A History walk around Belgravia
Today was a dull, but warm day (17C/63F) for my trip up to London Victoria to meet with our walking group.
The area of Belgravia in Tudor times was scrubland, and you were likely to be the victim of footpads and highwaymen. Later it became an area to grow vegetables as there was a tributary of the River Thames which meant the ground could be irrigated. When King George VI came to the throne, he turned Buckingham House into a Palace and the area became a desirable place to live.
Robert Grosvenor (1st Marquis of Westminster) bought the area around what is now Belgravia and Pimlico - turning it into The Grosvenor Estate. In 1826 his son Richard Grosvenor (2nd Marquis of Westminster) was granted permission to develop the Estate and he employed Thomas Cubitt to oversee the work. The Grosvenor family today are still incredibly wealthy, and the Grosvenor Estate also extends into areas of Cheshire, Paris and New York.
We walked around the area looking at the fine, fashionable buildings - it is still a very expensive area to live (a 5-bedroom house in Eaton Terrace will cost you £28 million).
We learned a lot including where a TV exterior was shot, a ghost, why a Pantechnicon is so-called and why there's a disappeared house number...
Photos under the cut.
Thomas Cubitt was probably the first real 'property developer' in London as he oversaw the building of the houses and made sure they were well designed as well as well-built.
To counteract the marshes around the area he made sure that the soil being removed to create St Catherine's Dock along the River Thames was brought downriver and used to drain the marshes and make the land more stable to build on.
Eaton Square - which is not actually a square - rather a long rectangle of houses surrounding six central gardens. The trees are so tall these days that you can't see the houses on either side of the 'square' which is a third of a mile long.
This is the North side of the 'square'. Many of the houses are now converted into up-market apartments, but there are still people who live in the whole house. The façades may look familiar to some of you (see below)
Many of the houses retain the 'tradesmen' entrances to the basement areas (where the servant halls were).
I love an old lamppost - this would have originally been gas:
There are a lot of Embassies around the area - this is the Hungarian Embassy in Eaton Place. Some people may remember Eaton Place as the home of the Bellamy family in Upstairs Downstairs. Number 1 Eaton Place stood in for the exteriors of the family home (which was renumbered as 165).
A house that once belonged to William Walton, the composer. We thought the front door looked very small...
The Spanish Embassy had its flags at half mast because of the recent flood disaster.
The Norwegian Embassy - you can just see a frieze on the wall (to the left of the lamppost) which is made from the 'Coade stone' showing cherubs. It came from the former Danish-Norwegian Consulate in Stepney (1796):
Four pubs were built as part of the Estate, to allow the servants somewhere to socialise. They were all tucked away in Mews like this one.
This used to be a Presbyterian church but is now a private members-only dining club, owned by the Swiss chef Anton Mosimann.
This building is Pantechnicon - formerly a picture gallery/furniture shop, and a place to buy a carriage in 1831. This then turned into a storage facility which had large carriages to transport your goods. These were consequently known as 'pantechnicons' (a word still used for large removal vans). In 1874 there was a fire which destroyed the original building but the façade was preserved. Today it's a food and retail emporium.
Four churches were constructed on the Estate. This is St Paul's Church
It's rather spectacular inside as the walls are lined with tiles showing biblical stories:
This is The Grenadier pub - you can see on the right of the building the sign for 'Old Barrack Yard'. The pub used to serve the barracks in the early 1820s. Said to be haunted by the ghost of a young soldier who cheated at cards, and was killed and thrown down the steps!
A statue of Sir Robert Grosvenor (the 1st Marquess of Westminster who originally bought the land to build on).
St Peter's Church. It's having its bell tower refurbished.
The front of the church was sadly destroyed in a massive fire in 1987 (sadly caused by an arsonist). The refurbished area is very modern.
Some of the statuary was saved
We were very lucky to bump into one of the church curates who very kindly took us into the Sacristy at the back of the church which avoided the fire. We could see what the church would have looked like - with these lovely mosaics:
She also showed us some of the lovely church vestments which had all been hand embroidered to replace those lost.
Gorgeous embroidery.
There is no number 46 Belgrave Square. There used to be - but they have been renumbered as the Lucan family nanny was murdered in the property by Lord Lucan. Lady Lucan (his estranged wife) was injured in the attack by her husband and fled along the road...
to this pub, The Plumber's Arms shouting "There's been a murder!". Lord Lucan fled and there has been much speculation about where he went and whether he is still alive.
We continued to the Victoria Hotel just by Victoria Station which was the end of the walk.
Next week we are supposed to meet at Holborn tube, but there's supposed to be a tube strike (which won't affect me - but will affect others in the group), so we're not sure what's happening. I'll have to wait and see if the strike goes ahead.
