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Message !Michael StrachanA Notting Hill (South) Walk

Copyright © heritagewalks.london 2019 75 West Street, Harrow on the Hill, London HA1 3EL info@walkingthepast.co.uk First published in the UK in 2012 Text and images copyright © Michael Strachan Michael Strachan has asserted his rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. (The cover illustration shows St Mary Abbot’s Church and memorial).

Michael StrachanA Notting Hill (South) Walk

INTRODUCTION Notting Hill was a small Middlesex village until London expanded during the 19th century. The origin of the name "Notting Hill" is uncertain but ‘Old and New London’ from 1878, suggested that the name derived from a man-or in Kensington called "Knotting-Bernes". However, there are records dating as far back as the 13th Century for an area known as Knottynghull. The Knott section of the name may have been derived from the Vik-ing king Cnut. In which case, it’s likely that a settlement at Notting Hill has existed for over 1000 years. In the 18th century, Notting Hill became known for its brick making and pig farming industries. The soil in the area contained high levels of a type of clay suitable for pottery. A number of firing kilns for bricks were built and one can still be seen on Walmer Road on this walk. Many of the local pig farmers and building workers were forced to live in squalor due to the rapid expansion of the area and the westward expansion of London. The ‘pig-geries and potteries’ became a notorious area until after the Second World War when gentrification and re-devel-opment began. 1Thackeray’s HouseKensington Church StreetOld Notting Hill Gate

From Notting Hill Gate underground station this walk takes you over Campden Hill and through the area between Holland Park and Kensington Gardens. You’ll see luxurious mansions and palatial villas mixed in with narrow streets and small terraced houses now gentrified from their original working class origins. There are many important blue plaques to be seen along this walk with a number commemorating famous artists and musicians. These include, Muzio Clement, Frank Bridge, Ford Madox Ford, Agatha Christie, Jean Sibelius, Walter Crane, Radclyffe Hall, William Thackeray. Situated between Holland Park and Kensington Gardens this has always been a wealthy area with many hidden architec-tural gems. To hear this Introduction please click this icon To find out more about ‘What3Words’ please click this information icon 2If you would like to donate an amount which will help us cover our costs and continue to work on new publications please scan or tap the QR link below:

Planning Your Walk 1. If possible, walk with a friend. 2. Tell someone where you are going. 3. Take care w he n wa lk in g at n ig ht . 4. Wear sensible clothes and footwear. 5. Always take a bottle of water to avoid de-hydration. 6. Don't try to do too much in one visit. 7. Check the opening times of all Museums and Galleries online. 8. Take your camera or camera phone with batteries fully charged. 9. If you are printing out this do staple these!pages!together!. 10. Don’t forget to download your free Quiz and Plaque scoresheets by using the URL links on the next page… Start at Notting Hill Gate Underground station. Central, Circle and District lines)… …end at High Street Kensington station (Circle and District lines) Use the Transport for London (TFL) planner to plan your journey. 32.0 km 1.2 miles 1-2 hrs

To make your walk more interesting… …we have created an on-line, interactive map which you can find by clicking the link below, or by scanning the green QR code opposite. This will only work if you are reading this guide on a smart device like an iPad: Plot-a-Route map We have also added some fun challenges - the first is a picture quiz. So you need to look out for interesting ob-jects such as ‘street furniture’, statues and architectural features shown in the I-Spy Challenge scoresheet. Click the link below, or scan the pink QR code opposite, to access a download for this scoresheet. It can then be printed or saved: I-Spy Challenge The second challenge is to ‘bag’ all the plaques along this walk. These are listed on a ‘Pastwalkers’ scoresheet along with their ‘what3words’ loca-tions. (Click the information icon op-posite for more about how ‘What3Words’ works). The plaque scores are based on age and quality rather than the importance of the person or event commemorated. Download by clicking on the link below, or by scanning the blue QR code opposite: Plaque Challenge 4Tick them off when you find them

