
Sir John Danvers (died 1655) introduced Italian gardens to England in his mansion Danvers House whose grounds spread from the river to the
Kings Road.
Danvers served at the Court of Charles I, although afterwards fought for Parliament and signed King Charles’s death warrant in 1649.
Danvers House was condemned in 1696 (the date of the tablet described on p. 8) and new houses were commenced immediately on each side of the main approach, which now forms the southern end of Danvers Street.
Cremorne Gardens Cremorne Gardens, with a vestige existing today, was in its prime between 1846 and 1877. The Prince Albert Originally called the Albert Tavern, the Prince Albert public house is a three
storey building dating from 1866-68. Anhalt Road, SW11 Anhalt Road is one of the streets of London in the SW11 postal area. Battersea Bridge, SW11 Battersea Bridge connects Battersea and Chelsea with the first bridge dating from 1771. Battersea Bridge, SW3 Battersea Bridge, a five-span arch bridge with cast-iron girders and granite piers links Battersea south of the River Thames with Chelsea to the north. Cadogan Pier, SW3 Cadogan Pier is one of the streets of London in the SW3 postal area. Cheyne Row, SW3 Cheyne Row is one of the streets of London in the SW3 postal area. Cheyne Walk, SW10 Cheyne Walk is one of the streets of London in the SW10 postal area. Cheyne Walk, SW3 Cheyne Walk is one of the streets of London in the SW3 postal area. Flood Street, SW3 Flood Street commemorates Luke Thomas Flood (d.1860) a major Chelsea land owner and a benefactor of the poor. Flood Walk, SW3 Flood Walk is one of the streets of London in the SW3 postal area. Glebe Place, SW3 Glebe Place is one of the streets of London in the SW3 postal area. Hester Road, SW11 Hester Road is one of the streets of London in the SW11 postal area. Lamont Road, SW10 Lamont Road is one of the streets of London in the SW10 postal area. Park Walk, SW10 Park Walk is one of the streets of London in the SW10 postal area. Paultons Square, SW3 Paultons Square, a garden square, was built in 1836–40 on the site of a former market garden. Phene Street, SW3 Phene Street is one of the streets of London in the SW3 postal area. The Vale, SW3 The Vale is one of the streets of London in the SW3 postal area.
Chelsea is an affluent area, bounded to the south by the River Thames.Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above Sloane Square tube station. The modern eastern boundary is Chelsea Bridge Road and the lower half of Sloane Street, including Sloane Square, along with parts of Belgravia. To the north and northwest, the area fades into Knightsbridge and South Kensington, but it is safe to say that the area north of King’s Road as far northwest as Fulham Road is part of Chelsea.
The word Chelsea originates from the Old English term for
chalk and
landing place on the river. The first record of the Manor of Chelsea precedes the Domesday Book and records the fact that Thurstan, governor of the King’s Palace during the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042–1066), gave the land to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster. Abbot Gervace subsequently assigned the manor to his mother, and it passed into private ownership. The modern-day Chelsea hosted the Synod of Chelsea in 787 AD.
Chelsea once had a reputation for the manufacture of Chelsea buns (made from a long strip of sweet dough tightly coiled, with currants trapped between the layers, and topped with sugar).
King Henry VIII acquired the manor of Chelsea from Lord Sandys in 1536; Chelsea Manor Street is still extant. Two of King Henry’s wives, Catherine Parr and Anne of Cleves, lived in the Manor House; Princess Elizabeth – the future Queen Elizabeth I – resided there; and Thomas More lived more or less next door at Beaufort House. In 1609 James I established a theological college on the site of the future Chelsea Royal Hospital, which Charles II founded in 1682.
By 1694, Chelsea – always a popular location for the wealthy, and once described as ’a village of palaces’ – had a population of 3000. Even so, Chelsea remained rural and served London to the east as a market garden, a trade that continued until the 19th-century development boom which caused the final absorption of the district into the metropolis.
Chelsea shone, brightly but briefly, in the 1960s Swinging London period and the early 1970s. The Swinging Sixties was defined on King’s Road, which runs the length of the area. The Western end of Chelsea featured boutiques Granny Takes a Trip and The Sweet Shop, the latter of which sold medieval silk velvet caftans, tabards and floor cushions, with many of the cultural cognoscenti of the time being customers, including Keith Richards, Twiggy and many others.
The exclusivity of Chelsea as a result of its high property prices has historically resulted in the term Sloane Ranger to be used to describe its residents. From 2011, Channel 4 broadcast a reality television show called
Made in Chelsea, documenting the ’glitzy’ lives of several young people living in Chelsea. Moreover, Chelsea is home to one of the largest communities of Americans living outside of the United States, with 6.53% of Chelsea-residents being born in the United States.