A piece of topographical history was disclosed at the recent trial of a
cause at Westminster, which it may be worth while to record among your
"Notes." The Dean and Chapter of Westminster are possessed of the manor
of Westbourne Green, in the parish of Paddington, parcel of the
possessions of the extinct Abbey of Westminster. It must have belonged
to the Abbey when _Domesday_ was compiled; for, though neither
Westbourne nor Knightsbridge (also a manor of the same house) is
specially named in that survey, yet we know, from a later record, viz. a
_Quo Warranto_ in 22 Edward I., that both of those manors were members,
or constituent hamlets, of the vill of Westminster, which is mentioned
in _Domesday_ among the lands of the Abbey. The most considerable tenant
under the abbot in this vill was _Bainiardus_, probably the same Norman
associate of the Conqueror who is called Baignardus and Bainardus in
other parts of the survey, and who gave his name to Baynard's Castle.
The descent of the land held by him of the abbot cannot be clearly
traced: but his name long remained attached to part of it; and, as late
as the year 1653, a parliamentary grant of the Abbey or Chapter lands to
Foxcrafte and another, describes "the common field at Paddington" as
being "near a place commonly called _Baynard's Watering_."
In 1720, the lands of the Dean and Chapter in the same common field are
described, in a terrier of the Chapter, to be the occupation of
Alexander Bond, of _Bear's Watering_, in the same parish of Paddington.
The common field referred to, is the well-known piece of garden ground
lying between Craven Hill and the Uxbridge road, called also _Bayswater
Field_.
We may therefore fairly conclude, that this portion of ground, always
remarkable for its springs of excellent water, once supplied water to
Baynard, his household, or his cattle; that the memory of his name was
preserved in the neighbourhood for six centuries; and that his
watering-place now figures on the outside of certain green omnibuses in
the streets of London, under the name of BAYSWATER.