Westbourne, London

Last updated

Westbourne
St Stephen, Westbourne Park Road - geograph.org.uk - 2417703.jpg
St Stephen's Church, Westbourne Park Road
Greater London UK location map 2.svg
Red pog.svg
Westbourne
Location within Greater London
London borough
Ceremonial county Greater London
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LONDON
Postcode district W2/W11
Dialling code 020
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
UK Parliament
London Assembly
List of places
UK
England
London
51°30′58″N0°11′49″W / 51.516°N 0.197°W / 51.516; -0.197
A map showing the Westbourne ward of Paddington Metropolitan Borough as it appeared in 1916. A note in the Victoria County History which was written for this area later than most, in 1989, states that in 1901 the prominent western projection of Church ward (shown) formed part of what residents and groups then widely considered to be Westbourne or Westbourne Green. Paddington Met. B Ward Map 1916.svg
A map showing the Westbourne ward of Paddington Metropolitan Borough as it appeared in 1916. A note in the Victoria County History which was written for this area later than most, in 1989, states that in 1901 the prominent western projection of Church ward (shown) formed part of what residents and groups then widely considered to be Westbourne or Westbourne Green.
Westbourne Park tube station, 2020 Westbourne Park station building 2020.jpg
Westbourne Park tube station, 2020

Westbourne is an area in West London. It has a manorial history spanning many centuries, within a more broadly defined Paddington, before shedding its association in the mid-19th century. It is named after the west bourne, West Bourne, or River Westbourne, a Thames tributary which was encased in 19th-century London in the 1850s. The spring-fed stream and associated manor have led to the place names Westbourne Green, Westbourne Park and more narrowly: Westbourne Gardens, Westbourne Grove, Westbourne Park Road, Westbourne Park tube station, Westbourne Studios and the name of a public house.

Contents

Westbourne forms or resembles an electoral ward of the local authority which is, since 1965, Westminster City Council, and an ecclesiastical parish in the Church of England. Westbourne Conservation Area is a smaller area, designated by the local authority, in Planning Law.

Early history

The hamlet of Westbourne was a High Middle Ages (mid-medieval) settlement, centred on Westbourne Green. It included a mansion house and a farmhouse. It is recorded as Westeburn in 1222 and as Westborn in 1294. The green is recorded as Westborne Grene in 1548, Washborne Green in 1680 and Wesborn Green in 1754. [1]

Modern name and definitions

The manorial bounds of Westbourne were kept alive by business names and residents' groups and associations after housing development.

The southern part of Westbourne green at first was sometimes known as Westbournia. The name, however, also applied to streets south of Westbourne Grove which might have been described more correctly as in Bayswater: Trollope's Westbournia of 1858 was the fashionable neighbourhood of Westbourne Terrace, and c. 1860 Westbourne Grove was recorded as Westbournia's main thoroughfare rather than its boundary. By 1900 Bayswater was thought to end at Westbourne Grove, leaving the district to the north, whose status had fallen, without a general name.

— Paddington: Westbourne T F T Baker, Diane K Bolton and Patricia E C Croot and others, 1989 [1]

A short-lived London Underground station existed from 1866 until 1871, when it was replaced by one nearby, to the east. [1] Until 1992, the station had extra platforms on its north side for the overground Great Western Main Line. To the north and east were extensive railway yards. Excellent transport and ease of access of fashionable commerce such as in Marylebone encouraged many City of London affluent workers and the political class of Westminster to live in the area. More recently, the Westbourne Park bus garage was built, replacing railway yards north-east of the station, across the Western Avenue, London.

Use of "Westbourne", unsuffixed by "Park" or "Green", has faded but not passed; it has an electoral and a planning definition.

  1. The area resembles and can be defined loosely as Westbourne ward, one of twenty Westminster City Council electoral districts, north of the Westway and around the Great Western Road. Wards are drawn by an independent commission to aim for equality of electorate, instead of containing interrelated housing, to avoid malapportionment. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,759. [2]
  2. A narrower definition is the Westbourne Conservation Area identified since the late 20th century to maintain coherent classical architecture building schemes in Planning Law; its history, structure and layout mirrors the bulk of neighbouring Bayswater.

