. The Hippodrome was
opened in 1837, and Count d'Orsay was one of the stewards; the last race
took place in 1841. St. John's Church stands on a hill, once a grassy
mound within the Hippodrome enclosure, which is marked in a contemporary
map "Hill for pedestrians," apparently a sort of natural grand-stand.
The Church was consecrated in 1845, four years after the closing of the
racecourse. The entrance to the racecourse was in what is now Park Road,
just above Ladbroke Road, near the Norbury Chapel. The district,
therefore, all dates from the latter half of the nineteenth century; it
is well laid out, with broad streets and large houses, though north of
Lansdowne Road the quarter is not so good. It is very difficult to find
anything interesting to record of this part of Kensington; a
perambulation there must be, or the borough would be left incompletely
described, but such a perambulation can only resolve itself into a
catalogue of churches and schools. Ladbroke Grove goes down the steep
hill above noticed. St Mark's Church gives its name to the road in which
it stands: it was consecrated in 1863.
Northward, at the corner of Lancaster Road, stands a fine Wesleyan
chapel in the Early English style, with quatrefoil and cinquefoil stone
tracery in the windows. It is built of white brick and has large schools
below. The foundation stone was laid in 1879 and the church opened May
20, 1880. Very nearly opposite to it are the large brick buildings of
the Kensington Public Baths. Between the Lancaster and Walmer Roads we
come again to the very poor district extending from the Potteries. In
Fowell Street there is a square, yellow brick Primitive Methodist
chapel, with a stone stating that it was founded "Aug. 2nd, 1864, by J.
Fowell, who gave the land." Fowell Street leads into Bomore Road, at the
corner of which stands Notting Dale Chapel; this is a plain brick
building founded in 1851. In the other direction, westward, Bomore Road
takes us past the top of St. Clement's Road, and turning into this we
pass St. Clement's Church, opened in 1867. It is a plain yellow and red
brick building, but the walls of the chancel are decorated, and there is
a pretty east window. The parish contains 12,000 people, and is one of
the poorest in London, not even excepting the worst of the East End.
Mary Place is at right angles to St. Clement's Road, and in this there
is a supplementary workhouse. It contains the relief office, large
casual wards, the able-bodied workhouse, and a Poor Law Dispensary.
Opposite are large Board Schools; the Roman Catholic Schools in the
Silchester Road have been already mentioned in connection with the
Catholic Schools of St. Francis. On the northern side of Silchester Road
is the Notting Barn Tavern, which stands on the site of the old Notting
Barns Farm. Beyond Walmer Road, northwards, are a few rows of houses,
and a Board School, and a great stretch of common reaching to St.
Quintin Avenue. The backs of the houses in Latimer Road are seen across
the common on the west; these houses, however, lie without the
Kensington boundary line. A road called St. Helen's Gardens bounds the
common on the east, and leads to St. Helen's Church, which is a severely
plain red-brick building. North of St. Quintin Avenue is another great
stretch of common, and at its south-eastern corner lies St. Charles's
Square. The square was named after St. Charles's College, a Roman
Catholic establishment, which forms an imposing mass at the east side.
The College was founded by Cardinal Manning. It was humble in its
origin, beginning in 1863 with a few young boys in a room near the
church of St. Mary of the Angels, Bayswater. Other houses were taken as
necessity arose, and in 1872 the numbers were so great that the question
of building a suitable college arose. There was at first a difficulty
about obtaining the freehold of the site desired--that on which the
present building stands--but this was overcome eventually, and the whole
cost of the College came to about £40,000. It stands in a square of 11
acres, and was finished in 1874. The building is of red brick with stone
facings, and is ornamented by figures of saints; it is about 300 feet in
extent. In the centre is a tower, rising to a height of 140 feet, on
which are the Papal Tiara and Crossed Keys. A corridor runs nearly the
length of the building inside. On the laying-out of the recreation
grounds and gardens between one and two thousand pounds has been spent.
The object of the College is to bring education within the reach of all
scholars at a moderate cost. The students do not necessarily become
priests, but enter various professions, and in 1890 it was reckoned
that no less than 1,200 youths had passed through the curriculum. A
museum and library are among the rooms. And standing as it does on the
outskirts of London, with much open ground in the vicinity, the building
is very favourably situated for its purpose.