The area of Belgravia in Tudor times was scrubland, and you were likely to be the victim of footpads and highwaymen. Later it became an area to grow vegetables as there was a tributary of the River Thames which meant the ground could be irrigated. When King George VI came to the throne, he turned Buckingham House into a Palace and the area became a desirable place to live.
Robert Grosvenor (1st Marquis of Westminster) bought the area around what is now Belgravia and Pimlico - turning it into The Grosvenor Estate. In 1826 his son Richard Grosvenor (2nd Marquis of Westminster) was granted permission to develop the Estate and he employed Thomas Cubitt to oversee the work. The Grosvenor family today are still incredibly wealthy, and the Grosvenor Estate also extends into areas of Cheshire, Paris and New York.
We walked around the area looking at the fine, fashionable buildings - it is still a very expensive area to live (a 5-bedroom house in Eaton Terrace will cost you £28 million).
We learned a lot including where a TV exterior was shot, a ghost, why a Pantechnicon is so-called and why there's a disappeared house number...
Photos under the cut.
Thomas Cubitt was probably the first real 'property developer' in London as he oversaw the building of the houses and made sure they were well designed as well as well-built.
To counteract the marshes around the area he made sure that the soil being removed to create St Catherine's Dock along the River Thames was brought downriver and used to drain the marshes and make the land more stable to build on.
Eaton Square - which is not actually a square - rather a long rectangle of houses surrounding six central gardens. The trees are so tall these days that you can't see the houses on either side of the 'square' which is a third of a mile long.
This is the North side of the 'square'. Many of the houses are now converted into up-market apartments, but there are still people who live in the whole house. The façades may look familiar to some of you (see below)
Many of the houses retain the 'tradesmen' entrances to the basement areas (where the servant halls were).
I love an old lamppost - this would have originally been gas:
There are a lot of Embassies around the area - this is the Hungarian Embassy in Eaton Place. Some people may remember Eaton Place as the home of the Bellamy family in Upstairs Downstairs. Number 1 Eaton Place stood in for the exteriors of the family home (which was renumbered as 165).
A house that once belonged to William Walton, the composer. We thought the front door looked very small...
The Spanish Embassy had its flags at half mast because of the recent flood disaster.
The Norwegian Embassy - you can just see a frieze on the wall (to the left of the lamppost) which is made from the 'Coade stone' showing cherubs. It came from the former Danish-Norwegian Consulate in Stepney (1796):
Four pubs were built as part of the Estate, to allow the servants somewhere to socialise. They were all tucked away in Mews like this one.
This used to be a Presbyterian church but is now a private members-only dining club, owned by the Swiss chef Anton Mosimann.
This building is Pantechnicon - formerly a picture gallery/furniture shop, and a place to buy a carriage in 1831. This then turned into a storage facility which had large carriages to transport your goods. These were consequently known as 'pantechnicons' (a word still used for large removal vans). In 1874 there was a fire which destroyed the original building but the façade was preserved. Today it's a food and retail emporium.
Four churches were constructed on the Estate. This is St Paul's Church
It's rather spectacular inside as the walls are lined with tiles showing biblical stories:
This is The Grenadier pub - you can see on the right of the building the sign for 'Old Barrack Yard'. The pub used to serve the barracks in the early 1820s. Said to be haunted by the ghost of a young soldier who cheated at cards, and was killed and thrown down the steps!
A statue of Sir Robert Grosvenor (the 1st Marquess of Westminster who originally bought the land to build on).
St Peter's Church. It's having its bell tower refurbished.
The front of the church was sadly destroyed in a massive fire in 1987 (sadly caused by an arsonist). The refurbished area is very modern.
Some of the statuary was saved
We were very lucky to bump into one of the church curates who very kindly took us into the Sacristy at the back of the church which avoided the fire. We could see what the church would have looked like - with these lovely mosaics:
She also showed us some of the lovely church vestments which had all been hand embroidered to replace those lost.
Gorgeous embroidery.
There is no number 46 Belgrave Square. There used to be - but they have been renumbered as the Lucan family nanny was murdered in the property by Lord Lucan. Lady Lucan (his estranged wife) was injured in the attack by her husband and fled along the road...
to this pub, The Plumber's Arms shouting "There's been a murder!". Lord Lucan fled and there has been much speculation about where he went and whether he is still alive.
We continued to the Victoria Hotel just by Victoria Station which was the end of the walk.
Next week we are supposed to meet at Holborn tube, but there's supposed to be a tube strike (which won't affect me - but will affect others in the group), so we're not sure what's happening. I'll have to wait and see if the strike goes ahead.