A Borrovian Walk Through Brompton

A walk from Borrow’s grave to Hereford Square

This is a suggested walk for those wishing to get a feel of the area in which George Borrow lived from 1860 to 1874.  It takes between 20 to 60 minutes depending on how fast you walk, and is less than a mile.

The staring point is George and Mary Borrow’s grave, in Brompton Cemetery.

Brompton Cemetery

There are a number of famous people buried near Borrow’s grave, and if you’re interested the details are given on our page about Borrow’s Grave, which gives the exact locations of graves and also some background of the cemetery itself.  George Borrow (and possibly Henrietta) stood where you’re standing on 4th February 1869, when Mary Borrow, who had died on the 30th January 1869, was buried.  The way they took back to their home is the path you’re about to walk.

Borrow’s friend, Dawson Turner, Suffolk banker, antiquarian etc., who lived in Lee Cottage (a place you’ll walk past) from 1854 until his death in 1858 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery “under a modest slab next to one of Brompton’s eastern side aisles.  His name is no longer visible.” [1]

As you walk north to leave the cemetery by the north gate into the Old Brompton Road you pass a number of graves including Rev. James Gilman on the right, and his wife Sophia, and daughter Amelia, on the left of the path: the Gilmans were living at 1 Hereford Square when the Borrows moved in, so they probably knew each other.

At the top of the path turn left towards the exit: If you’ve walked past the various graves so far, stop at the large white monument on the left of the path near the exit—the grave of Dr John Snow, 1813–58: Snow discovered the causes of cholera and was a pioneering anaesthetist, administering chloroform to Queen Victoria during the births of her two youngest children.  He saved tens of thousands of lives. [2]

Walk outside the cemetery and you’re on the Old Brompton Road.  If you look back at the top of the entrance you can see that it was originally a private, commercial cemetery company, the West of London and Westminster Cemetery Company, which was established in 1836.  The entrepreneur was Stephen Geary who also founded Highgate and Nunhead cemeteries.  Before the 39 acre site was purchased from Lord Kensington it was partly brickworks and market gardens.  It opened in 1840 but wasn’t doing well, despite the 1850 Metropolitan Interments Act which prohibited burial in the congested urban (London) churchyards.  Under the 1850 Act the Government had powers to compulsorily purchased commercial cemeteries and in 1852 purchased Brompton Cemetery—the first and only case of a cemetery nationalisation!

Old Brompton Road: By Cemetery

Although we’re heading east (right) first look west down the Old Brompton Road and you’ll see West Brompton Station.  Originally a canal ran there known as the Kensington Canal, built 1824–8 (by Lord Kensington), it ran a mile south to join the Thames at Chelsea Creek, and ran north about half a mile to a large canal basin which was surrounded by coal merchants in Borrow’s day.  After 1859 some of the canal was drained and the railway built in it’s channel.  West Brompton (underground) station opened 12 April 1869 and was a terminus, the other end being Gloucester Road (was initially just a shuttle service)—handy if George wanted to visit Mary’s grave.

Past the railway station the road becomes Lillie Road, with a Lillie Langtry opposite the Prince of Wales (no comment). [3]

In the 1860’s Brompton Cemetery was quite a place for criminal activity: various people were prosecuted for picking the flowers from the graves, steeling coats of those visiting etc.  You might like to note that the cemetery is securely enclosed.

The roads opposite the cemetery (Kempsford Gardens, Eardley Crescent etc.) radiated from the Lord Ranelagh pub which was near the junction of Warwick road and the Old Brompton Road.  It was built 1864, demolished a few years ago, and on this development 160 houses were built between 1867 and 1873.  It was one of a number of pubs in the area where Borrow might have used.

Old Brompton Road: Finborough Road

Head east (with the Cemetery entrance to your back, you’re going right) and you come to Finborough Road, [4] built 1867 onwards, but when Borrow moved in was Honey Lane.  If you look down the road, on the right, you’ll see a bus-stop: Rev. Nathanial Liberty, lived and died at a house there (since demolished)—given he worked most of his life for the cemetery company he wasn’t far from his employer!  He’s buried in Brompton Cemetery, and was the man that buried Mary and George Borrow.

In Finborough road you have the Finborough Arms, which is where Finborough Theatre is, who have previously done a George Borrow play.

Old Brompton Road: Finborough to Redcliffe

Carry on down the Old Brompton Road (past The Troubador Coffee Shop: Bob Dylan performed there when he first visited England) and you come to The Pembroke pub.  If you look to the top you’ll see it was originally the Coleherne Arms and was built in 1866, [5] so another Borrow could have used.   From the 1960’s the Coleherne was a notorious gay leather bar, with Freddie Mercury and Kenny Everett etc. attending.  It was also the stalking ground for Dennis Nilsen, Michael Lupo and Colin Ireland (serial killers).

