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West Brompton
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West Brompton
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 traced by Counter's Creek, probably marked the eastern edge of Fulham Manor since Saxon times and is now partly lost beneath the West London Line railway.
The land to the west of Counter's Creek lies in the medieval parish of Fulham which evolved out of the extensive Fulham Manor, the residence of the Bishop of London for 1,300 years, known today as Fulham Palace. To the east is the parish of St Mary Abbots which traces its foundation to the 12th-century as the Manor of Kensington. Until modern times, both sides of the creek were in the county of Middlesex.
The name refers to the locality of Brompton to the east, linked to its western namesake through the areas of Earl's Court and South Kensington by the Old Brompton Road. Before the vigorous urbanisation of the second half of the 19th century, Brompton also referred to the area between the Fulham Road, previously known as Little Chelsea and Counter's Creek to the West, on its way to the Thames. The most famous landmark in the area is the Grade I listed Brompton Cemetery, laid out between 1837 and 1839, with magnificent catacombs and a domed chapel by architect, Benjamin Baud. Since the area was chiefly devoted to market gardens, with leading nurseries such as that of James Veitch & Sons, philanthropists looking to establish hospitals near London. looked no further than Brompton as a suitable healthy location. Thus came into being the Royal Brompton Hospital, for chest diseases. Ten years later, William Marsden decided to erect a new Cancer Hospital in memory of his wife, and a tract of land was found for it along the Fulham Road in Brompton. Designed by Messrs John Young & Son, Architects, and built by the Lawrence Company in 1859, it has subsequently achieved world renown as The Royal Marsden Hospital. Notable residents of West Brompton include the naturalist, writer and illustrator, Beatrix Potter, William Hurlstone (1876–1906), English composer born in Empress Place, and Benjamin Rawlinson Faulkner (1787–1849), reputedly Queen Victoria's favourite portrait painter.
The most notable landowners in 'West Brompton' at the start of the 19th century were James Gunter (1731–1819), Sir John Scott Lillie (1790–1868) and the Edwardes family. The first non-agrarian activity in the area was to the West of Counter's Creek, which between 1828 and 1859 became the short-lived, two-mile long Kensington Canal. This area of farm land, bounded by North End Lane to the West, was known then as North End in the Parish of Fulham and was dotted with a few grand houses, such as the Hermitage and the less grand Grange, home of artist, Edward Burne-Jones. A new road was laid out to join North End and Kensington parish with access to the new Hammersmith Bridge by Sir John Scott Lillie, Peninsular War veteran, road builder and investor in the canal company. Lillie is buried in Brompton Cemetery. After Gunter's Bridge was built over the canal in 1826, the road on either side was called the Richmond Road. The remnants of the canal bridge can be seen from platform 4 at the West Brompton station. The early Fulham buildings were associated with freight transport such as the wharves in today's Rickett Street and Roxby Place, south of Lillie Road, and a brewery to offer refreshment to the canal, barge and later railway workers as well as the builders of the nearby Westminster and Brompton Company's new 40 acre cemetery opened in 1840. The oldest extant building is the Lily Langtry public house, formerly the Lillie Arms 1833, part of the old brewery in Lillie Road.
Meanwhile, the Kensington Canal turned out to be a financial fiasco for its backers trying to link the Grand Union Canal and the burgeoning railways with the Thames. They switched to the idea of a railway to benefit from the boom to the West and to the North, and the canal was filled in to make way for the West London (extension) Line 1840.
The earliest 'West Brompton' residential development was along the south side of Richmond Road (today's Lillie Road) and was called Lansdowne and Beaufort Villas in the 1840s, a group of Palladian style semi-detached houses with front and back gardens, now entirely demolished. These were followed in 1864 off its north side by a small terraced cul-de-sac abutting the railway with a number of attached retail outlets onto the main road, a development called Richmond Place, the current Empress Place (scheduled for demolition for a dense high rise development), and in 1866 by a terrace of more substantial houses along Richmond Road, both designed by the City of London architect, John Young, known for his signature ornamental brickwork. The houses would have been intended for the different levels of professionals, craftsmen and workers coming into London to service the growing transport and building booms. Indeed, the owners and residents of this Fulham housing development would soon be involved from 1872 in the massive urbanisation of the farmland estates of the Edwardes and Gunter families, over Lillie bridge.
Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet, a civil engineer from Yorkshire took over as consulting engineer of the Metropolitan and District Railway following the early death of Brunel and was active in the area laying down tracks and building bridges and leading to the establishment in 1869 of the Lillie Bridge Depot and Railway Engineering works, currently being demolished to make way for a high rise development. Among his many famous designs is the West Brompton station opened in 1865. Fowler, like many people who contributed to the early development of the West Brompton area, is buried in Brompton Cemetery. Fortuitously, 16-18 Empress Place (at risk) housed, at the turn of the last century, the former engineering headquarters of the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway, from where the westward expansion of the Piccadilly line was planned and carried out.
West Brompton Station provides London Underground District line services to Wimbledon in a Southerly direction and Edgware Road and Upminster to the North and East. It is possible also to change at Earls Court (1 stop or a short walk) for District line services to Ealing Broadway and Richmond as well as Kensington Olympia. The West London Line also provides services between Willesden Junction and Clapham Junction, South Croydon and Gatwick airport.
