Adela Street, W10

Road in/near Kensal Town, existing between 1871 and now.

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Road · * · W10 ·
MAY
11
2015
Adela Street is a small cul-de-sac in Kensal Town.

Thanks to a feature about the movie Steptoe and Son (1972) on the ReelStreets
website, we are taking a small trip both down memory lane and indeed Adela Street in Kensal Town.

Adela Street is a tiny, otherwise inconsequential cul-de-sac off of Kensal Road. It might have remained that way had not location scouts discovered it had, in the early 1970s, just the right look as the location of Oildrum Lane "in Shepherd's Bush", the site of the Steptoe's fictional scrapyard.

 


"Oildrum Lane, Shepherds Bush"
"Oildrum Lane, Shepherds Bush"
(click image to enlarge)


Let's first join that cantankerous duo as they amble into Oildrum Lane. In a gripping piece of plot, the father and son have just been to visit the Royal Courts of Justice where their horse and cart received a parking ticket.

For those who know this street, the camera is situated on the west side of Adela Street. To the left of the Vernons billboard lies "The Cut" - the Grand Union Canal, though you can't see it here. Those larger buildings are on Harrow Road but they have since been demolished.

adeliastreet2
As the horse and cart enters the yard, the camera position changes to face 'Arold and the main memory of many a West Tenner, the gasworks at the top of Ladbrove Grove comes into view.

Adela Road was always a bit of a nondescript piece of real estate but the Steptoes seem to make it look particularly terrible! Adela Street was originally built by Mr Richard Ward of Holland Park in 1871. The name may be connected with Adela Ward Richardson, a spinster lady who owned several properties in North London in the mid-nineteenth century and was probably related to Richard Ward.

Adela Street had a brief starring role in the seminal 1972 movie Steptoe and Son as it doubled up as the location of Oildrum Lane, the site of their scrapyard.

As depicted in the film, Adela Street looks run down, but since the 1970s it has undergone a bit of a transformation. It is now the site of some expensive real estate.

The property booms which came later changed Adela Street into a desirable address.


Looking towards Kensal Road
Looking towards Kensal Road
(click image to enlarge)


In a very 1972 looking shot, we briefly glimpse Adela Street looking the other way, back towards Kensal Road. In a modern shot, the building opposite the end of the street remains, but the buildings on both sides of the street have been upgraded,

In the days before we all had smartphones and were able to take photos of everything, the films and TV programmes of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s are sometimes the only public record of the look and the streets of London in those post-war years.

London W10 was rather well-documented via the medium of cinema - "The Blue Lamp" for the 1950s up tp "Minder" in the 1980s via the likes of "The Sweeny" means that we have a record of the area, bombsites all all. Certain of us are not watching the film at all, but the background scenes.

One last still from Steptoe and Son shows not Adela Street but instead Southern Row.  One last view of our old friend, the gasholder.


southernrow






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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY


Simon Waller   

Wordpress comment (November 9, 2023)
My grandmother, Nellie Alexandra Redgrave, was the second oldest of 9 children, born 1902 at No3 Adela St W10. I think this is the second house from the gate in the “oildrum lane scrapyard”
This comment was posted on The Underground Map blog. Clicking the link will take you to the blog page

Lakshan de Silva   

Wordpress comment (October 7, 2020)
Adele Street also appears in The Apprentice and if I recall partly in an episode of The Bill circa 1988/89.
This comment was posted on The Underground Map blog. Clicking the link will take you to the blog page
Comment
Fumblina   
Added: 27 Mar 2021 11:13 GMT   

St Jude’s Church, Lancefield Street
Saint Jude’s was constructed in 1878, while the parish was assigned in 1879 from the parish of Saint John, Kensal Green (P87/JNE2). The parish was united with the parishes of Saint Luke (P87/LUK1) and Saint Simon (P87/SIM) in 1952. The church was used as a chapel of ease for a few years, but in 1959 it was closed and later demolished.

The church is visible on the 1900 map for the street on the right hand side above the junction with Mozart Street.

