September 2015 archive

Georgian London: Into the Streets

Travel back to the Georgian years, a time that changed expectations of what life could be. Peek into the gilded drawing rooms of the aristocracy, walk down the quiet avenues of the new middle class, and crouch in the damp doorways of the poor. But watch your wallet – tourists make perfect prey for the …

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1800: London W10

This map of the 1800 countryside in the area which covers today’s London W10 postcode has been compiled by The Underground Map from various sources. As its main source, the Milne map of London shows the landuse of fields and the routes of lanes. An 1834 map of Marylebone Parish provided field names up to …

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The London Compendium

Part of an occasional series of London book recommendations, we have been very impressed in our research with Ed Glinert’s “The London Compendium”. It is a street-by-street guide to London – painstakingly researched and thorough. We have provided a link direct to Amazon should you wish to buy the paperback version. As it says in …

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Notting Hill in Bygone Days: St. Charles’s Ward

Kensal New Town Notting Hill in Bygone Days by Florence Gladstone Table of contents The Borough of Kensington is divided into nine Wards, five of which are on the south of Uxbridge Road, and four on the north of that road. Of the four northern wards Norland Ward and Pembridge Ward lie between Uxbridge Road …

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Notting Hill in Bygone Days: Portobello Road and Kensal New Town

Bayswater End Notting Hill in Bygone Days by Florence Gladstone St. Charles Ward There seems to be a natural break where the railway embankment crosses Portobello Road. At this point the old lane was interrupted by low marshy ground, overgrown with rushes and water-cress, and it is said that snipe were shot here almost within …

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Notting Hill in Bygone Days: The Bayswater End and Portobello Road

Notting Dale Notting Hill in Bygone Days by Florence Gladstone Kensal New Town Bayswater owes its name to Baynard, companion in arms to William the Conqueror, to whom was granted land in Paddington, which he held from the Abbots of Westminster. Bays Water, a corruption of Baynard’s Watering, is a name given to the upper …

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Notting Hill in Bygone Days: Notting Dale

Kensington Park Notting Hill in Bygone Days by Florence Gladstone Bayswater end Before describing the streets to the east of the Hippodrome Estate, connecting Notting Hill with Bayswater and Paddington, it will be best to consider the growth of the district which has had such a disastrous effect on the development of the western borders …

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Notting Hill in Bygone Days: Kensington Park

Peaceful hamlet Notting Hill in Bygone Days by Florence Gladstone Notting Dale As buildings increase the story necessarily becomes more local. It is also impossible to avoid over-lapping of dates. This chapter begins with the time when Mr. John Whyte resigned the eastern half of the Hippodrome with the footpath over the hill, and Mr. …

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Notting Hill in Bygone Days: The Peaceful Hamlet of Notting Hill

The 1830s Notting Hill in Bygone Days by Florence Gladstone Kensington Park At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the village of Kensington Gravel Pits extended for three-eighths of a mile along the North Highway. The name seems to have been used for scattered buildings as far east as Craven Terrace or Westbourne Green Lane, …

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Notting Hill in Bygone Days: During the Eighteen Thirties

The 18th century Notting Hill in Bygone Days by Florence Gladstone Peaceful hamlet The first encroachment on the rural character of Notting Hill was the cutting of the Paddington Branch of the Grand Junction Canal. Several artificial waterways had already been constructed among the manufacturing towns in the north of England, and the canal system …

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