Carry on and you’ll next cross Redcliffe Gardens road (formerly Walnut Tree Walk but renamed and built 1861 onwards).  Some way down Redcliffe Gardens (on the right hand side) is a square with St. Luke’s church in it, consecrated 1873.  Austen Dobson lived at 10 Redcliffe Street 1873–80.  Before crossing over Redcliffe gardens look at the shops on the other side of Redcliffe road: in Borrow’s time a old house called Coleherne Court stood there with an extensive garden behind it. [6]

Cross over Redcliffe Gardens but be careful: a car crash here inspired John Lennon to write A Day in the Life: “I read the news today, about a lucky man who made the grade.  He blew his mind out in a car.  He didn’t know that the lights had changed.”  The driver was Lennon’s friend Tara Browne, high on LSD.

Old Brompton Road: Coleherne Court

Carrying on down the Old Brompton Road on both sides of the road you have parts of the Coleherne estate: on the south you have Coleherne Court; on the north Coleherne Mansions.  In Borrow’s day the north were market gardens, and the south Coleherne Court (house) and then Hereford House (and the east end of the current Coleherne Court).  If you peer behind Coleherne Court (through arches at either end) you’ll see the attractive garden behind it - try to image something like that.  In 1896 a ladies’ bicycling club (the Wheel Club) was setup there, with dining room, track in the garden etc.  The original Coleherne Court (house) and Hereford House were demolished in 1900 and the current Coleherne Court was built 1903: it’s most famous resident was Lady Dianna Spencer.

Old Brompton Road: Little Boltons, Bolton Gardens and Beatrix Potter

Just past Coleherne Court you reach a quiet road, The Little Boltons (in Borrow’s day Tregunter Road, another of Robert and James Gunter’s developments).  Before crossing take a good look at the house on the other side of The Little Boltons: then image three more following it with a garden gap between them: in the last one (2 Boltons) Beatrix Potter was born on 28 July 1866. [7]  When the Borrows moved in in 1860 this was Philip Conway’s (Earl’s Court) nursery and florist establishment, with the houses being built in 1862: so George and Mary would have seen the house constructed and may have seen young Beatrix.  Beatrix’s father was educated by Rev. James Martineaux, someone Borrow refused to acknowledge.

On the opposite side of the road you’ll see the first of the “gardens” (Bolton Gardens?): private gardens for the surrounding houses.  You cannot go into these (they are residents only), but you can see that the developers were conscious of the need for pleasant greenery in their new estates.  It’s slightly unusual that Hereford Square (where Borrow lived), has a garden, but isn’t named after it.  In Borrow’s time the maps show a garden with the road behind it.

The Boltons and St. Mary’s Church

You now come to The Boltons with the road (now Bolton Place, formerly Gilston Road) on your right.  The Boltons were built from 1850 onward, but it took many years to complete.  Before entering have a good look at the large white house on the opposite side of The Boltons road: Jenny Lind (1820–87) the famous singer lived there—the blue plaque marks the spot if you cannot make it out.  Before the current house was built there was a house and garden called Moreton Tower and the Rev. Hogarth J. Swale lived there, 1849–52: he funded St. Mary’s church and was it’s first incumbent.  The current house was built shortly before Jenny moved in in 1874, and she lived there until here death.

As you turn into The Bolton’s you’ll see St. Mary’s the Bolton’s church (originally Saint Mary’s West Brompton) in front of you.  The church is set in an oval garden (again private to the residents) and the houses you are walking past are some of the most expensive in England (no. 20 sold for £59 million in 2012).  Early residents were Charles Vacher (artist), No. 4; John Hughes (father of Thomas of Tom Brown’s Schooldays), No. 7; ship-owner, landowner and physicians, Benjamin Golding, 28; writer Samuel Carter Hall, No. 21.  In the 1871 census the 26 houses contained 87 members of the families and 97 servants.

The church entrance is in the middle of the oval on the western side and there are benches around the church for you to sit if you wish.  Robert Gunter, the builder of the surrounding estate, offered to build Saint Mary’s and the foundation stone was laid in August 1849 with the church consecrated in October 1850.  In 1855 Rev. Nathanial Liberty (man who buried the Borrows) became curate, serving until 1868.  It’s almost certain the Borrows would have gone to St. Mary’s and it’s probably St. Mary’s links the Borrows to others such as Sarah Oriel (who lived just round the corner in Seymour Place).  The vicar for 1860 to 1868 was Mayow Wynell Mayow who was very High Church, and whose December 1867 sermons were published as The Priesthood, Altar and Sacrifice.  However, in 1867 St. Stephen’s church in Gloucester Road opened and most of the Hereford Square folk appear to have switched to the nearer church.

