Namesake | William Bolton |
---|---|
Location | Brompton, Kensington, London, England |
Postal code | SW10 |
Coordinates | 51°29′21″N0°11′03″W / 51.48917°N 0.18417°W |
From | Boltons Place |
To | Gilston Road |
North | Old Brompton Road |
East | Drayton Gardens |
South | Fulham Road |
West | The Little Boltons Redcliffe Square Redcliffe Gardens |
Construction | |
Completion | Mid-19th century |
Other | |
Designer | George Godwin |
The Boltons is a street and garden square of lens shape in the Brompton district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England (postcode SW10). [1] [2] The opposing sides of the street face the communal gardens (as two non-semicircular crescents) with large expansive houses and gardens, in what is considered the second most expensive street in the country with an average house price of £23.1m. [3] [4] The elliptical central gardens of the Boltons are Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. [5]
The Boltons was built in the middle of the 19th century by architect and journalist George Godwin on land which was originally market gardens. [6]
The area is believed to have been named after William Bolton (or Boulton) who bought land in the area in 1795. Twelve years later Bolton sold the land between the Old Brompton Road and the Fulham Road to the confectioner James Gunter. Gunter died in 1819 and his son Robert inherited the estate. He added lands and began to lease parcels for housebuilding. [7] The area is within The Boltons Conservation Area set up in 1970 by the local authority. [8] Additionally, much of the appeal comes from the fact it is located in the area colloquially known as The Beach [9] [10]
To the northwest via Boltons Place is Old Brompton Road and to the southeast via Gilston Road is Fulham Road. To the west are (The) Little Boltons, Redcliffe Square and Redcliffe Gardens.
St Mary The Boltons church interrupts the garden, consecrated on 22 October 1850, the spire of which was added in 1854. [11] The interior was rearranged in 1872 and in 1952. Its modest two-storey hall was attached in 1965–6. [7]
Some of the houses were converted to flats; others were adapted for institutional use. For much of the 20th century, numbers 20 and 21 served as Our Lady's convent, which was run by the Franciscan missionaries of Mary, together with a girls' hostel next door.
For 15 years after World War II, "going to the Boltons" meant to locals going to school. On either side of Boltons Place were two schools: Virgo Fidelis RC Junior Girls School and state primary Bousfield School, which remains. 29 The Boltons, on the junction of Tregunter and Gilston Roads, housed the infants' reception and two primary classes with a garden play area, as part of the nearby Lycée Français de Londres. As the main school in South Kensington expanded in the late 1950s, its location consolidated and name changed to Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle. Many properties have retained, or been returned to, their original purpose as single family houses. [7]
American actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr lived at 28 The Boltons in the 1950s. [12] Novelist and disgraced former politician Jeffrey Archer lived at number 24a in the 1970s. [13] Sir Julian Ridsdale (politician) and Dame Paddy Ridsdale (ex-secretary to Ian Fleming and reportedly his inspiration for Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond novels) lived in The Boltons, with their family still residing there. [14] The lyricist W. S. Gilbert (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame) lived in The Boltons in the 1870s and 1880s. [15] Between 1999 and 2006 the singer Madonna owned a house in The Boltons. [6] The actor-manager Otho Stuart lived at No. 14. [16] The Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind lived in Boltons Place in the 19th century. [7]
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the United Kingdom. It includes affluent areas such as Notting Hill, Kensington, South Kensington, Chelsea, and Knightsbridge.
Chelsea is an affluent area in West London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area.
Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the sub-districts of South Kensington to the east, Chelsea to the south and Kensington to the northeast. It lent its name to the now defunct eponymous pleasure grounds opened in 1887 followed by the pre–World War II Earls Court Exhibition Centre, as one of the country's largest indoor arenas and a popular concert venue, until its closure in 2014.
South Kensington is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the railways in the late 19th century and the opening and naming of local tube stations. The area has many museums and cultural landmarks with a high number of visitors, such as the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Adjacent affluent centres such as Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Kensington, have been considered as some of the most exclusive real estate in the world.
West Kensington, formerly North End, is an area in the ancient parish of Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, England, 3.4 miles (5.5 km) west of Charing Cross. It covers most of the London postal area of W14, including the area around Barons Court tube station, and is defined as the area between Lillie Road and Hammersmith Road to the west, Fulham Palace Road to the south, Hammersmith to the north and West Brompton and Earl's Court to the east. The area is bisected by the major London artery the A4, locally known as the Talgarth Road. Its main local thoroughfare is the North End Road.
Fulham Road is a street in London, England, which comprises the A304 and part of the A308.
Brompton, sometimes called Old Brompton, survives in name as a ward in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. Until the latter half of the 19th century it was a scattered village made up mostly of market gardens in the county of Middlesex. It lay southeast of the village of Kensington, abutting the parish of St Margaret's, Westminster at the hamlet of Knightsbridge to the northeast, with Little Chelsea to the south. It was bisected by the Fulham Turnpike, the main road westward out of London to the ancient parish of Fulham and on to Putney and Surrey. It saw its first parish church, Holy Trinity Brompton, only in 1829. Today the village has been comprehensively eclipsed by segmentation due principally to railway development culminating in London Underground lines, and its imposition of station names, including Knightsbridge, South Kensington and Gloucester Road as the names of stops during accelerated urbanisation, but lacking any cogent reference to local history and usage or distinctions from neighbouring settlements.
Chelsea and Fulham is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Ben Coleman of the Labour Party.
West Brompton is an area of west London, England, that straddles the boundary between the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The centuries-old boundary was traced by Counter's Creek, now lost beneath the West London Line railway.
Chelsea was a borough constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Redcliffe Square is a town square located in the Brompton area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, southwest of central London,. Redcliffe Square Gardens are located in the square. The development was part of the vast Gunter estate, during 1864–1878.
Redcliffe Gardens is a primary road, the A3220 located in the Chelsea area of southwest central London, England. It was a development dated from 1864 to 1878.
St Mary The Boltons is an Anglican church in The Boltons, Brompton, London. It is a Grade II listed building.
Onslow Square is a garden square in South Kensington, London, England.
James Gunter was an English confectioner, market gardener and property developer who laid the foundations for what became one of the great residential estates in West London, developed by his descendants, the "Redcliffe Estate" and The Boltons in Little Chelsea and West Brompton.
The Pettiward Estate is a privately owned set of reversions in the far edge of two inner boroughs of south-west London, England, now owned by a family trust of the family, who were from 1794 until 1935 of Finborough Hall, Suffolk. The family oversaw and took a direct involvement in much of the speculative development of these areas: parts of West Brompton and small parts of Putney.
Drayton Gardens is a residential street linking the areas of Chelsea and South Kensington, London SW10. It runs roughly north to south from Old Brompton Road to Fulham Road.
Hollywood Road is a residential street in the Brompton area, London, SW10. It runs roughly north to south from Tregunter Road to Fulham Road. The area is now located inside the Boltons Conservation Area, set up in 1970 by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. Hollywood Road was put up early in the 1860s, before the more famous Hollywood in California was settled.
The Princess Beatrice Hospital was a London hospital located in Earl's Court, which operated from 1887 to 1978, latterly as a maternity hospital.
Our Lady of Dolours, also known as the Servite Church, is a Roman Catholic parish church run by the Servite Order in Chelsea, central London. The building was designed in Gothic Revival style by J. A. Hansom in 1873. It is Grade II listed with Historic England. It stands next to St Mary's Priory, at 264 Fulham Road close to the South Lodge entrance to Brompton Cemetery in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. There is a mixed Roman Catholic primary school adjacent to the church and priory.