In 1865, the name St Peter’s Park was given to a projected suburb north of Harrow Road. A few straight avenues leading from Harrow Road were planned – Malvern Road (soon renamed Chippenham) Road, an extension of Elgin Road, St Peter’s Road (renamed Walterton Road) and the southernmost stretch of the future Fernhead Road. To the west, part of Ashmore Road, had been begun.
The same year, landowner Sir John Neeld made the first 99 years lease (99 yrs) to Edward Vigers, a builder from Tavistock Lodge, Great Western Road. They were mostly for terraced houses of three storeys over a basement along the north side of Harrow Road, forming Chippenham Terrace, and in Marylands Road, and for two-storeyed houses in Chippenham Mews.
By 1869, there were houses along Chippenham Road and at the west ends of Elgin Road, Marylands Road, and Sutherland Gardens. All three roads led towards Shirland Road, which approximately followed the line of the Bayswater (Westbourne) stream.
Vigers, who had been speculating in land locally since 1860, found the building of St Peter’s Park a risky enterprise. He had to construct roads and sewers, besides a bridge over the canal (Carlton Bridge). Some of the small builders to whom he had subleased were in trouble from 1868. Over a quarter of the builders on the estate failed between 1870 and 1872.
St Peter’s Park had been begun with substantial terraces near Harrow Road. Parts came to suffer from a cramped layout. Between 1918 and 1939 the name St Peter’s Park fell into disuse.