Having looked at St. Mary’s, retrace your steps back north to the Old Brompton Road.  Hereford Square, where the Borrow lived from 1860 to 1874 is very close by today’s route (cross over the road and walk up until you reach Weatherby Gardens, then go down it), but that was a market garden in Borrow’s day, so we’re going to go Borrow’s route: down the Old Brompton Road.

When you come out of the Boltons, take the Old Brompton Road to your right (east).  Near the bend in the road stood Clareville, occupied by Jenny Lind before the other house, and Borrow would have known it well.  If you want to image: behind Clareville Borrow would have seen Moreton Tower and besides it another large house with gardens: Sidmouth Lodge.

Old Brompton Road: Gledhow Gardens

As you walk east along the Old Brompton Road, the terrace on to your north is Gledhow Gardens (and the road becomes this too): this was built 1866 to 1883.  There’s a garden behind them, although as Wetherby Gardens also borders the same garden, perhaps it’s a shared one.  Robert Gunter (1831-1905), Crimea veteran, property developer and later M.P. for Knaresborough, built most of these estates: Wetherby is named from his Yorkshire Estate near Knaresborough, Gledhow similarly being near Leeds.

Old Brompton Road: Drayton Arms, Gardens and Terrace

Crossing over Creswell Gardens road (in Borrow’s time this was Egltons Mews) and past the many restaurants you come to the Drayton Arms (was run by George Rich in 1864 so Borrow would have known it).  On the other side of the road you’ll see the Eclipse Cocktail Bar which shows all the signs of being an ex-pub, but I’ve not traced it’s history.

Mervyn Peake, author of Gormenghast etc., (1911–68) lived at no. 1 Drayton Gardens.

Cross over Drayton Gardens road (formerly Thitsle Grove, then Drayton Grove, then Drayton Road) and the terraced houses you’re walking past are Drayton Terrace, built 1845–46 so again known to Borrow: you should be able to make out the original name stone which is on the end house.  Behind them was the West London Cricket Ground (opened 28 May 1860).  A short way up, on the other side, you see the Duke of Clarence [8]  The narrow road beside the Duke of Clarence is Dove Mews and just after the bend it’s rather quaint if you wish to take a photograph.

On the other side of Dove Mews is an estate agents, Chard, but if you look up you’ll see the 1883 building date: it just underlies that most of what you’re seeing wasn’t there in Borrow’s day.  Assuming you’re still on the south side of the Old Brompton Road you’ll next pass a narrow path called Thistle Grove—this was a path in Borrow’s day, although perhaps it was further west than this.  The artist William Cowen (18 June 1791–26 January 1864) lived in Gibralter cottage there, and produced many paintings of the area.  As there was Samuel William Paskell’s picture lining business at 1 Gloucester Road (near the junction with the Old Brompton Road) it’s possible the Borrows would have been aware of his work, and perhaps known him.

Walk past the Ferrari car showroom (there’s a Lamborghini one further up the road if you’re interested).  On the opposite side of the Old Brompton Road you’ll notice Rosary Gardens, which was named after a nice old house, The Rosary, where S. C. Hall and his wife lived (but before Borrow arrived).

Old Brompton Road: Cranley Mews

After crossing Roland Gardens road you’ll notice Falkner House, a private school I think, on the other side.  There were quite a few houses turned into schools in Borrow’s day: with at least two in Hereford Square itself.  You’ll soon reach Cranley Mews, the mews for Cranley Gardens which is next.  Cranley Mews is very attractive and well worth looking at.  On the other side of Cranley Mews is the Ocean House Sushi restaurant, 117–9 Old Brompton Road.  Clearly this was something interesting before, but I don’t know what.

Old Brompton Road: Cranley Gardens, Onslow Gardens and Queen’s Gate [9]

You’ve now reached the crossroads where you could cross over the road, walk up Gloucester Road and be at Hereford Square in a minute or two.  However, we’re going a little further up the Old Brompton road and will then come back.

Where Gloucester Road intersects the Old Brompton Road, in Borrow’s day, there were four large houses standing in their own grounds: Hereford Lodge, The Rosary, Clarville and Brompton Villa.  These were demolished in the 1880’s

To your south is Cranley Gardens (a road) and over the road you can see one of the gardens.  Cranley Gardens (the houses) was built from 1875.  Further down Cranley Gardens (on the east side) is St. Peter’s Church which opened in 1867: making it a candidate for Borrow (but others also opened nearer him around the same time).  St. Peter’s is now the Armenian Orthodox Church.