Over the garden walls of the College we see the high buildings of the
Marylebone Infirmary. Further northward are the western gasworks, and
just beyond them the well-known cemetery of Kensal Green. The principal
entrance is a great stone gateway of the Doric order with iron gates in
the Harrow Road. Avenues of young lime-trees, chestnuts, and tall
Lombardy poplars line the walks, between which a straight central
roadway leads to the church at the west end. The multitude of tombstones
within the cemetery is bewildering. On either side of the way are
immense sepulchres of granite, marble, or stone. Some in the Gothic
style resemble small chapels; others, again, are in an Egyptian style.
The church and the long colonnades of the catacombs are built in the
same way as the gateway. The cemetery contains 77 acres, and the first
burial took place in 1833. The grave of the founder, with a stone
inscribed "George Frederick Carden, died 1874, aged 76," lies not far
from the chapel, with a plain slab at the head.
The roll of those buried here includes many illustrious names: The Duke
of Sussex, died 1843, and the Princess Sophia, died 1848, both of whom
we have already met in another part of Kensington; Anne Scott and Sophia
Lockhart, daughters of Sir W. Scott; his son-in-law, J. G. Lockhart;
Allan Cunningham, died 1842; Rev. Sydney Smith, died 1845; W. Mackworth
Praed, 1839; Tom Hood, died 1845; I. K. Brunel, died 1859; Charles
Kemble, died, 1854; Leigh Hunt, died 1859; W. M. Thackeray, died 1863;
J. Leech, died 1863; Sir Charles Eastlake, P.R.A., died 1865; Charles
Babbage, P.R.S., died 1871; Anthony Trollope, died 1882; besides many
others distinguished in literature, art, or science.
The name Kensal possibly owes its derivation to the same source as
Kensington, but there is no certainty in the matter.
The Grand Junction Canal runs along the south side of the cemetery, and
the borough boundary cuts across it at Ladbroke Grove Road. There is a
Roman Catholic church in Bosworth Road; it is of red brick, with pointed
windows, and is called Our Lady of the Holy Souls. The mission was
established here in 1872, and the present building opened in 1882. In
the interior the arches and pillars are of white stone, and the
altar-piece is a large coloured panel painting. In Bosworth Road,
further southward, there is a very small Baptist chapel with plaster
front. The church of St. Andrew and St. Philip stands to the east in
Golborne Gardens. It was built in 1869, and is of red brick with stone
facings in the French Gothic style. In the upper or northern part of
Mornington Road, on the eastern side, is a large Board School, where
special instruction is given to blind, or partially blind, children. On
the opposite side, slightly further up, is Christ Church, a model of
simplicity, and within it is light, lofty, and well proportioned. It has
a narthex at the east end. The font is a solid block of red-veined
Devonshire marble. The church was founded in August, 1880, and
consecrated May 14, 1881.
In Golborne Road we pass a plaster-fronted brick chapel
(Congregational). The Portobello Road is of immense length, running
north-west and south-east. This quarter is not so aristocratic as its
high-sounding name would lead us to infer. Faulkner gives us the origin
of the name. "Near the turnpike is Porto Bello Lane, leading to the farm
so called, which was the property of Mr. A. Adams, the builder, at the
time that Porto Bello was captured." He adds: "This is one of the most
rural and pleasant walks in the summer in the vicinity of London." So
much could not be said now, for in the lower part the road is very
narrow and is lined with inferior shops. The Porto Bello Farm seems to
have stood almost exactly on the site of the present St. Joseph's Home
for the Aged Poor, which is just below the entrance of the Golborne
Road, and is on the east side. This is a large brick building, in which
many aged men and women are supported by the contributions collected
daily by the Sisters. It is a Roman Catholic institution, and was
founded by a Frenchman in 1861, but the benefits of the charity are not
confined to Roman Catholics. It was humble in its origin, beginning in a
private house in Sutherland Avenue. The present building was erected for
the purpose when the charity increased in size. There is a chapel in
connection with the building. Exactly opposite is the Franciscan
Convent, with its appendage, the Elizabeth Home for Girls. The building,
of brick, looks older than that of St. Joseph's. Behind the convent runs
St. Lawrence's Road, between which and Ladbroke Grove Road stands the
church of St. Michael and All Angels, founded in 1870, and consecrated
the following year. It is of brick, in the Romanesque style, forming a
contrast to the numerous so-called Gothic churches in the parish.