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West Brompton AI simulator
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West Brompton
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 traced by Counter's Creek, probably marked the eastern edge of Fulham Manor since Saxon times and is now partly lost beneath the West London Line railway.
The land to the west of Counter's Creek lies in the medieval parish of Fulham which evolved out of the extensive Fulham Manor, the residence of the Bishop of London for 1,300 years, known today as Fulham Palace. To the east is the parish of St Mary Abbots which traces its foundation to the 12th-century as the Manor of Kensington. Until modern times, both sides of the creek were in the county of Middlesex.
The name refers to the locality of Brompton to the east, linked to its western namesake through the areas of Earl's Court and South Kensington by the Old Brompton Road. Before the vigorous urbanisation of the second half of the 19th century, Brompton also referred to the area between the Fulham Road, previously known as Little Chelsea and Counter's Creek to the West, on its way to the Thames. The most famous landmark in the area is the Grade I listed Brompton Cemetery, laid out between 1837 and 1839, with magnificent catacombs and a domed chapel by architect, Benjamin Baud. Since the area was chiefly devoted to market gardens, with leading nurseries such as that of James Veitch & Sons, philanthropists looking to establish hospitals near London. looked no further than Brompton as a suitable healthy location. Thus came into being the Royal Brompton Hospital, for chest diseases. Ten years later, William Marsden decided to erect a new Cancer Hospital in memory of his wife, and a tract of land was found for it along the Fulham Road in Brompton. Designed by Messrs John Young & Son, Architects, and built by the Lawrence Company in 1859, it has subsequently achieved world renown as The Royal Marsden Hospital. Notable residents of West Brompton include the naturalist, writer and illustrator, Beatrix Potter, William Hurlstone (1876–1906), English composer born in Empress Place, and Benjamin Rawlinson Faulkner (1787–1849), reputedly Queen Victoria's favourite portrait painter.
The most notable landowners in 'West Brompton' at the start of the 19th century were James Gunter (1731–1819), Sir John Scott Lillie (1790–1868) and the Edwardes family. The first non-agrarian activity in the area was to the West of Counter's Creek, which between 1828 and 1859 became the short-lived, two-mile long Kensington Canal. This area of farm land, bounded by North End Lane to the West, was known then as North End in the Parish of Fulham and was dotted with a few grand houses, such as the Hermitage and the less grand Grange, home of artist, Edward Burne-Jones. A new road was laid out to join North End and Kensington parish with access to the new Hammersmith Bridge by Sir John Scott Lillie, Peninsular War veteran, road builder and investor in the canal company. Lillie is buried in Brompton Cemetery. After Gunter's Bridge was built over the canal in 1826, the road on either side was called the Richmond Road. The remnants of the canal bridge can be seen from platform 4 at the West Brompton station. The early Fulham buildings were associated with freight transport such as the wharves in today's Rickett Street and Roxby Place, south of Lillie Road, and a brewery to offer refreshment to the canal, barge and later railway workers as well as the builders of the nearby Westminster and Brompton Company's new 40 acre cemetery opened in 1840. The oldest extant building is the Lily Langtry public house, formerly the Lillie Arms 1833, part of the old brewery in Lillie Road.
Meanwhile, the Kensington Canal turned out to be a financial fiasco for its backers trying to link the Grand Union Canal and the burgeoning railways with the Thames. They switched to the idea of a railway to benefit from the boom to the West and to the North, and the canal was filled in to make way for the West London (extension) Line 1840.
The earliest 'West Brompton' residential development was along the south side of Richmond Road (today's Lillie Road) and was called Lansdowne and Beaufort Villas in the 1840s, a group of Palladian style semi-detached houses with front and back gardens, now entirely demolished. These were followed in 1864 off its north side by a small terraced cul-de-sac abutting the railway with a number of attached retail outlets onto the main road, a development called Richmond Place, the current Empress Place (scheduled for demolition for a dense high rise development), and in 1866 by a terrace of more substantial houses along Richmond Road, both designed by the City of London architect, John Young, known for his signature ornamental brickwork. The houses would have been intended for the different levels of professionals, craftsmen and workers coming into London to service the growing transport and building booms. Indeed, the owners and residents of this Fulham housing development would soon be involved from 1872 in the massive urbanisation of the farmland estates of the Edwardes and Gunter families, over Lillie bridge.
Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet, a civil engineer from Yorkshire took over as consulting engineer of the Metropolitan and District Railway following the early death of Brunel and was active in the area laying down tracks and building bridges and leading to the establishment in 1869 of the Lillie Bridge Depot and Railway Engineering works, currently being demolished to make way for a high rise development. Among his many famous designs is the West Brompton station opened in 1865. Fowler, like many people who contributed to the early development of the West Brompton area, is buried in Brompton Cemetery. Fortuitously, 16-18 Empress Place (at risk) housed, at the turn of the last century, the former engineering headquarters of the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway, from where the westward expansion of the Piccadilly line was planned and carried out.
West Brompton Station provides London Underground District line services to Wimbledon in a Southerly direction and Edgware Road and Upminster to the North and East. It is possible also to change at Earls Court (1 stop or a short walk) for District line services to Ealing Broadway and Richmond as well as Kensington Olympia. The West London Line also provides services between Willesden Junction and Clapham Junction, South Croydon and Gatwick airport.
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