Manor and parish

The manor of Westbourne was distinct from the manor of Paddington but, lacking a church, it did not form its own parish. Instead, it was western part of the parish of Paddington through which it paid tithes and received the vestry's administration such as in the poor law. The River Westbourne, running north to south, delimited Westbourne from Paddington. In later years the manorial courts sat across Bayswater and Hyde Park in Knightsbridge; the manor became known as "the Manor of Westbourne with Knightsbridge". [1]

Buildings and famous residents

In 1746, Westbourne Green had five main houses, the largest of these being Westbourne Place (also known as Westbourne House), which had been rebuilt as an elegant Georgian mansion in 1745 by the architect Isaac Ware.[ citation needed ] The mansion had three storeys, with the frontage divided into three parts widthwise, and nine windows. The middle portion was topped by a large pediment and contained the further pedimented main door. Each end of the lower two storeys were formed into tri-windowed bays. Residents in turn included: baronet Sir William Yorke, a Venetian ambassador, architect Samuel Pepys Cockerell (a distant relative of diarist Samuel Pepys) and General Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill (Commander-in-Chief of the Army, 1828–39). Hill gave his name to Lord Hill's Bridge and left the house in 1836. Following Hill's departure, the mansion was demolished and replaced by the current gardened houses of Westbourne Park Villas. Lord Hill's Bridge remains abutting the Villas; it accommodates Royal Oak tube station and joins Porchester Road with Harrow Road below the Westway.

Westbourne Farm was centred where the Westway, Harrow Road and Paddington Arm, a canal, converge; in 1815–17 home to actress Sarah Siddons and her daughter. The actress was buried and has a headstone at St Mary's Church on Paddington Green (then the area's parish).

Thomas Hardy lived in this area, mainly at 16 Westbourne Park Villas, his home 1863–67. [1]

The radio presenter and DJ Nihal Arthanayake used to live in Westbourne Park, near the Harrow Road. [3]

Brunel, Westmead and Wessex Gardens Estates

By the 1960s many of the mansion houses with large grounds had become part of Peter Rachman's property empire; they were demolished by the local authority after his death to make way for two large housing estates mainly based on meeting social housing needs: the 10-acre (4.0 ha) Brunel estate (1970s), [1] and the Wessex Gardens estate (1978), named for the fictional county of many of Hardy's works. [4] In Wessex Gardens the first of 300 homes (dwellings) planned for 1,116 people were ready in 1978. [1] Westmead was built, as 148 homes in 1974, to replace a relatively low-quality segment of housing. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bayswater</span> Inner-city district of west Central London

Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and Notting Hill to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Notting Hill</span> Area of London, England

Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and the Portobello Road Market. From around 1870, Notting Hill had an association with artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paddington</span> Area of central London, England

Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed by the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel opened in 1847. It is also the site of St Mary's Hospital and the former Paddington Green Police Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westway (London)</span> Elevated dual carriageway section of A40 road in West London

The Westway is a 2.5-mile (4 km) elevated dual carriageway section of the A40 trunk road in West London running from Paddington in the east to North Kensington in the west. It connects the London Inner Ring Road to the West London suburbs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Borough of Paddington</span> Former borough of London

Paddington was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, governed by an administrative vestry. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855 and became part of the County of London in 1889. The parish of Paddington became a metropolitan borough in 1900, following the London Government Act 1899, with the parish vestry replaced by a borough council. In 1965 the borough was abolished and its former area became part of the City of Westminster in Greater London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Westbourne</span> River in London, England

The Westbourne or Kilburn is a culverted small River Thames tributary in London, rising in Hampstead and Brondesbury Park and which as a drain unites and flows southward through Kilburn and Bayswater to skirt underneath the east of Hyde Park's Serpentine lake then through central Chelsea under Sloane Square. It passes centrally under the south side of Royal Hospital Chelsea's Ranelagh Gardens before discharging into Inner London's old-fashioned, but grandiose combined sewer system, with exceptional discharges into the Inner London Tideway. Since the latter 19th century, the population of its catchment has risen further but to reduce the toll it places on the Beckton Sewage Treatment Works and related bills its narrow basin has been assisted by private soakaways, and public surface water drains. Its depression has been replaced with and adopted as a reliable route for a gravity combined sewer. The formation of the Serpentine relied on the water, a lake with a long, ornate footbridge and various activities associated, which today uses little-polluted water from a great depth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Oak tube station</span> London Underground station