If we continue southwards, either by Portobello or Ladbroke Grove Roads,
we pass under the Hammersmith and City Junction Railway, carried
overhead by bridges. Ladbroke Hall stands south of the bridge in
Ladbroke Grove, and a large Board School in Portobello Road. A little
further south in Ladbroke Grove is a branch of the Kensington Public
Library, opened temporarily in the High Street, January, 1888, and
established here October, 1891.
In Cornwall Road is the entrance to the Convent of the Poor Clares,
which is a large brick building, covering, with its grounds, 1¾
acres, and which was built for the convent purposes in 1859, having been
founded by Cardinal (then Father) Manning. The nuns, numbering about
thirty, are vowed to the contemplative life of prayer and manual labour
in the service of God, but do no teaching or nursing, and there are no
lay sisters. The next opening on the south side of Cornwall Road is
Kensington Park Road, in which stands a Presbyterian church, built of
light brick. On the north side of Cornwall Road is Basing Road, in which
is a Congregational chapel of white brick. In Talbot Road we see the
high lantern tower of All Saints' Church, founded in 1852, and
consecrated 1861. Its tower is supposed to resemble the belfry of
Bruges, and is 100 feet in height. The mission church of St. Columb's at
Notting Hill Station is in connection with All Saints', and ministered
to by the same clergy.
A few yards further on in Talbot Road is the entrance to the Talbot
Tabernacle. The building stands back from the road, behind iron gates,
and is faced with blazing red brick, while over the doorways is a
profusion of ornamental moulding.
The streets lying to the south of Talbot Road require no particular
comment. At the corner of Archer Street, Kensington Park Road takes a
sudden south-easterly turn, and below the turn is St. Peter's Church,
very different from the other churches in the district, being in the
Italian style. It was consecrated January 7, 1876. The decoration of the
interior is very elaborate, some of the pillars having gilded capitals.
In Denbigh Road there is a stuccoed Wesleyan Methodist chapel, dated
1856. Northward runs Norfolk Terrace, lately merged in Westbourne Grove.
In it, at the corner of Ledbury Road, stands the Westbourne Grove
Baptist Chapel, a fine gray stone building with two southern steeple
towers.
The southern end of Pembridge Road is joined at an angle by Kensington
Park Road, and at the corner stands Horbury Congregational Chapel,
founded in August, 1848. It is built of gray stone and stands in a good
position. Nos. 1 to 15, Clanricarde Gardens, and six shops in Notting
Hill High Street, belong to the poor of Kensington; they are built on
land given to the parish by an anonymous benefactor in 1652. This is
known as Cromwell's gift, but there is not the smallest evidence to
show that Cromwell was the donor. Lysons mentions the tradition, but
confesses there is no evidence to support it.
And now we have traversed Kensington from end to end, and in so doing
have come across many notable men and many fair women. Kensington is
royal among suburbs on account of its Palace, and its annals include
history as well as the anecdotes of great men. Yet though old
associations live in name and tradition, none of the buildings, as at
present standing, date back further than the older parts of Holland
House and Kensington Palace, and the greater part are much more modern.
The zenith of Kensington's popularity was not reached until after the
Hanoverian Sovereigns sat on the English throne, and this is a mere
nothing in time compared with that enjoyed by some parts of outer
London--for instance, Chelsea. That there should be so much to say about
the district, in spite of its comparative youth, shows how richly it has
been peopled. Statesmen, men of letters, royalties, court beauties, and
divines we have met. One of the greatest of our novelists and our
greatest philosopher were closely connected with Kensington, and the
tour made around the borough may fitly rival in interest any but those
taken in the very heart of London.
