A very great improvement has at last been made at Grosvenor Bridge, in ancient times called Blandel Bridge. Its name was probably corrupted to “Bloody Bridge,” in consequence of the numbers of robberies and murders formerly committed on this spot. The entrance here into the parish, at the eastern end of Sloane Square, has been after years of delay considerably widened, and some spacious shops erected. There is also now an Underground Railway Station, and the West London Commercial Bank has likewise extensive premises in Sloane Square, both of which will confer very great advantages on the inhabitants of Chelsea, and the public in general.
Trinity Church, Upper Chelsea.
This Church is situated at the south end of Sloane Street, near Sloane Square. It is a brick structure of Gothic architecture, the western front consisting of a centre flanked by two wide towers rising to a level with the roof, and terminating with lofty octagonal spires. A large entrance door occupies the space from tower to tower to the height of the first division, giving access both to nave and aisles, over which stands a large window separated by two mullions, with trefoil headings slightly ornamented; above this is placed a circular stone surrounded by tracery, intended, probably, at some future period for a clock. The towers to the first blocking course are plain, but above they are enriched with trefoil-headed windows, divided into two compartments, slender buttresses separating the towers octagonally to the summit, crowned by a battlement and surmounted by obtuse-headed pinnacles. At each side of the centre great door there is a smaller one for ingress and egress to the aisles and galleries.
The interior of the Church presents no peculiar feature requiring special notice, at the same time it possesses in its design all that is essential to impress the mind with the sacred character of the edifice. Those who are unable to pay for a sitting have comfortable free seats provided for them. The Church will probably accommodate 1500 persons. Attached to it, on the right, is a spacious schoolroom, designed to correspond with the architecture of the exterior of the Church. The whole of the schools are very well attended.
The late Rev. H. Blunt, M.A., was the first Incumbent, and when he resigned the Rev. Richard Burgess, B.D., the present Rector of the Church, succeeded him. Trinity Church, from its consecration in 1830, has always been very numerously attended.
In the Church are several tablets, amongst them is one to the memory of the Rev. H. Blunt.
SLOANE TERRACE WESLEYAN CHAPEL.
This Chapel was built in 1811. It is a neat and substantial edifice. The galleries extend round three sides of the interior, and the whole will accommodate about 1200 persons. The erection of this place of worship is to be attributed to the liberality of several beneficent gentlemen, among whom may be especially mentioned Joseph Butterworth, Esq., who, at that time, had summer apartments in Chelsea. The attention of these Christian friends had been arrested by observing a large number of the middling and poorer classes, in the vicinity of Jews’ Row, wandering about upon the mornings of the Sabbath. They accordingly took a large room, or small chapel, at nearly the end of George Street, and subsequently erected Sloane Terrace Chapel. The congregation and the members rapidly increased, and at various times many alterations have been made so as to render the chapel and schoolrooms more commodious. It is a pleasing thought, that, amidst a vast amount of Sabbath desecration, there is not a Church or Chapel in the parish, where the Sabbath School is not well attended.
Nearly opposite to Sloane Terrace, in Sloane Street, resided for many years H. W. Burgess, Esq., a most accomplished artist. His gentlemanly deportment and piety endeared him to a large circle of friends. There was scarcely a benevolent society in the parish to which he was not a contributor.
Thomas Hoblyn, Esq., who for many years was the Rector’s Churchwarden at St. Luke’s Parish Church, occupied a house at the corner of Cadogan Street, Sloane Street. He was one of several newly-appointed magistrates, about the time of the passing of the first Local Act of Parliament for the better assessing and collecting the Poor’s Rate, &c.