Kensington House about William Third’s time.
Kensington Square in James Second’s reign, 1698.
Church Street probably took its name from the church at the end, or from the house called Church House, which was occupied by the “poore of the sufferance.”
Camden House was built by Sir Baptist Hickes, who possessed considerable property in the parish in 1612.
Phillamore Place was built 1787, and in 1811 David Wilkie, Esq., R.A., resided here. His works the “Blind Fiddler,” “Rent Day,” “Village Holiday,” &c., will be remembered by all.
Sir Isaac Newton, who by the way was never married, lived on Camden Hill. Here he died, March 20th, 1726–7, at the age of 84.
His nephew wrote of him. “His whole life was one continued series of labour, patience, charity, generosity, temperance, piety, goodness and all other virtues without any mixture of vice whatever.”
The Royal Palace of Kensington is situated in the parish of St. Margaret’s, Westminster.
The original mansion was built by a person named Finch, one of whose descendants was promoted to the Peerage. The house was then called Nottingham House.
The 2nd Earl of Nottingham sold it to King William III., 1691, for 18,000 guineas, and here, December 28, 1694, Queen Mary died of small pox.