INDEX
Abbot's Manor, 7, 10, 46
"Adam and Eve," 41
Addison, Joseph, 35, 50, 77
Addison Road, 85
Albert Gate, 12
Albert Hall, 25
Albert Memorial, 66
Alexandra House, 28
Allen Street, 40
Anne, Queen, 56
Aubrey House, 75
Bangor, Bishop of, 49
Barker, Christopher, 9
Barracks, The, 14
Blessington, Lady, 26
Boltons, The, 33
Boyle, Richard, 35
Bray, Sir Reginald, 9
Brompton, 4
Brompton Cemetery, 35
Brompton Grove, 16
Brompton Heath, 33
Brompton Park, 19
Brompton Road, 15
Brontë, Charlotte, 52
Brooks, Shirley, 15
Browning, Robert, 54
Brunswick Gardens, 69
Bullingham House, 67, 68
Burghley, Lord, 10
Burleigh, John, _see also_ Burghley, 34
Burlington, Earl of, 73
Burne-Jones, Sir E., 50
Camelford, Lord, 84
Campden House, 3, 71
Campden, Viscount, 72
Canning, George, 32
Caroline, Queen, 32
Caroline the Illustrious, 57, 58
Chardin, Sir Charles, 77
Chester, Bishop of, 35
Church Street, 67, 69
Churches:
All Saints', Ennismore Gardens, 18
All Saints', Notting Hill, 97
Carmelite, 67
Christ, 95
Holy Trinity, Brompton, 16
Holy Trinity, Kensington Gore, 28
Horbury Chapel, 98
New Jerusalem, 70
Our Lady of Seven Dolours, 34
Our Lady of the Holy Souls, 94
Pro-Cathedral, The, 40
St. Andrew and St. Philip, 95
St. Augustine's, 28
St. Barnabas, 85
St. Clement's, 91
St. Cuthbert's, 38
St. Gabriel's, 87
St. George's, 75
St. Helen's, 91
St. James's, 87
St. John's, 89
St. John the Baptist, 85
St. Jude's, 38
St. Mark's, 90
St. Mary Abbots, 43
St. Mary's, 33
St. Mathias', 38
St. Michael and All Angels', 96
St. Paul's, Onslow Square, 29
St. Paul's, Vicarage Gate, 69
St. Peter's, 98
St. Stephen's, Earl's Court, 38
St. Stephen's, Gloucester Road, 38
Talbot Tabernacle, 97
Clarence, Duke of, 62
Clarkson, 26
Cobbett, William, 43
Colby, Sir T., 53
Cole, Vicat, 74
Coleherne Court, 37
Coleridge, 39
Colman, George, 15
Consumption Hospital, 30
Convent of the Assumption, 49
Convent of the Poor Clares, 97
Cope, Sir Walter, 8, 9, 10, 71, 76
Cornwallis, Sir W., 10
Crabbe, 32
Cranley Gardens, 31
Croker, Crofton, 15
Cromwell, 84, 99
Cromwell Gardens, 21
Cromwell, Henry, 20, 45
Cromwell House, 19, 20
Cromwell, Oliver, 20
De Vere Gardens, 54
Dickens, 16
Disraeli, 26
Dodington, William, 9
Donaldson Museum, 28
D'Orsay, Count, 26
Downham, Simon, 6, 8
Dukeries, The, 74
Earl's Court, 36
Earl's Court Exhibition, 37
Earl's Court Manor, 10
Edwardes Square, 38
Elliot, Lady, 12
Elphinstone, Dr., 53
Ely, Bishop of, 49
Ennismore Gardens, 16
Essex, William, 8
Evelyn, 19
Exhibition, Great, 20
Fairfax, General, 76
Finch, Sir Heneage, 55
Florida Tea-Gardens, 32
Flounder's Field, 16
Fowell Street, 90
Fox and Bull, 13
Fox, C. J., 14, 78
Fox, Henry, 78
Fox, Sir Stephen, 78
Franciscan Convent, 96
Free Library, 42
French Embassy, 12
Gainsborough, Earl of, 72
George I., 57
Gloucester, Bishop of, 35
Gloucester, Duchess of, 32
Gloucester, Duke of, 72
Gloucester Lodge, 32
Gloucester Road, 31
Gloucester Walk, 74
Gordon, General, 38
Gore House, 26
Gravel Pits, 4, 70
Great Exhibition, 66
Green, J. R., 49
Grenvilles, The, 8
Guizot, 29
Hale House, _see_ Cromwell House
Half-way House, 14
Harrington, Earl of, 21
Herrington Road, 28
Hereford House, 38
Hervey, Hon. A. J., 17
Hicks, Sir Baptist, 71
High Street, Kensington, 42, 48
Hippodrome, The, 89
Holland House, 76-84
Holland Lane, 75
Holland Park, 75
Holly Lodge, 74
Home for Crippled Boys, 41
Hood, Tom, 16
Horseman, Robert, 8