Source: SAINT JUDE, KENSAL GREEN: LANCEFIELD STREET, WESTMINSTER | Londo

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Fumblina   
Added: 27 Mar 2021 11:08 GMT   

Wedding at St Jude’s Church
On 9th November 1884 Charles Selby and Johanna Hanlon got married in St Jude’s Church on Lancefield Street. They lived together close by at 103 Lancefield Street.
Charles was a Lather, so worked in construction. He was only 21 but was already a widower.
Johanna is not shown as having a profession but this is common in the records and elsewhere she is shown as being an Ironer or a Laundress. It is possible that she worked at the large laundry shown at the top of Lancefield Road on the 1900 map. She was also 21. She was not literate as her signature on the record is a cross.
The ceremony was carried out by William Hugh Wood and was witnessed by Charles H Hudson and Caroline Hudson.

Source: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1623/images/31280_197456-00100?pId=6694792

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Dave Fahey   
Added: 6 Jan 2021 02:40 GMT   

Bombing of the Jack O Newberry
My maternal grandfather, Archie Greatorex, was the licensee of the Earl of Warwick during the Second World War. My late mother Vera often told the story of the bombing of the Jack. The morning after the pub was bombed, the landlord’s son appeared at the Warwick with the pub’s till on an old pram; he asked my grandfather to pay the money into the bank for him. The poor soul was obviously in shock. The previous night, his parents had taken their baby down to the pub cellar to shelter from the air raids. The son, my mother never knew his name, opted to stay in his bedroom at the top of the building. He was the only survivor. I often wondered what became of him.

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Brenda Newton   
Added: 5 Jun 2021 07:17 GMT   

Hewer Street W10
John Nodes Undertakers Hewer Street W10

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Comment
   
Added: 30 Dec 2022 21:41 GMT   

Southam Street, W10
do any one remember J&A DEMOLITON at harrow rd kensal green my dad work for them in a aec 6 wheel tipper got a photo of him in it

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Lived here
Scott Hatton   
Added: 11 Sep 2020 15:38 GMT   

6 East Row (1960 - 1960)
We lived at 6 East Row just before it was demolished.

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danny currie   
Added: 30 Nov 2022 18:39 GMT   

dads yard
ron currie had a car breaking yard in millers yard back in the 60s good old days

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Comment
   
Added: 4 Sep 2022 15:42 GMT   

Superman 2
I worked here in 1977. The scene in the prison laundry in Superman 2 was filmed here.

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Comment
CydKB   
Added: 31 Mar 2023 15:07 GMT   

BlackJack Playground
Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance was my favourite childhood park.I went to St Mary’s Catholic school, East Row from Nursery all the way through to Year 6 before Secondary School and I was taken here to play most days. There was a centre piece flower bed in the Voysey Garden surrounded by a pond which my classmates and I used to jump over when no one was looking. The Black jack playground was the go to playground for our sports days and my every day shortcut to get close to the half penny steps foot bridge via Kensal Road. There was also a shop where we could buy ice lollies on hot summer days.The Southern Row side of the Park was filled with pebbles which used to be so fun to walk through as a child, I used to walk through the deepness of the pebbles to get to Bosworth Road or east towards Hornimans Adventure Park.

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Brenda Newton   
Added: 5 Jun 2021 07:27 GMT   

Hewer Street, W10
My husband Barry Newton lived over John Nodes in Hewer Street in 1950’s. Barry dad Tom worked for John Nodes and raced pigeons in his spare time Tom and his Lena raised 5 sons there before moving to the Southcoast in the mid 70’s due to Tom ill health

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donna    
Added: 25 Jan 2021 13:25 GMT   

Ladbroke Dwellings
Three generations of my family lived along this row of dwellings, ’Ladbroke Dwellings’. All the men who lived there worked at the Gasworks. Among the shops you mention was Wilson’s sweet shop run by Maggie and her sister, and Johns grocery store. I believe there was also a photograph studio there too.



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Comment
   
Added: 14 Jan 2022 03:06 GMT   

Goldbourne Gardens W 10
I lived in Goldbourne Gardens in the 50,s very happy big bomb site

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stephen garraway   
Added: 13 Nov 2022 13:56 GMT   

