Shortly afterwards other shops were built before the next mansion which had been the residence of Madame Vestris.
In the front of this mansion was the turnpike and the toll-taker’s house. This was the first turnpike out of London.
At the corner of Portobello Road, now called Devonshire Terrace, was a mansion enclosed by a wall, then the residence of the Rev. Mr. Holloway, minister of Percy Chapel, Fitzroy Square.
Upon the death of Mr. Holloway this mansion was occupied by Rev. Mr. Gordon, a Presbyterian minister and the author of a pocket commentary on the Bible. Mr. Gordon conducted public services for some years on Sundays in a building attached to his house.
This mansion was afterwards demolished and shops built upon the site, which are now occupied by Messrs. Swain, Fenn, Leverett & Fry, Shirley, and the Devonshire Arms, also the houses by the side, Pembridge Gardens and Devonshire Terrace.
I have traced the main road as it appeared in 1844, from Edgware Road to the house now known as Devonshire Arms. At this point commenced a country lane, leading partly between hedges and afterwards through fields to Kensal Green.
It was a most delightful walk; from certain portions of the lane charming views could be obtained. This can hardly be understood by the present inhabitants; it will be made more clear if I say that looking from the back of either mansion I have mentioned from Stormont House to Portobello Lane the whole country was open, and only a few farms here and there. Hampstead, on the north, was visible, and from the hill by the side of Porto Bello farm, then occupied by Mr. Wise; on the east, London; and on the north-west, Harrow-on-the-Hill were clearly visible. No wonder that this pleasant lane was the favourite walk not only of the inhabitants of Notting Hill but also of many from the great city.
From west to north, from north to east scarcely a house was to be seen. Corn fields and meadow land on every side, the quiet only broken by the occasional passing of a train on the Great Western Railway at Kensal Green. It seems almost impossible to realize the fact, but it is a fact that during this 38 years the thousands of houses which are now to be seen from Ealing to Hampstead, Hampstead to Edgware Road have been built. Returning to the High Street, in the village of Notting Hill, the little shops from the Mall on the south side of the street were occupied by some of the principal tradesmen of that far off day.
There lived Mr. Burden, who kept a rag and bottle shop, and who was an orator and a great man on the Kensington Vestry, also a proprietor of Bayswater omnibuses, whose wife kept a greengrocer’s shop. Poor woman, she was of such proportions that when she died I saw the coffin lowered from the bedroom window into the street by ropes.
There also lived Mr. Brewer, who transacted the largest business of the village in the grocery, cheesemongery, and corn-dealing line; also a real candle maker, whose shop was reached up four stone steps. Then came the first village Inn, the “Swan” at the corner of Silver Street, which, like the “Hoop” a few doors past Silver Street, stood back from the street and had a horse trough in front. Of course these inns have been rebuilt, as also has the more important inn further up on the North side, the “Coach and Horses.”