Notting Hill Gate to High Street Kensington Take the station exit to the South side of Notting Hill Gate and the stairs on the left up to the street level… Walk straight ahead on Notting Hill Gate past the entrance to Kensington Church Street… Turn right into Palace Gardens Terrace… On your left you will see the brick facade of the Essex Unitarian Church. The original location of the Unit-arian Church was the Essex Street Chapel, located just off the Strand - a site formerly occupied by Essex House, home to the Earl of Essex. By the 1880s much of the congregation had moved out of central Lon-don and a piece of land, known at the time as the Kensington Gravel Pits (now Palace Garden Terrace), was purchased and a temporary corrugated iron church was erected. This temporary building was re-placed in 1887 by "a splendid new church” - home to 5Kensington Gravel Pits by John Lindell

the congregation until the 1970s when it was demolished and replaced by the new building you see before you. Continue along Palace Gardens Ter-race until you reach number 61… This was the home of Percy Wyndham Lewis and is the site of the first plaque. Lewis was a British writer, painter, and crit-ic who co-founded the Vorticist movement in art. He initially supported fascism and dictators such as Hitler, but withdrew that support in the late thirties after he had seen Nazi anti-semitism at first hand. His works have now been re-assessed and, despite his early anti-semitic writings, he is now regarded as a major British artist and writer of the twentieth century. Continue along Palace Gardens Terrace past Strathmore Gardens until you reach number 57… This was the London home of Sir Max Beerbohm and is marked by the next plaque. He was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist under the sig-nature ‘Max’. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist and became the drama critic for the Saturday Review from 1898 until 1910, when he relo-cated to Rapallo, Italy. 6Percy Wyndham LewisSir Max Beerbohm

In his later years he was popular for his occasional radio broadcasts. Among his best-known works is his only novel, Zuleika Dobson, published in 1911. Turn right onto Brunswick Gardens and follow this road around until you can enter Berkeley Gar-dens… At the end of Berkeley Gardens turn right onto Kensington Church Street and divert briefly to look at number 128… This was the London home of the renowned musician Muzio Clementi. (A link to an example of his incomparable style is given below). ‘Clementi was an Italian-born English composer, virtuoso pianist, teacher, con-ductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer, who was mostly active in England. Encouraged to study music by his father, he was sponsored as a young 7Muzio Clementi

composer by Sir Peter Beckford who took him to Eng-land to advance his studies. Later, he toured Europe many times. It was on one of these occasions, in 1781, that he engaged in a piano competition with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.’ Cross over the road and turn back along Kensing-ton Church Street past an historic public house - the Churchill Arms… ‘There has been a pub on the site since at least the late nineteenth century. Previously known as the "Church-on-the-Hill", the pub received its current name after the Second World War. It’s known for its exuberant floral displays, and extravagant Christmas displays and has been described as London's most colourful pub. It’s managed by Fuller’s and has a Win-ston Churchill interior theme.’ Continue down Kensington Church Street before diverting briefly into Bedford Gardens to look out for number 4… Another musician is commemorated here with a plaque. Frank Bridge was a celebrated composer, viola player, and conductor, known especially for his chamber music and songs. He was widely respected as a teacher, and his pupils included Benjamin Britten who dedicated a famous set of variations to him. Click the YouTube video below to here on of these: 8Frank Bridge

Return to Kensington Church Street and turn right until you come to Sheffield Terrace… There are four plaques along this street. The first is at number 19 - the home of Sir Edward Henry GCVO, KCB, who was the Commissioner of Police of the Met-ropolis (head of the Metropolitan Police of London) from 1903 to 1918. This period saw the introduction of police dogs to the force, but he’s best remembered today for his support for fingerprinting in identifying criminals. Walk on to number 32… This was the home of Gilbert Keith Chesterton - an English writer, philo-sopher, lay theologian, and literary/art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Time magazine ob-served of his writing style: "Whenever 9Sir Edward Henry

possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out.” He also created the fictional priest-detect-ive Father Brown in a series of very popu-lar stories. This character later featured in a major film starring Alec Guinness based on the story ‘The Blue Cross’ - in which Fr. Brown defies his Bishop and decides to transport to Rome a holy relic from his church. On the channel crossing a professional art thief and expert in disguise absconds with the cross. Brown re-fuses to work with the police, because he wants to save the man's soul, not just put him in prison. With the assistance of his friend Lady Warren, Father Brown sets a trap for the thief - but Brown realizes that his work is only just beginning. To read the story on which this film is based follow this link: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/204/pg204-images.html Continue to number 34… Wilson Carlile lived here - an English priest and evangelist who founded the Church Army and was a prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral, London. Known as ‘The Chief’, Carlile inspired generations of christian evangelists. 10G K Chesterton

Walk on to 58 Sheffield Terrace… … which was home to Dame Agatha Christie, DBE - an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those re-volving around fictional detectives Her-cule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, The Mousetrap, which was performed in the West End from 1952 to 2024 and is still running! In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) for her contributions to literature. The Guinness World Records lists her as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies. She also staged a mysterious disappearance in real life which is still not fully understood. At the end of Sheffield Terrace turn left into Campden Hill Road… Cross over Tor Road and look to your left for the next plaque… Ford Madox Ford lived at 80 Campden Hill Road. He was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals The English Review and The Transatlantic Re-view were instrumental in the develop-ment of early 20th-century English and American literature. 11Preb. Wilson CarlileAgatha Christie

