Mayfair, Belgravia, and Bayswater

PADDINGTON
By G. E. Mitton

The boundaries of the borough of Paddington are not quite coterminous with those of the parish. It is true that the alteration is not great. On the east Edgware Road and Maida Vale still mark the limits with a line as straight as that drawn by a ruler. On the south Bayswater Road serves a similar purpose as far as the Serpentine, where the boundary dips to include part of the Gardens; these are the same as the old boundaries. The present line, however, returns northward up the Broad Walk to Bayswater Road instead of up Kensington Palace Gardens. From Bayswater Road it follows Ossington Street, Chepstow Place, Westbourne Grove, Ledbury Road, St. Luke's Road, and crosses the railway lines northward to Kensal Road, having from the Bayswater Road been either a little within or without the parish line, doubtless so drawn for convenience' sake, as it follows streets and not an arbitrary division. From Kensal Hall the line follows the canal to Kensal Green Cemetery, and, going northward, returns east along Kilburn Lane, thus including a bit of ground previously owned by Chelsea. From Kilburn Lane the northern boundary dips down between Salisbury Crescent and Malvern Road, and up again by Kilburn Park Road; in this last part it remains unaltered.

The Westbourne stream formerly ran right through the district. It rose in Hampstead, flowed through Kilburn, and followed the trend of the present Cambridge and Shirland Roads, though keeping on the east side of the place where these streets now stand. It crossed the Harrow Road, and ran on the west side of the present Gloucester Terrace until it reached the Uxbridge Road. It fed the Serpentine, and, crossing the road at Knightsbridge, formed the eastern boundary of the Chelsea parish.

A stream somewhat similar in course was the Tyburn, which also rose at Hampstead, but flowed through the parish of Marylebone, the ancient Tyburnia. This was considerably to the east of Paddington, and has been treated in the Marylebone section. Oxford Street was the ancient Tyburn Road, and the gallows stood opposite the Marble Arch.

In Rocque's map (1748) only the Westbourne is marked, but we see Tyburn Turnpike at the junction of the Edgware Road, and near by "the stone where soldiers are shot." These things do not belong properly to Paddington, but are too intimately connected with it to be passed over without comment. The Edgware Road itself is the old Watling Street, which was continued at first down Park Lane to the ford at Westminster, and which afterwards, when London Bridge was built, followed the course of Oxford Street and Holborn to the Bridge. Edgware was the name of the first town through which it passed after the forests of Middlesex. Newcourt says "the parish of Edgeware or Edgeworth consisteth of one main street ... ten miles north-westward from London."

In Rocque's 1748 map the district is nearly all open ground; part of the Harrow Road is marked, and there are a few houses on it near the Edgware Road. The Green Lane, now Warwick Road, runs into it from the north. The Pest House is marked prominently about where the chapel stands in Craven Terrace in the south of the parish. Below is marked "Bayswatering." Queen's Road is Westbourne Green Lane, and the green itself is very nearly where Royal Oak Station now stands. About it there are a few scattered houses.

History.

"King Edgar gave the Manor of Paddington to Westminster Abbey;" this Lysons affirms without any comment. Dart varies the tradition slightly by asserting that it was Dunstan and not the King who presented the manor to the Abbey. But later writers have thrown discredit on both statements. Paddington is not mentioned in the Conqueror's Survey, which points to the fact that it was not at that date a separate manor. Robins, on the authority of the Rev. Richard Widmore, for many years librarian to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, boldly states that the documents supposed to prove this gift are undoubted forgeries.

Newcourt says, "the Manor and Rectory of Paddington (which of old did belong to the monastery of Westminster)," etc. The first authentic mention of the manor is in a document "in the thirty-first year of Henry II.," drawn up between "Walter Abbot of Westminster and Richard and William de Padinton, brothers, touching the entire tenement which they held in Padinton of the Church of Westminster," whereby they gave up their hold on the land in consideration of a sum of money. This Abbot Walter gave, we are told, the manor of Paddington for the celebration of the anniversary of the day on which he died.

For this festival

There are further provisions for allowances to the nuns at "Kilborne," and 300 poor who were to have a "loaf of mixed corn" and a "pottle of ale." The above is taken from Dr. Vincent's translation of the MS. He was Dean of Westminster in 1804. Mr. Loftie says: "Westbourne was probably at a very early period separated from the original manor of the Church of St. Peter.... Of Paddington we only know that it was separated from the manor of Westminster at some time between Domesday Survey and the middle of the twelfth century. It was restored to its original owners ... by the above mentioned agreement between Abbot Walter and the brothers Padinton."