Horticultural Gardens, 24
Horticultural Society, 20
Hudson, Mr., 13
Hunt, Leigh, 28, 39
Hunter, John, 37
Hyde, Manor of, 12
Ifield Road, 35
Ilchester, Earl of, 78
Imperial Institute, 22
Inchbald, Mrs., 39, 45, 53
Jerdan, W., 16
Jerrold, Douglas, 16
Jockey Club, 14
Kensal Green Cemetery, 93
Kensington Court, 53
Kensington Gardens, 3, 54
Kensington Gore, 27
Kensington Grammar School, 49
Kensington House, 53
Kensington Manor, 7, 10
Kensington Palace, 3, 54
Kensington Palace Gardens, 70
Kensington Square, 3, 48
Kent, Duke of, 62
Kent House, 14
Kingston, Duchess of, 16
Kingston House, 16
Knightsbridge, 10, 11
Knightsbridge Green, 13
Knotting Barns, _see_ Notting Barns
Ladbroke Grove, 90
Lambert, General, 76
Lancaster Lodge, 73
Landor, 27
Latimer, Lord, 10
Liston, John, 15
Little Campden House, 73
Little Chelsea, 33, 35
Little Holland House, 85
Locke, 35
London University, 22
Lowther Lodge, 27
Lytton, Bulwer, 26
Macaulay, Lord, 74
Macaulay, Zachary, 26
Maids of Honour, 59
Mall, The, 70
Marochetti, 29
Mary Place, 91
Mary, Queen, 56
Matthews, Charles, 27, 29
Mazarin, Duchess of, 50
Melbury Road, 85
Michael's Grove, 15
Mill, James, 69
Mill, J. S., 49
Millais, Sir J. E., 28
Morland, George, 13
Murchison, Sir R., 35
Napoleon, Prince Louis, 27
Natural History Museum, 21
Newton, Sir Isaac, 4, 42, 67
Neyt, Manor of, 11
Noel, Lord, 72
Notting Barns, 7, 9, 10
Notting Hill, 3
Observatory Gardens, 74
Onslow Square, 29
Oratory, The, 18
Ovington Square, 16
Oxford, Bishop of, 49
Oxford, Earls of, 6
Palace Gate, 54
Pater, Walter, 39
Paulet, Sir William, 10
Pelham Crescent, 29
Penn, William, 77
Phillimore Terrace, 40
Pitt, Stephen, 73
Pitt Street, 69
Portobello Road, 95
Portsmouth, Duchess of, 53
Pottery Lane, 87
Princes Skating Club, 14
Priory Grove, 33
Queen's Gate, 28
Redcliffe Gardens, 35
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 13
Rich, Sir Henry, 10, 76
Richmond, Countess of, 9
Romilly, Sir S., 26
Royal College of Music, 28
Royal College of Science, 22
Royal Crescent, 86
Rutland Gate, 14
St. Charles's College, 92
St. Charles's Square, 92
St. George's Union, 34
St. Joseph's Home, 96
Scarsdale House, 41
Schools, Free, 42
Serpentine, The, 58
Shaftesbury, Earl of, 35
Sheffield House, 74
Sheffield Terrace, 74
Sheridan, 41
Shower, Sir Bartholomew, 35
Sophia, Princess, 64
South Kensington Museum, 19, 22
South, Sir James, 74
Stair, Lord, 17
State-rooms, 61
Strathnairn, Statue of, 13
Talleyrand, 49
Tattersall, 14
Technical Institute, City and Guilds, 28
Thackeray, 3, 29, 50
Thistle Grove Lane, 33
Town Hall, The, 42
Uxbridge Road, 86
Vere, Aubrey de, 5
Vestris, Madame, 27
Vicarage Gate, 69
Victoria and Albert Museum, _see_ South Kensington
Victoria, Queen, 62, 63
Victoria Road, 38
Walwyn, William, 7
Ward, Sir E., 35
Warren, Sir G., 17
Warwick, Countess of, 77
Warwick, First Earl of, 10
Watts, G. F., 51, 79
Wellesley, Marquess, 17
West Town, 8, 10
Wilberforce, W., 25
Wilkes, John, 27
Wilkie, Sir D., 40
William III., 55
Winchester, Marquis of, 8
Woolsthorpe House, 42
Wright's Lane, 41
Yates, Frederick, 15
York, Frederick, Duke of, 62
Young Street, 3
THE END
* * * * *
BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD
* * * * *
[Illustration: KENSINGTON DISTRICT--NORTH HALF.
Published by A. & C. Black, London.]
End of Project Gutenberg's The Kensington District, by Geraldine Edith Mitton