Hampstead and Marylebone

by G. E. Mitton

Further north in the Finchley Road All Saints' Church stands up conspicuously. This is a fine church in the Perpendicular style, built in 1846. The chancel was added in 1866, and the tower and spire in 1889. It is really the church of the Eyre estate, and was largely built by the Eyre family. There is in it a beautiful marble font of uncommon pattern, and a pulpit to match.

This part of Marylebone, to the north of Regent's Park, has a High Street of its own—a wide street with comparatively low buildings. The vista, on looking back from the top to the trees of the burial-ground and Regent's Park, is not unattractive. The shops which line either side of the road, though small, are clean and bright. St. John's Wood Terrace is a very wide thoroughfare. In it stands St. John's Wood Church, chiefly distinguished by a very heavy portico. The church is at present used by the Congregationalists, and was formerly known as Connaught Chapel. Just beyond the chapel we come to the St. Marylebone Almshouses. They are built round three sides of a square, and enclose a quadrangle of green grass. The blue slate roofs and drab stuccoed walls form a gentle contrast. The central house, occupied by the superintendent, is fronted by a clock over the Royal Arms.

By the will of Simon, Count Woronzow, dated September 19, 1827, the sum of £500 was left for the poor of the parish of Marylebone, and this sum was given by the Vestry, under certain conditions, to the committee for the proposed erection of almshouses in 1836, to be by them applied to building purposes. Various charitable subscriptions and donations have been added from time to time, until at present the almshouses afford an asylum to about fifty-two single women and eight married couples. The recipients must be of good character, and must have paid rates in the parish of Marylebone for at least ten years, and never received parochial relief. They must be over the age of sixty years. They must have a small weekly sum of their own or guaranteed by a friend. They receive shelter and free firing; the single inmates receive in addition 7s. a week, and the married couples 10s. 6d. The corner houses, in which the rooms are larger, are occupied by the married couples. The central building contains the board-room, lined by the names of generous donors. On the staircase is a bust of Count Woronzow, whose name is also commemorated in the road which runs on the east side of the houses.

The parish extends to within about fifty yards of the summit of Primrose Hill on the south side. At this spot three stones, erect, standing together, mark the point where the three boroughs of Hampstead, St. Pancras, and Marylebone meet. Not far below is a covered reservoir. This spot was formerly known as Barrow Hill, a name supposed to be derived from burials which anciently took place here. St. Stephen the Martyr's Church stands just within the parish boundaries of Marylebone. It is a pretty little Gothic church with a square battlemented tower and triple-gabled east end. It was built in 1849, and restored thirty years ago. The interior of the church is not equal to the exterior. All the roads lying to the north-west are in uniform style, with comfortable modern villa houses.

When the Manor of Tyburn was let to Edward Forset, King James reserved Marylebone Park for the Crown, and it remained in the same keeping until 1646. In that year King Charles I. granted it to two faithful adherents, Sir G. Strode and J. Wandesford, in payment for arms and ammunition which they had supplied to him. In the time of the Commonwealth the park was seized and was sold on behalf of the opposite cause, the proceeds being devoted to the payment of one of Cromwell's regiments of dragoons. At the Restoration it was restored to its former holders, who retained it until the debt due to them was discharged. The park was then let to various leaseholders, the last of whom was the Duke of Portland, whose lease ended in 1811, when the land reverted to the Crown.

The ground was laid out by Nash in 1812, and was named Regent's Park in honour of the then Regent (George IV.), for whom it was proposed to build a palace in the centre of the park, in the spot now occupied by the Botanical Gardens.

Regent Street was designed to form a continuous line between the Palace and Carlton House, near St. James's Park. Nash built all the terraces in the park except Cornwall Terrace, which was the work of Decimus Burton. By a clause in the lease the lessees of the houses in these terraces have to repaint the exteriors in August every fourth year. The broad walk and adjacent flower-beds were laid out and opened to the public in 1838.

The park is about 400 acres in extent. The ornamental water is in shape something like the three legs on a Manx halfpenny. A terrible accident happened here in 1867, when the ice gave way and forty skaters lost their lives; since then the pond has been reduced to a uniform depth of 4 feet. The water for this is supplied by the ancient Tyburn Brook.

South Villa was built about 1836, and an observatory was erected here by Mr. Bishop; this was frequently used by Dawes and Hinde, who here discovered many asteroids and variable stars.

St. Dunstan's Villa was formerly occupied by the Marquis of Hertford, and is of considerable size. It is in the Italian style, and was designed by Decimus Burton, whose name is almost as closely associated with the park as Nash's own. The name of St. Dunstan's arose from the two gigantic wooden figures of Gog and Magog, which the Marquis brought from St. Dunstan's, Fleet Street, where they had been since 1671.