Mr. Loftie says also that Westbourne and Paddington are named together in 1222 among the possessions of St. Margaret's. He is unable to ascertain how the manor of Westbourne came to belong to the Abbot of Westminster. In the reign of the second Edward several inquisitions of land were made which are quoted by Robins in his "Paddington, Past and Present." In one we find mentioned "that Walter de Wenlock [a second Abbot Walter] had acquired to himself and his house ... twelve acres of land in Padinton of William de Padinton, and three and a half acres of Hugh de Bakere of Eye, and thirteen acres of land in Westbourn of John le Taillour, and eleven acres of land there of Matilda Arnold, and two acres of land there of Juliana Baysevolle, after the publication of the statute edited concerning the nonplacing of lands in mortmain, and not before. And they (the commissioners) say that it is not to the damage nor prejudice of the Lord the King, nor of others, if the king grant to the Prior and Convent of Westminster that the Abbots of that place for the time being may recover and hold the aforesaid messuages and land to them and their successors for ever."

But the Abbot had to pay the King a small yearly sum, and cause certain services of reaping and ploughing to be performed for him, which showed that he held the land in some sense subject to the Crown. In Henry VII.'s reign his mother, the Countess of Richmond, bought certain lands in Kensington, Willesden, Paddington, and Westbourne. She left the greater part of her possessions to Westminster, so that the Abbey lands in this vicinity must have been increased. The manor acquired by the Countess seems to have consisted chiefly of two farms—Notting Barns in Kensington, and "Westborne" in Paddington; the former is fully dealt with in the section devoted to Kensington. Besides the lands left to the Abbey, she bequeathed part of her possessions to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

In the account of the Church property which fell into Henry VIII.'s hands at the dissolution of the monasteries we find mentioned "Westborne."

King Henry also held other lands here, which he had obtained by exchange or purchase. He made Paddington a part of the endowment of the new See of Westminster. After the abolition of that See Edward VI. gave "the mannor and rectory of Paddington" to Dr. Nicholas Ridley, then Bishop of London, "and his successors for ever" (Newcourt).

Westbourne remained in the possession of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster; thus the two manors parted company. Paddington was confiscated during the Commonwealth, but was claimed by Bishop Sheldon at the Restoration. It was restored to him, and he let it to his nephew, Sir Joseph Sheldon, knight, and Daniel Sheldon. It was held by the Sheldon family until 1740, when it was let by Gibson, the Bishop of London, to Sir John Frederick, in whose family it remained for many generations.

Perambulations.

A survey of London in 1827 shows us very few streets in the quarter to the south of Praed Street and east of Westbourne Terrace and Street. Connaught Square and Connaught Place are marked, and the curious rectangular piece of ground of about 5 acres belonging to St. George's, Hanover Square. This was bought by St. George's Vestry in 1764, when the land was surrounded by fields, and was suitable for a cemetery. Among others buried there was Laurence Sterne, whose body is said to have been exhumed by body-snatchers. But this ground does not belong to Paddington. In the above-mentioned survey Cambridge Street is Sovereign Street, and the oval piece with Southwick Crescent at one end is Polygon Crescent, a name now only retained in Polygon Mews.

Hyde Park Gardens is marked "Intended Crescent," but except in the triangular corner, now bounded by Cambridge and Albion Streets, there are few houses.

Cambridge Street and Oxford and Cambridge Terraces and Squares preserve in their names the memory of the gift of the Countess of Richmond to those universities.

In Southwick Crescent stands St. John's Church, built originally in 1826, and then known as Connaught Chapel. In 1832 a district was allotted to the chapel. In 1844 a portion of this was transferred to the new church of St. James. Four years later St. John's obtained a portion of the chapelry district, and in 1859 the district itself was made into a new parish. Part of the new parish was transferred to St. Michael and All Angels in 1864. The church is in a late Gothic style. It was completely renovated during 1895, when the present reredos was added.

In Titchborne Road are St. John's Schools. In Junction Mews, off Sale Street, is a boatmen's chapel. In Market Street is one of the Dudley Stuart night refuges for the destitute. And to the north, in Praed Street, is a small Baptist tabernacle with painted front, and further westward the church and schools of St. Michael and All Angels. The church was built in 1862; it is in the Decorated style, and the architect was Mr. Hawkins. Its predecessor was a chapel of ease to St. John's, but in 1859 the district was made separate. The organ is by Hill.

In Norfolk Square we find All Saints' Church. This has been lately rebuilt, having been burnt down on May 31, 1894. The old church was consecrated on All Saints' Day, 1847, and its architecture is described as having been "Gothic of the eleventh century." The first architect was Mr. Clutton. The building was restored and the chancel added in 1873 from Mr. J. Brooks's designs.

The new church is striking, being of red brick with terra-cotta mouldings over the doors and windows. The architect was Ralph Nevill, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A. The old walls that remained have been engrafted into the new building. The organ is by Hill. The floor of the church is of mosaic, and stalls, screens, and nave seats are of Burmese wood, called padouk. The church is lit by electric light.

