Pottery Lane, W11

Road in/near Notting Hill, existing between the 1750s or before and now.

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(51.50874 -0.20994, 51.508 -0.209) 
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Road · * · W11 ·
August
1
2019
Pottery Lane takes its name from the brickfields which were situated at the northern end of the street.

The local soil was stiff clay and after 1818, the clay begun to be dug out here and used for brickmaking to supply London’s growing suburbs. Bricks and tiles were stored in sheds lining Pottery Lane and were fired in large kilns. Parts of the diggings flooded and a particular area became known as ’The Ocean’. Rubbish and effluent ended up here and it was bounded by dangerous walkways. Over the years, many drowned there.

Roughly at the same time as the brickmaking took off, pig keepers moved into the area. They had been evicted by their landlord from the Tottenham Court Road area and settled here. Many of those families lived together with the pigs in their houses.

As the area thus became a slum known as either The Potteries or The Piggeries. Conditions in Pottery Lane became so bad it became known as Cut Throat Lane.

On Sundays, there was cockfighting, bull-baiting and the killing of rats by dogs to amuse the residents.

An entrepreneur John Whyte built a racecourse known as the Hippodrome in 1837. This only lasted until 1842 as a public footpath leading from Pottery Lane crossed the racecourse. The fashionable aims of the racecourse were scuppered by this public access.

By the mid 1840s, life expectancy in the area was 11 years 7 months, compared with the London average of 37. In 1856, a medical officer described the area as "one of the most deplorable spots, not only in Kensington, but in the whole metropolis".

Pigs gradually disappeared later in the 19th century and new building improved the housing. Churches and public schools - including both Harrow and Rugby - established missions to help the poor.

Around the turn of the twentieth century, part of Pottery Lane was rebranded Portland Place for a time. In 1892, ’The Ocean’ was filled and covered. It is now Avondale Park.

Pottery Lane became richer in the late 20th century along with the rest of the Notting Hill area - today the houses fetch multi-million pound prices.


Main source: Pottery Lane - Wikipedia
Further citations and sources


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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

Comment
Joan Clarke   
Added: 2 Feb 2021 10:54 GMT   

Avondale Park Gardens
My late aunt Ivy Clarke (nee Burridge) lived with her whole family at 19 Avondale Park Gardens, according to the 1911 census and she was still there in 1937.What was it like in those days, I wonder, if the housing was only built in 1920?


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ken gaston   
Added: 16 Jan 2021 11:04 GMT   

Avondale Park Gardens
My grandmother Hilda Baker and a large family lived in number 18 . It was a close community and that reflected in the coronation celebration held on the central green . I grew up in that square and went to school at Sirdar Road then St. Clements it was a great place to grow up with a local park and we would also trek to Holland Park or Kensington Gardens .Even then the area was considered deprived and a kindergarden for criminals . My generation were the first to escape to the new towns and became the overspill from London to get decent housing and living standards .

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john ormandy   
Added: 20 Mar 2021 17:48 GMT   

Mary Place Workhouse
There was a lady called Ivy who lived in the corner she use to come out an tell us kids off for climbing over the fence to play football on the green. Those were the days.

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john ormandy   
Added: 14 Mar 2021 18:59 GMT   

Avondale Park Gardens, W11
We moved to number 6 in 1950 an family still live there now. I think i remember a family name of Larter living in the house you mention also living in the Gdns were names Prior, Cannon, Parsons Clives at number 26 who i went to school with.


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Brian Lucas   
Added: 15 Mar 2021 16:02 GMT   

Avondale Park Gardens, W11
I also lived here at No. 15 1854 then move to No. 23 The Lucas Family

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john ormandy   
Added: 20 Mar 2021 17:21 GMT   

Avondale Park Gardens, W11
Remember the Lucas family think the eldest was about same age as me cant remember his name though seem to rember had several younger sisters may have been twins!!

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john ormandy   
Added: 20 Mar 2021 18:02 GMT   

Avondale Park Gardens, W11
Went to that coranation party with my two younger brothers who both went to St Clements along with Alan Mullery the footballer. I went to St James before moving on to St Johns along with Alan who lived in Mary Place where we were both in the same class.

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Ken Herlingshaw   
Added: 17 Jun 2023 18:34 GMT   

St John the Evangelist - Spire
The top of the church spire fell off during WW2 (presumably during a bombing raid ?) and for many years after that the spire had a flat top.
I don’t know when it was restored.
Definitely not in the early fifties when I went to Sunday School there.

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Mark Biddle   
Added: 13 Dec 2023 17:23 GMT   

Avondale Park Gardens, W11
My Grandparents David John and Esther Evans had a dairy shop 14 sirdar road from 1940s until 1973 when it was knocked down they moved to wilsham street
lived until 1994 when Esther died

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Ken Herlingshaw   
Added: 17 Jun 2023 18:35 GMT   

Clarendon Road - post WW2
I used to live at 62 Clarendon Road, from about 1947 to 1956.
It was one of four prefabs on the site, numbers 60, 60A, 62 and 62A.
The original building there (on the corner with Lansdowne Rise) was bombed during WW2.
Prefabs weren’t very popular with the up-market Kensington Borough councillors, however, and at the earliest opportunity they were demolished and we were moved to Henry Dickens Court.
We inherited a telephone line from the original occupier, a band leader, when we moved into the prefab and the phone number was BAYswater 0050. But we didn’t know anybody else with a phone to call.

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mh   
Added: 21 Jun 2023 12:15 GMT   

Clarendon Road, W11
Interesting....

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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

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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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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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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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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.

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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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Kensington Park Hotel
TUM image id: 1453375720
Licence: CC BY 2.0
Oxford Gardens, W10
Old London postcard
TUM image id: 1563716750
Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

Click an image below for a better view...
Children of Ruston Close This road was the renaming of Rillington Place. Even after renaming, this street, where notorious murders had taken place, proved too much to avoid subsequent demolition.
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The St Agnes soup kitchen was situated on the corner of Bangor Street, W11 that this photo was taken from. Bangor Street disappeared from the streetscene of Notting Dale after the Second World War.
Credit: Bishopsgate Institute
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HM Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mother, with Lady Petrie, opening Henry Dickens Court, W11 (1953) The Queen Mother is greeted by large crowds and is accompanied by Lady Petrie, Mayor of Kensington. Henry Dickens Court was built by the Council on a bomb site as part of the borough’s post war redevelopment plan. It was named after Henry Dickens, grandson of Charles Dickens, an Alderman on the Council and an active advocate of municipal housing.
Credit: Kensington Libraries
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The Tile Kiln, Notting Dale (1824)
Credit: Florence Gladstone
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Corner of Bangor Street and Sirdar Road, W11 (1911) This became the Dolphin Pub. The location was demolished to make way for the Henry Dickens Estate.
Credit: London City Mission magazine
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Kensington Hippodrome, about 1840, showing St John’s Hill in the background.
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Abbotsbury Road, Holland Park (2008) These houses are just by an entrance to Holland Park. Further along the road was the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi meditation centre visited by the Beatles in 1967.
Credit: Geograph/David Hawgood
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Guy Fawkes and friends in Addison Avenue, W11 (around 1960)
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Addison Place
Credit: Google Maps
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Addison Road, W14 (1909) Addison Road takes its name from the essayist Joseph Addison who lived nearby at Holland House.
Old London postcard
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