Cross over Cranley Gardens road and have a look into the gardens (they are private: don’t go in).  These are built on a better scheme than Hereford Square in that the houses exit into the garden, rather than the residents having to cross the road.

Passing the gardens you now come to Onslow Gardens: there are lots of roads in this group called Onslow Gardens so it gets a bit awkward to talk about them. [10]  However, note the impressive style of the buildings (built from 1863)—Gloucester Road and Hereford Square had made Brompton fashionable, and the houses Borrow saw built were designed accordingly.  You’re attention, however, is likely to be taken by the strange building on the other side of the road: the Royal Society for Sculptors have decorated the outside, but we’ll pass on as, being  built 1886 in, it wasn’t there in Borrow’s time.

Crossing over Onslow Gardens and walking up the Old Brompton Road you next come to a major crossroads: to the south you have the Onslow estates whilst the wide and very elegant road to the north is Queen’s Gate, built, .  Queen’s gate was intended to build on the wealthy middle classes who were moving into Brompton (as George and Mary had done in 1860) and leads directly from your position on the Old Brompton Road, up to Kensington Gardens, at the gate of which Queen Victoria used to go into Kensington Palace (hence Queen’s Gate).  If you don’t mind a bit of a detour walk a little way up Queen’s Gate on the east (right hand) side and you’ll come to St. Augustine’s Church.  This was founded by Rev. Richard Robert Chorpe, who lived at 12 Gloucester Road from 1866—it would have been opposite the Borrow’s at 22 Hereford Square, and they would have known each other.  In fact around 1866 Chorpe put up an “iron church” in his back garden, whilst he worked on raising funding for St. Augustine’s.  St. Augustine’s itself was built 1871 by William Butterfield and was intended as a “bastion of Anglo-Catholic” worship.

Retrace you steps back onto the Old Brompton Road (if you went to see St. Augustine’s) and then back to the Gloucester Road junction.

Whilst you’re at the junction look at Argyll lodge: this was there in Borrow’s day with entrances onto the Old Brompton Road (as now) and also Gloucester Road, so it got listed under either in the directories of the time.  Also in Borrow’s day, behind Argyll lodge was Henry and Alfred Attwood’s market gardens which spread along the Old Brompton Road and most of the way up the Gloucester Road: Henrietta, who was interested in botany, would have plenty near at hand to look at.

As you start to walk up Gloucester road just after the Argyll buildings Borrow would have seen Samuel William Paskell’s picture dealers.  Samuel’s wife started a millinery/stay-making business on the premises (as well as Samuel’s picture dealing) in 1862, so Mary and Henrietta needn’t go to far for clothing.  As William Cowen the artist lived nearby in Thistle Grove, Samuel might have had some of his pictures in his shop window, hence why the Borrow’s might have known [of] him.

On the east side of Gloucester Road you’ll see Brechin Place which was built well after Borrow left.  Just past it you’ll see the back of the south houses of Hereford Square.  The one on the corner of Hereford Square and Gloucester road is no. 1 Hereford Square.  About there, at 9.10 p.m. on 10 August 1944 a fly bomb destroyed 1 Hereford Square, badly damaged 2–5 (eventually demolished), and destroyed 141, 143, 145, 147 and 149 Gloucester Road.

When Borrow moved in in 1860 no. 1 was Rev. James Gilman, whose grave you saw in Brompton Cemetery.  At no. 4 lived Fredrick William Hulme, an artist; no. 9 was various businesses (school, photographic companies); no. 11 was Arthur Ellis who opposed Anglo-catholicism; 18 was Lady Soame; 20 was Robert Collinson, artist, and drinking pal of George Borrow; 22 was the Borrows (there’s a plaque); 26 was Francis Power Cobbe and Mary Lloyd, who left anecdotes of George (not very complimentary); 27 was where Rev. Nathanial Liberty lived (who buried George and Mary, and was curate of St. Mary’s); at 35 lived John Arrowsmith, the famous hydrographer etc.  For lots more names and details on everyone, see our Hereford Square page.

By now you could probably do with a break so why not go into the Hereford Arms and have a drink and comfort break?  The Hereford Arms was there all the time Borrow was, and he must have drunk in there.