Ford is now remembered for his novels The Good Soldier (1915), the Parade's End tetralogy (1924–1928) and The Fifth Queen trilogy (1906–1908). Continue down Campden Hill Road before turning left into Observatory Gardens… There is a plaque on a railing in this road describing how Sir James South, the as-tronomer, built an astronomical observat-ory in the garden of his house (see illus-tration below). He commissioned Isam-bard Kingdom Brunel to build the dome for the 12 inch lens he had purchased in Paris. South was unsatisfied with the work and sued all concerned. Furious at loos-ing in court he destroyed all the offending articles but then sold the pieces at an auction in his grounds. The lens survived and was presented Trinity College, Dublin. At the end of Observatory Gardens turn left onto Hornton Street… Turn first right onto Gloucester Walk… 12Ford Madox FordSir James South

Jean Sibelius, the Finnish composer and musician, lived at number 15. He was a Finnish composer and violinist of the late Romantic and early-modern peri-ods. He is widely recognized as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often credited with having helped Finland develop a national identity during its struggle for independence from Russia. At the heart of his output is a set of seven symphonies, which, like his other major works, are regularly performed and re-corded around the world. His other best-known compositions are Finlandia, the Karelia Suite, Valse triste, the Violin Con-certo, the choral symphony Kullervo, and The Swan of Tuonela. To hear the ‘Finnish National Anthem' based on ‘Finlandia’ follow the link below: 13Jean Sibelius

At the end of Gloucester Walk turn left onto Kensington Church Street, then first right into-Vicarage Gardens and cross over into Vicarage Gate… Turn briefly left at the end of Vicarage Gate and look for 16 Palace Gardens Terrace… This was the home of James Clerk Maxwell, the physicist and mathematician and is marked by the next blue plaque. Maxwell was responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation - describing electricity, magnetism and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism (see opposite) have been called the "second great unification in physics” where the first one had been realised by Isaac Newton. Return to Kensington Church Street and turn left… Turn first right into Campden Grove and look for number 28… In 1931 number 28B Campden Grove was the home of James Joyce, the Irish author most famous for his 1922 master-piece, Ulysses. While living at this Kensington flat he mar-ried his long-term partner, Nora Barnacle, and worked on the manuscript for Fin-negans Wake. 14James Clerk MaxwellJames Joyce

At the end of Campden Grove turn left into Hornton Street, walk to the junction with Holland Street and look for number 56… Here on the corner is a brightly painted house which was the home of Sir Charles Stanford - an Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was educated at the Uni-versity of Cambridge before studying mu-sic in Leipzig and Berlin. He was instru-mental in raising the status of the Cam-bridge University Musical Society, attract-ing international stars to perform with it. While still an undergraduate, Stanford was appointed organist of Trinity College, Cambridge. The video link above features a live concert recording in the chapel 15Sir Charles Stanford

of Trinity College, Cambridge, during Stanford Chor-ale's 2007 concert tour to the UK. In 1882, aged 29, he was one of the founding pro-fessors of the Royal College of Music, where he taught composition for the rest of his life. Turn sharp right onto Holland Street then left into Campden Hill Road… On your left is the ‘brutalist’ red-brick Kensington Town Hall and Central Library. The building was commissioned to replace the old town halls of Kens-ington and Chelsea following the amalgamation of the two boroughs to form the Royal Borough of Kens-ington and Chelsea in 1965. The architect, Sir Basil Spence who de-signed the building died just 10 days be-fore it was completed on 29 November 1976. The building was officially opened by Princess Anne on 31 May 1977. See if you can locate the dancing figure on the roof! Continue on to number 29 Campden Hill Road… Sir Henry Newbolt lived here. He was an English poet, novelist and historian. He also had a role as a government adviser with regard to the study of English in Eng-land. 16Sir Henry Newbolt

He is perhaps best remembered for poems like "Drake's Drum” and "Vitaï Lampada” - whose title is taken from a quotation by Lucretius and means "the torch of life". It describes how a schoolboy, a future soldier, learns selfless commitment to duty in cricket matches in the Close at Clifton College: Turn left onto Kensington High Street… Cross over the entrance to Hornton Street and turn left into Kensington Church Walk… The building you pass just before the corner of Kens-ington Church Walk is what remains of the old Kens-ington Town Hall and Library - a Grade II listed 2-storey Elizabethan-style building from 1852. Continue along Kensington Church Walk through the gardens of St Mary Abbot’s Church… 17

