Balcombe Street, NW1

Road in/near Marylebone, existing between 1819 and now.

 HOME  ·  ARTICLE  ·  MAPS  ·  STREETS  ·  BLOG  ·  CONTACT US 
(51.52387 -0.16228, 51.523 -0.162) 
MAP YEAR:175018001810182018301860190019502024Show map without markers
ZOOM:14 15 16 17 14 15 16 17 14 15 16 17 14 15 16 17 14 15 16 17 14 15 16 17 14 15 16 17 18 14 15 16 17 14 15 16 17 18
TIP: Adjust the MAP YEAR and ZOOM to tweak historical maps
Road · * · NW1 ·
July
12
2021
Balcombe Street is possibly a corruption of Batcombe, Dorset, in line with other Dorset-related street names in the area.

Balcombe Street, Dorset Square and Gloucester Place all date from 1815-1820. Balcombe Street was at first known as Milton Street.

The streets formed part of the Portman Estate. Their layout shows a social hierarchy of square, thoroughfares and side streets mirrored by a hierarchy in the design of houses, from the grand four storey buildings in Dorset Square to the rather less grand terraces and smaller houses in Balcombe Street and Gloucester Place and the significantly smaller scale of the three and two storey ‘third rate’ houses in the side streets and mews.

There are some 180 grade II buildings including the whole of Dorset Square, most of Balcombe Street and Gloucester Place. The predominant materials are brick and stucco.

The London part of the Portman Estate in Marylebone covers 110 acres and covers 68 streets, 650 buildings and four garden squares. In 1948 the Estate, then valued at £10 million, was subject to death duties of £7.6 million resulting in the sale of the northern part of the London Estate in 1951.

Some 25 years later, residential Balcombe Street became famous within the UK for matters other than architecture and aristocratic land use.

The Balcombe Street siege was an incident in December 1975. The four members of what became known as the Balcombe Street gang: Joe O’Connell, Edward Butler, Harry Duggan and Hugh Doherty, were part of an IRA Active Service Unit.

The Balcombe Street siege started after a chase through London, as the police pursued Doherty, O’Connell, Butler and Duggan through the streets after they had fired gunshots through the window of Scott’s restaurant in Mount Street, Mayfair.

The four IRA men ran into a block of flats in Balcombe Street. The four men went to 22b Balcombe Street, taking its two residents, middle-aged married couple John and Sheila Matthews, hostage in their front room. The men declared that they were members of the IRA and demanded a plane to fly both them and their hostages to Ireland. Scotland Yard refused, creating a six-day standoff between the men and the police.

The men surrendered after several days of intense negotiations. The events were televised and watched by millions.




Main source: Wikipedia
Further citations and sources


Click here to explore another London street
We now have 664 completed street histories and 46836 partial histories
Find streets or residential blocks within the M25 by clicking STREETS


CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY


Admin   
Added: 26 Aug 2022 12:41 GMT   

Baker Street
Baker Street station opened on the Metropolitan Railway - the world’s first underground line.

Reply

Ray Ashby   
Added: 14 Aug 2023 17:22 GMT   

Greengrocers in Enford street
Greengrocer under new ownership by Mr Stanley Ashby, married to Mrs Lily Ashby

Reply

LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

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

Reply
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

Reply
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

Reply
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
Click here to see map view of nearby Creative Commons images
Click here to see Creative Commons images near to this postcode
Click here to see Creative Commons images tagged with this road (if applicable)
Montagu House, Portman Square
TUM image id: 1510140427
Licence: CC BY 2.0
Edgware Road
TUM image id: 1683195989
Licence:
Lisson Green
TUM image id: 1593182694
Licence: CC BY 2.0
Oxford Street, 1935
TUM image id: 1660583995
Licence:
Portman Square, W1H
TUM image id: 1510141130
Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

Click an image below for a better view...
Abbey lodge as it appeared on the 1872 Ordnance Survey map. It faces Park Road with Hanover Gate to its north and Hanover Terrace behind.
Credit: Crown Copyright (expired)
Licence:


Baker Street station (1890) This viewpoint shows a busy yet narrow Marylebone Road. We are looking east along the road. Chiltern Court is not yet built which will come to dominate the left of the view. The spire of Marylebone church can be seen in the distance on the right.
Credit: Bishopsgate Institute
Licence:


64 Baker Street, photographed in 2021.
Credit: Wiki Commons/Kyle Glover
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Illustration of the ’Yorkshire Stingo’ Inn, Marylebone (1770) This pub was notable for being the starting point for the first omnibus in London.
Licence: CC BY 2.0


8 Blandford Square, NW1 - date unknown.
Credit: Brian Girling
Licence:


Edgware Road
Licence:


Lisson Green
Licence: CC BY 2.0


The former Metropolitan Borough of St Marylebone Town Hall on Marylebone Road (2007)
Credit: Wiki Commons/oxyman
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Shillibeer Place sign
Credit: London Transport Museum
Licence:


Dorset House (2012)
Credit: Wiki Commons/Nigel Cox
Licence: CC BY 2.0




  Contact us · Copyright policy · Privacy policy