Royal Oak is a station of the London Underground, on the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines, between Westbourne Park and Paddington stations. The station is on Lord Hill's Bridge and is in Travelcard Zone 2 for the London Underground. Although not heavily used at other times, the station is extremely busy during the annual Notting Hill Carnival. There is no wheelchair access to the platform. It is classed as a "local station" in Transport for London's "Fit for the Future" development outline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westbourne Grove</span>

Westbourne Grove is a retail road running across Notting Hill, an area of west London. Its western end is in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and its eastern end is in the City of Westminster; it runs from Kensington Park Road in the west to Queensway in the east, crossing over Portobello Road. It contains a mixture of independent and chain retailers, and has been termed both "fashionable" and "up-and-coming".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ossington Street</span> Street in Central London

Ossington Street is a quiet one-way street in London, W2, leading from Moscow Road at its north end to the Bayswater Road / Notting Hill Gate at its south end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westminster City Council</span> Local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England

Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors. The council is currently composed of 31 Labour Party members and 23 Conservative Party members. The council was created by the London Government Act 1963 and replaced three local authorities: Paddington Metropolitan Borough Council, St Marylebone Metropolitan Borough Council and Westminster Borough Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Rachman</span> Polish property mogul (1919–1962)

Perec "Peter" Rachman was a Polish-born landlord who operated in Notting Hill, London, England in the 1950s and early 1960s. He became notorious for his exploitation of his tenants, with the word "Rachmanism" entering the Oxford English Dictionary as a synonym for the exploitation and intimidation of tenants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regent's Park and Kensington North (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1997–2010

Regent's Park and Kensington North was a constituency in Central and West London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election from 1997 to 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westminster North (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 2010 onwards

Westminster North is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Karen Buck, a member of the Labour Party. It was created in 1983 and abolished in 1997, before being created again in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harrow Road</span> Street in London

The Harrow Road is an ancient route in North West London which runs from Paddington in a northwesterly direction towards Harrow. It is also the name given to the immediate surrounding area of Queens Park and Kensal Green, straddling the NW10, W10, W2 and W9 postcodes. With minor deviations in the 19th and 20th centuries, the route remains otherwise unaltered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leinster Gardens</span> Place in London, United Kingdom

Leinster Gardens is a street in Bayswater, London. It is lined with tall, ornate, mid-Victorian terraced houses, many of which are listed buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A40 road in London</span> Major trunk road connecting London to Fishguard, Wales

The A40 is a major trunk road connecting London to Fishguard, Wales. The A40 in London starts in the City of London and passes through six London Boroughs: Camden, Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, Ealing and Hillingdon, to meet the M40 motorway junction 1 at Denham, Buckinghamshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Mary on Paddington Green Church</span> Church in London, England

St Mary on Paddington Green is an Anglican church in the Parish of Little Venice, London, and forms part of Paddington Green conservation area. Today it stands at the junction of Edgware Road and Harrow Road, overlooking the East end of Westway and the approaches to Marylebone Flyover, so seen by tens of thousands of motorists daily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porchester Square</span> Residential square in Central London

Porchester Square is an archetypal-format, narrow London garden square in Bayswater on the cusp of inter-related Westbourne. It is lined with tall white Victorian classical architecture residential buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleveland Square</span>

Cleveland Square is a private and gated garden square in the predominantly classically conserved Bayswater district of the City of Westminster, north of Central London's Hyde Park. The housing is in tall, tree-shaded rows, stuccoed and with pillared porches, with some discreet infilling of other housing behind.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 T F T Baker, Diane K Bolton and Patricia E C Croot, 'Paddington: Westbourne Green', in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9, Hampstead, Paddington, ed. C R Elrington (London, 1989), pp. 198-204. In the collaborative historians' Victoria County History projects. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol9/pp198-204
  2. ↑ "City of Westminster population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  3. ↑ "Nihal Arthanayake | Metro News". 26 November 2013. Archived from the original on 26 November 2013.
  4. ↑ Westbourne Park, CityWest Homes, accessed 2014-06-18

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Westbourne, London at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.