Bayswater Road, W2

Road in/near Bayswater, existing until now.

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(51.51121 -0.17887, 51.511 -0.178) 
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Road · * · W2 ·
MAY
26
2021
Bayswater Road is the main road running along the northern edge of Hyde Park.

Like Oxford Street to the east, Bayswater Road follows the course of the old Roman road linking London with Silchester.

The eastern end of Bayswater Road starts at the Marble Arch junction, and in the west continues into Notting Hill Gate. It is mostly within the City of Westminster but a small portion of the road’s western end lies in Kensington and Chelsea.

By 1828, the main road (then known as Uxbridge Road) facing Kensington Gardens, had been built up between St Petersburg Place and Porchester Terrace.



The area at the bottom of Queensway (1829)
(click image to enlarge)


Along the west side of Black Lion Lane (later known as Queensway), there were houses as far as the corner of Moscow Road and more spacious villas, at first called Westbourne Terrace, further north almost reaching Pickering Place at the southern end of Westbourne Green. The east side of Black Lion Lane was still open, apart from a few large houses at the Uxbridge Road end.

A lot of this development was due to the tollbooth at the junction of Black Lion Lane and the Uxbridge/Bayswater Road, attracting the business of horse-drawn traffic waiting to pay the toll and deciding to refresh at the various inns and shops there.

Villas lined Porchester Terrace only as far as the corner of Craven Hill, which itself had cottages only on the north side. Fields survived along the Uxbridge Road from St. Agnes Villas to Bayard’s Watering Place, whence Elm Lane led northward, with some houses between it and the stream, along the line of the later Craven Terrace to the east end of Craven Hill.

By 1830, the area around Black Lion Lane was known as Bayswater.

In 1862 a ’great and aristocratic town’ had grown up, faster than all other suburbs, during the previous ten years. Houses were said to be better built and sited than before and, being near Kensington Gardens, to have a decided edge over "the solemn and obnubilated grandeur of the ill drained Belgravian flats".

Building covered the whole of Bayswater by 1865, helped by the arrival of the Metropolitan District Railway at Bayswater station (on Queensway) that decade.

Wealthy residents, who were quick to arrive, already in 1862 ranged from East India merchants to people who had moved from formerly more fashionable quarters. In 1885, Bayswater was nicknamed Asia Minor. Indian fruits and vegetables were on sale in local shops for former military and administrative professionals who had lived in the subcontinent. Other people which found themselves here late in the nineteenth century were a Jewish population and Greeks.

The fictional upper-middle class Forsyte family live in John Galsworthy’s The Forsyte Saga lived on the Bayswater Road.

Flat began to appear in place of houses during the twentieth century and by the 1960s, hotels were moving in.

Since the 1980s Bayswater has been the focus of a wave of settlement by people from the Middle East spreading from the southern end of the Edgware Road.

On Sunday mornings, over one hundred artists display their original works of art on the edge of Hyde Park close to the Italian Gardens.




Main source: A History of the County of Middlesex | British History Online
Further citations and sources


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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

None so far :(
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Comment
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.

Reply

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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Comment
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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Comment
Charles   
Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT   

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

Reply

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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Comment
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.

Reply
Comment
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.

Reply
Comment
Vic Stanley   
Added: 24 Feb 2024 17:38 GMT   

Postcose
The postcode is SE15, NOT SE1

Reply



LOCAL PHOTOS
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The Bayswater Conduit in 1798.
TUM image id: 1490459429
Licence: CC BY 2.0
Chilworth Street, W2
TUM image id: 1483806751
Licence: CC BY 2.0
Bayswater Road sign
TUM image id: 1682605971
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In the neighbourhood...

Click an image below for a better view...
The Bayswater Conduit in 1798.
Licence: CC BY 2.0


The Serpentine Gallery with the 2008 Pavilion. Every year since 2000 the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens has commissioned a temporary summer pavilion by a leading architect. The series presents the work of an international architect or design team who has not completed a building in England at the time of the Gallery’s invitation. Each Pavilion is completed within six months and is situated on the Gallery’s lawn for three months for the public to explore.
Credit: Wiki Commons
Licence: CC BY 2.0


The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, in Hyde Park, London (2006). Although described as an oval stone fountain, it has the form of a large, oval stream bed of about 50 by 80 metres. The 545 individual pieces of Cornish granite were cut by S. McConnell & Sons, in Kilkeel, Northern Ireland.
Credit: Wiki Commons/CGP Grey
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Chilworth Street, W2
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Going Greek, Colindale
Credit: IG/@going.greek
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Bayswater Road sign
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