There is a plaque in these gardens which says: “This garden was created in loving memory of Alec Clifton-Taylor, author & broadcaster, President of the Kensington Society, 1978 - 1985.’ Continue on Kensington Church Walk and look for number 10… This was the home of Ezra Pound - an American poet and critic, and a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement. A fierce critic of the carnage of the First World War he became a fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works include Ripostes (1912) and his 800-page epic poem, The Cantos (c.!1917–1962). Pound's contribution to poetry began in the early 20th century with his role in de-veloping Imagism, a movement stressing precision and economy of language. Work-ing in London as foreign editor of several American literary magazines, he helped discover and shape the work of contem-poraries such as T. S. Eliot, Ernest Heming-way and James Joyce. At the end of this charming street turn left into Holland Street for a brief diver-sion to find the next plaque… 37 Holland Street was the home of Radclyffe Hall. Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe Hall was an English poet 18Ezra Pound by Wyndham Lewis

and author, best known for the novel The Well of Loneli-ness, a groundbreaking work in lesbian literature. As an adult Hall often went by the name John, rather than Marguerite. Radclyffe Hall and Una Troubridge lived to-gether here from 1924 to 1929 until the relationship ended with Hall's death. Retrace your steps back to the junction with Kensington Church Walk and continue walk-ing on to look for the next blue plaque… Walter Crane was a children’s book illustrat-or and decorative artist who, together with William Morris, was a leader in the arts and craft movement. He is commemorated with an unusually small blue plaque here at num-ber 13 Holland Street. Walk on to the junction with Kensington Church Street… Turn right down Kensington Church Street to-wards the junction with Kensington High Street… As you walk, look over the road to ‘Lancer Square’ which used to be an army barracks for the Military Police, known as ‘redcaps’ for their highly visible headgear. The bar-racks (shown in the photo below were de-molished in 1972 and an overseas com-pany re-developed the area for luxury housing. 19Radcliffe HallWalter Crane

• At the junction with Kensington High Street the church of St Mary Abbots stands on your right … The church of St Mary Abbots was founded in 1272 and over the centuries several churches were built. The present structure was erected in 1872 to the designs of Sir George Gilbert Scott, who combined neo-Gothic and early-English styles. The previ-ous building is shown opposite. This church is noted for having the tallest spire in London. The church, and its railings, are listed at Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England. Turn left along Kensington High Street until you come to Palace Green… Although this road is gated and guarded by security services you can walk along it to look at some of Lon-don’s most expensive houses. Built as Queen’s Road in 1841 it was lined with luxurious mansions that had to be Italianate in design. Many of them are now embassies, hence the security! Look for number 2… This was the favourite home of the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray - a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of British society, and the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon - adapted for a 1975 film by 20Military Police barracks c1960sWilliam Makepeace Thackeray

Stanley Kubrick. The plaque here is an original Royal So-ciety of Arts version - hence the higher score. Continue on Palace Green to number 10… Look for the Norwegian Embassy. This is yet another Grade 2 listed building and it was here at that the King of Norway Haakon VII lived and worked during World War Two. Norway was invaded by Nazi Germany in April 1940 despite a disastrous intervention by the British which contributed to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain by Winston Churchill. King Haakon rejected German de-mands to legitimise the Quisling regime's puppet government, and refused to abdicate after going into exile in Great Britain. He played a pivotal role in uniting the Norwegian na-tion in its resistance to the invasion and the subsequent five-year-long occupation. He returned to Norway in June 1945 after the defeat of Nazi Germany. Retrace your steps back to Kensington High Street, cross over the road at the first convenient crossing and head right towards the Barkers building… Turn left briefly into Young Road and look for num-ber 16… This was another house where the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray lived from 1846 until 1854, during which time he published his most famous work, Vanity Fair. The novel follows the lives of Becky Sharp, her 21King Haaken VII

friends and their families during and after the Napoleonic Wars. It was first published as a 19-volume monthly serial from 1847 to 1848, and was a popular satire of early 19th-century British society with illustra-tions drawn by Thackeray to accompany the text. Walk back to Kensington High Street and turn left… On your left you pass the famous ‘Barker’s store’ building. It began as a small drapery business, John Barker & Company, foun-ded by John Barker and James Whitehead in 1870. Barkers grew rapidly to become one of Lon-don's largest and most well-known department stores. The building was designed by Barker’s in-house archi-tect Bernard George with an Art Deco styled facade. Continue to Kensington High Street station where this walk ends. 22Old St Mary Abbots Church

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