The Kensington District

by G. E. Mitton

An ivy-covered arcade leads to the conservatory, and various buildings form a picturesque group near; these belonged at one time to the stables, now removed. Not far off is the bamboo garden, in a flourishing condition, with large clumps of feathery bamboos bravely enduring our rough climate; in another part is a succession of terraces, through which a stream runs downhill through a number of basins linked by a circling channel; the basins are covered with water-lilies, and the whole is laid out in imitation of a Japanese garden. Alpine plants are specially tended in another part, and masses of rhododendrons grow freely in the grounds, giving warmth and shelter. There is nothing stiff or conventional to be seen—Nature tended and cared for, but Nature herself is allowed to reign, and the result is very satisfactory. There are many fascinating peeps between the rows of shrubs or trees of the worn red brick of the house, seen all the better for its contrast with the deep evergreen of the cedars.

In a field close by Cromwell is said to have discussed his plans with Ireton, whose deafness necessitated loud tones, so that the open air, where possible listeners could be seen at a distance, was preferable to the four walls of a room. In the fields behind Holland House was fought a notable duel in 1804 between Lord Camelford, a notorious duellist, and Captain Best, R.N. Lord Camelford fired first, but missed his opponent. He afterwards fell at Best's shot, and was carried into Little Holland House, where he died in three days. The exact spot where the duel was fought is now enclosed in the grounds of Oak Lodge, and is marked by a stone altar.

To the west of Holland House is Melbury Road, a neighbourhood famous for its artistic residents. The houses, mostly of glowing red brick, are built in different styles, as if each had been designed to fill its own place without reference to its neighbours. A curious Gothic house, with a steeple on the north side, was designed by William Burges, R.A., for himself. In the house next to it, now the residence of Luke Fildes, R.A., King Cetewayo stayed while he was in England. Sir Frederick Leighton, P.R.A., lived at No. 2, which has been presented to the nation. Little Holland House, otherwise No. 6, Melbury Road, is occupied by G. F. Watts, R.A. The name was adopted from the original Little Holland House, which stood at the end of Nightingale Lane, now the back entrance to Holland Park; this house was pulled down when Melbury Road was made.

Melbury Road turns into Addison Road just below the church of St. Barnabas, which is of white brick, and has a parapet and four corner towers, which give it a distinctive appearance. The interior is disappointing, but there is a fine eastern window, divided by a transom, and having seven compartments above and below. Quite at the northern end of Holland Road is the modern church of St. John the Baptist; the interior is all of white stone, and the effect is very good. There is a rose window at the west end, and a carved stone chancel screen of great height. The church ends in an apse, and has a massive stone reredos set with coloured panels representing the saints. All this part of Kensington which lies to the west of Addison Road is very modern. In the 1837 map, St. Barnabas Church, built seven years earlier, and a line of houses on the east side of the northern part of Holland Road, are all that are marked. Near the continuation of Kensington Road there are a few houses, and there is a farm close to the Park.

Curzon House is marked near the Kensington Road, and a large nursery garden is at the back of it; and further north, where Addison Road bends, there are Addison Cottage and Bindon Villa, and this is all. Addison's connection with Holland House of course accounts for the free use of his name in this quarter.

Going northward, we come to the district of Shepherd's Bush and the Uxbridge Road, known in the section of its course between Notting Hill High Street and Uxbridge Road Station as Holland Park Avenue—a fact of which probably none but the residents are aware. Above it, Norland Road forms the western boundary of the borough. Royal Crescent is marked on the maps of the beginning of the nineteenth century as Norland Crescent; Addison Road was then Norland Road. Further westward is the square of the same name, on the site of old Norland House.

Addison Road leads up to St. James's Church, designed by Vulliamy, and consecrated in 1845; it has a square tower of considerable height, with a pinnacle at each corner. The chancel was added later. St. Gabriel's, in Clifton Road, is an offshoot of this church, but, curiously enough, it does not come within the parochial boundaries. It was built in 1883. Following the road on the north side of the square, we pass the West London Tabernacle, a brick building in the late Romanesque style. Close by are St. James's Schools.

St. John's Place leads us past Pottery Lane, a reminiscence of the potteries once here, round which sprang up a notoriously bad district. The brickfields were hard by, and the long, low, red-tiled roofs of the brick-sheds face a space of open ground known as Avondale Park. The Park stands on a piece of ground formerly known as Adam's Brickfield. It was suggested at one time that this should be used for the site of a refuse-destroyer, but it was bought instead by the Vestry for the sum of £9,200 to be turned into a public park. The late Metropolitan Board of Works provided £4,250 towards the sum, and the Metropolitan Public Gardens and Open Spaces Association gave £2,000. The laying-out of the ground, which covers about 4½ acres, cost £8,000 more, and the Park was formally opened June 2, 1892, though it had been informally open to the public for more than a year before this date. The most has been made of the ground, which includes two large playgrounds, provided with swings, ropes, seesaws, etc., for the children of the neighbouring schools, who come here to the number of three or four hundred. Just at the back of the Park, on the west side, lie St. Clement's Board Schools, and on the east St. John's Church Schools. Returning through Pottery Lane, we see facing us at the upper end large brick schools covered with Virginia creeper, adjacent to a small brick Gothic church. This is the church of St. Francis, a Roman Catholic Mission Church, in connection with St. Mary of the Angels, in Westmoreland Road. It was built about thirty-three years ago by Rev. D. Rawes at his own cost, and contains some very beautiful panels on slate by Westlake representing the Stations of the Cross, which were the first done on that material in England. There is also a painting by the same artist on the pulpit. The baptistery, added later, was designed by Bentley, the late architect of the new cathedral at Westminster. The schools adjacent are for girls and infants, and the boys are accommodated at the buildings in the Silchester Road.

Hippodrome Place leads past the north side of the school to Portland Road. A great part of the district lying to the east of this, and including Clarendon Road, Portobello Road, and Ladbroke Grove, was formerly covered by an immense racecourse called the Hippodrome. It stretched northward in a great ellipse, and then trended north-west and ended up roughly where is now the Triangle, at the west end of St. Quintin Avenue. It was used for both flat racing and steeplechasing, and the steeplechase course was more than two miles in length. The place was very popular, being within easy reach of London, but the ground was never very good for the purpose, as it was marshy. The Hippodrome was opened in 1837, and Count d'Orsay was one of the stewards; the last race took place in 1841. St. John's Church stands on a hill, once a grassy mound within the Hippodrome enclosure, which is marked in a contemporary map "Hill for pedestrians," apparently a sort of natural grand-stand. The Church was consecrated in 1845, four years after the closing of the racecourse. The entrance to the racecourse was in what is now Park Road, just above Ladbroke Road, near the Norbury Chapel. The district, therefore, all dates from the latter half of the nineteenth century; it is well laid out, with broad streets and large houses, though north of Lansdowne Road the quarter is not so good. It is very difficult to find anything interesting to record of this part of Kensington; a perambulation there must be, or the borough would be left incompletely described, but such a perambulation can only resolve itself into a catalogue of churches and schools. Ladbroke Grove goes down the steep hill above noticed. St Mark's Church gives its name to the road in which it stands: it was consecrated in 1863.