Martin Street, Latimer Road
I was born at St Charlottes and lived at 14, Martin Street, Latimer Road W10 until I was 4 years old when we moved to the east end. It was my Nan Grant’s House and she was the widow of George Frederick Grant. She had two sons, George and Frederick, and one daughter, my mother Margaret Patricia.
The downstairs flat where we lived had two floors, the basement and the ground floor. The upper two floors were rented to a Scot and his family, the Smiths. He had red hair. The lights and cooker were gas and there was one cold tap over a Belfast sink. A tin bath hung on the wall. The toilet was outside in the yard. This was concreted over and faced the the rear of the opposite terraces. All the yards were segregated by high brick walls. The basement had the a "best" room with a large , dark fireplace with two painted metal Alsation ornaments and it was very dark, cold and little used.
The street lights were gas and a man came round twice daily to turn them on and off using a large pole with a hook and a lighted torch on the end. I remember men coming round the streets with carts selling hot chestnuts and muffins and also the hurdy gurdy man with his instrument and a monkey in a red jacket. I also remember the first time I saw a black man and my mother pulling me away from him. He had a Trilby and pale Mackintosh so he must of been one of the first of the Windrush people. I seem to recall he had a thin moustache.
Uncle George had a small delivery lorry but mum lost touch with him and his family. Uncle Fred went to Peabody Buildings near ST.Pauls.
My Nan was moved to a maisonette in White City around 1966, and couldn’t cope with electric lights, cookers and heating and she lost all of her neighbourhood friends. Within six months she had extreme dementia and died in a horrible ward in Tooting Bec hospital a year or so later. An awful way to end her life, being moved out of her lifelong neighbourhood even though it was slums.

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PeteR   
Added: 24 Jul 2023 12:41 GMT   

Correction of street name
Text mentions Embrook Street on Queen’s Park Estate. It should read Enbrook Street

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Sean Farrell   
Added: 13 Feb 2024 10:09 GMT   

Jack of Newbury
His name was Thomas Mathews. He was not the son, but son-in-law (or possibly brother-in-law) to Catherine Bond, wife of the licensee, William. He was a taxi driver before and after the war and eventually took on a pub in Bedfordshire in the 1960’s. He died in 1984. It was information from his nephew that I heard about his escape from the rubble of the pub.

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Wendy    
Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT   

Polygon Buildings
Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings.

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Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT   

Road construction and houses completed
New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only.

Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT   

Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS)
One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc.

I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Charles   
Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT   

My House
I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s.

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NH   
Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT   

Telephone House
Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000

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Paul Cox   
Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT   

War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street
Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there.

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Diana   
Added: 28 Feb 2024 13:52 GMT   

New Inn Yard, E1
My great grandparents x 6 lived in New Inn Yard. On this date, their son was baptised in nearby St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch

Source: BDM London, Cripplegate and Shoreditch registers written by church clerk.

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Vic Stanley   
Added: 24 Feb 2024 17:38 GMT   

Postcose
The postcode is SE15, NOT SE1

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LOCAL PHOTOS
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Coronation street party, 1953.
TUM image id: 1545250697
Licence: CC BY 2.0
The "Western"
TUM image id: 1489498043
Licence: CC BY 2.0
Clayton Arms
TUM image id: 1453029104
Licence: CC BY 2.0
The Foresters
TUM image id: 1453071112
Licence: CC BY 2.0
The Lads of the Village pub
TUM image id: 1556874496
Licence: CC BY 2.0
The Prince of Wales
TUM image id: 1556874951
Licence: CC BY 2.0
Kensington Park Hotel
TUM image id: 1453375720
Licence: CC BY 2.0
The Albion, now in residential use.
TUM image id: 1556404154
Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

Click an image below for a better view...
Coronation street party, 1953.
Licence: CC BY 2.0


The "Western"
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Ladbroke Grove (1866) The future Kensington Park Hotel is the corner building on the left. The area beyond the railway bridge (now the Hammersmith and City Line) was still green fields at this stage
Licence:


Clayton Arms
Licence: CC BY 2.0


The Earl Derby stood on the corner of Southern Row and Bosworth Road. The Earl Derby himself was Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby who fought at the battle of Bosworth.
Licence: CC BY 2.0


The Foresters
Licence: CC BY 2.0


The Lads of the Village pub
Licence: CC BY 2.0


The Prince of Wales
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Admiral Blake (The Cowshed) Adjacent Admiral Mews was occupied by a series of sheds for cows. Drovers bringing their cattle to the London markets would house them in these sheds for the night, whilst they themselves found shelter and refreshment in the neighbouring tavern, which received a nickname alongside its official one. The exterior of the pub was featured in the early 2000s pub-based sitcom, "Time Gentlemen Please", written by Richard Herring and Al Murray.
Licence:


Photographed just after the Second World War, this is the bombed-out Rackham Street, London W10 looking down from the junction with Exmoor Street. Rackham Street ran off Ladbroke Grove, roughly along the line of the modern Bruce Close.
Credit: Kensington and Chelsea library
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