After the Hereford Arms, if you’d like a minor extra explore, walk up Gloucester Road towards the tube station (which is on the other side of the road from the Hereford Arms).  Gloucester Road was named after the Duchess of Gloucester who used to have a “gothic palace” just up on the east side - about where Tesco’s is.  When the Duchess moved she “gentrified” the area and paved the way for the subsequent up-market development of Hereford Square: previously Gloucester Road was called Hogmire Lane!

On the (north) west side of Gloucester Road you’ll see Gloucester Road tube station.  This was built (together with the line running up through High Street Kensington, Notting Hill to Paddington, Praed Street; and round to South Kensington in the other direction), between February 1865 and October 1868 - when the Borrow’s were living just round the corner.  To add insult to injury, Samuel Morton Peto, the man who had built a railway line through Borrow’s estate at Oulton, was awarded the tender to build the Paddington to South Kensington railway.  The railway was built by “cut-and-cover” - the workers digging a deep trench (i.e. Gloucester Road was dug up from the station to Tesco’s), the railway put in, and then the surface put back so the railway ran in a tunnel.

Just past Gloucester Road station you come to the Cromwell Road and you’re about to cross the boarder into Kensington.  Brompton never had a clear identity as such, with Kensington just to the north, and Chelsea just to the south (the Fulham Road that runs on the south of Brompton Cemetery being the southern border) and the original Brompton was just market gardens and a few large scattered houses.

Crossing over the Cromwell road (it’s still the Gloucester Road on the other side) you’ll see St. Stephen’s church on the west side - a rather low-lying and inconspicuous building which opened in 1867, when the Hereford Square people more or less stopped going to St. Mary’s.  Again, it’s almost certain that the Borrows would have transferred here too, where the pew rent was 2 guineas per annum.  Like many of the churches in the area St. Stephen’s didn’t have a rich person to endow it, and so charged regulars as set amount a year: there were 500 2 guinea seats plus other cheaper seats so you can see it would work as a business.  In 1867 it stood in some fields but the architect clearly couldn’t see what was coming and it rapidly became surrounded.  Since the early 1900’s it’s been a centre for Anglo-Catholicism.

That’s it: if you need to get back to a major railway station there’s Gloucester Road station (which you’ve looked at).  There are various bus routes around: the one outside Gloucester Road station goes up to Kensington, most of the others go up to South Kensington station, where you can get buses to most parts of London.

Sources and Footnotes

Brompton Cemetery, An Illustrated Guide.

The Survey of London.

Buried at Brompton.

Kelly’s Directories (and Royal Blue book) for the Borrow period.

Brompton and Earl’s Court Past.

* * * *

[1]  From article on Dawson Turner by Arthur Tate, Friends of Brompton Cemetery Newsletter Summer 2008, pp. 4–9.

[2]  In addition to the Dictionary of National Biography, see Friends of Brompton Cemetery Newsletter Spring 2009, pp. 5–9.

[3]  Today’s implication is that Lillie Road was named after Lillie Langtry, but Lillie Road is listed in Kelly’s 1864, when Lillie Langtry would have been only 9 years old, so it’s unlikely.

[4]  Other famous residents of Finborough Road: Richard Doyle , Punch illustrator, lived there 1875–83; Arthur Hughes, illustrator of Tom Browne’s Schooldays, lived there 1867–77.

[5]  When Borrow moved into the area in 1860 both sides of the road were fields.  It’s likely the whole block next to the Pembroke was built in 1866 and was general shops.  The Troubador was only established in 1954.  If you’ve looked across the road to ‘The Mansions’ 26–37 and 250 Richmond Mansion you might note the “H & AH” above it.  This block was built by H. and A. Harris, builders, of the Brompton Road in 1895–7: all well past Borrow’s time.

[6]  As you’ll note the The Boltons pub opposite was built in 1892 so definitely not a Borrow local.

[7]  Beatrix lived at 2 Boltons from her birth until and 1913.  The house was bomb-damaged in the second world war, demolished and Bousfield school built.  A plaque on the wall marks the location of Beatrix’s house.

[8]  The Duke of Clarence claims to be oldest licensed pub. on Old Brompton Road, but it’s not listed in the 1851, 1861 nor 1871 census, nor is it in 1864 Kelly’s London Directory, at least under this name, so the claim looks bogus.

[9]  Lee cottage, where Borrow’s friend Dawson Turner lived 1854–8, was next to the Swan Inn, on the west side, around the Queen’s Gate/Old Brompton Road junction is.

[10]  At 24 Onslow Gardens former Prime Minister, Andrew Bonar Law (1858–1923) lived and died, and at 5 Onslow Gardens James Anthony Froude, historian and man of letters (1818–94) lived.