In the 1827 map a spot at the extreme end of Stanhope Street, just where it touches Westbourne Street, is marked Archery Ground, and a little to the north, at the corner of Bathhurst Street, are "Bagnigge Wells," probably named after the more famous Bagnigge Wells, near Gray's Inn Road.

In Maitland's "History of London" we are told that in the year 1439 the Abbot of Westminster granted to the Mayor and citizens of London one head of water containing twenty-six perches in length and one in breadth, together with all its springs in the manor of Paddington, for which two peppercorns were to be paid annually. In these wells of water we have the origin of the latter part of the word Bayswater. Some writers affirm that the name originated in a public-house kept by a Mr. Bays, where horses were given water, hence the more ancient rendering "Bayswatering." Lysons says of it, "The springs at this place lie near the surface, and the water is very fine." He adds, "The conduit at Bayswater belongs to the City of London, and, being conveyed by brick drains, supplies the houses in and about Bond Street, which stand upon the City lands."

Robins quotes an Act (49 George III.) in which "Byard's Watering Place" is mentioned in Tyburn.

In George III.'s reign the mayor and citizens were empowered by an Act of Parliament to see their water rights at Bayswater, which was done for the sum of £2,500.

Robins says that a Juliana Baysbolle held land in Westbourne, and conjectures that the former part of her name may have descended to the place. He adds: "At the end of the fourteenth century we find from Tanner's note, before quoted, that the head of water given by the Abbot was called Baynard's Watering Place; and although this may have been the name used in legal documents for the district surrounding it, yet Bayswatering has been the name used by the people."

From the springs doubtless arose the names of Brook's Mews, Conduit Mews, Spring Street West, and Eastbourne Terraces.

Bayswatering is marked on Rocque's 1748 map at a spot nearly due south of Christ Church. St. James's Church was built and made parochial in 1845. Loftie says that then "the parish for the fourth time changed its patron and reverted to its former saint."

The old parish church will be noticed at Paddington Green, on which it stands. The new church of St. James's, one of the finest modern churches in London, was rebuilt, with the exception of the tower and spire, in 1882, the material used being flint, and the design was the last of G. E. Street's. The chancel is now at the west end, having been transformed at the time of rebuilding. There are some very fine stained-glass windows, and the organ is by Hill. The walls of the chancel and nave are faced with Devonshire marble, and the pulpit and font are of the same material. The reredos, of the Last Supper, is a marble bas-relief. The old registers are now held by St. James's, and contain some interesting entries, notably those referring to burials in the time of the Great Plague. Among other items there are the following, which, it must be remembered, really refer to the old church:

"William Hogarth, esq., and Jane Thornhill of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, married March 23, 1729."

"Joseph Francis Nollekens, buried Jan. 24, 1747." This was the father of the famous sculptor.

"Sarah Siddons, buried June 11th, 1831."

On the east side of Craven Terrace is a finely-built Congregational Church. This is in a decorated style, with a large wheel window and elaborately ornamented pinnacles. It was built between forty and fifty years ago, and contains seats for about 700 people. St. James's Schools are opposite. Craven Terrace and Hill, and Hill Gardens, recall the memory of the fine old Earl Craven, who remained in London during the 1665 plague, when most of those able to do so had fled. He married the titular Queen of Bohemia, a daughter of James I., whom he had loved devotedly all his life.

The pest-house marked so prominently on Rocque's map was almost on the site of the present Craven Terrace Chapel. Lord Craven gave a site at Soho for the purpose of a burial-ground, having seen the difficulty attending burial after the plague of 1665, and also for a cottage hospital for the suburbs. When this site was built over, he gave another site, presumably the pest-house marked by Rocque. Lysons says, "which if London should ever again be visited by the plague is still subject to the said use"—a sentence which reads quaintly in these days of the Intramural Burials Act.

Lord Craven's own house was further westward. Lysons says: "Lord Craven has an estate in this parish, called Craven Hill, on which is a small hamlet very pleasantly situated." It was to Lord Craven's house Queen Anne first took her little son on account of his health, but, finding it too small for the numerous retinue, she afterwards removed to Campden House. Christ Church, in Lancaster Gate, is in a decorated style of Gothic. It was consecrated July 17, 1855, and the architects were Messrs. F. and H. Francis. It contains a very fine marble pulpit, and a fresco reredos, enclosed in a heavy stone setting. Though Paddington is of such modern date, the streets are not conveniently built; it is frequently necessary to walk the whole length of a street or terrace for lack of a cross-cut into a parallel one, and this is particularly noticeable just at this part. In Queen's Road there is a United Methodist Free Church, built in 1868 of white brick with stone facings. It has an open arcade on to the street. The interior is circular, and seats about 900 persons. In the Bayswater Road are many palatial houses facing Kensington Gardens. Orme Square, on the north side of the road, was built in 1815, and is therefore ancient for Paddington. It was doubtless named after Mr. Edward Orme, of Bayswater, who built a chapel at his own expense in Petersburgh Place 1818. In Petersburgh Place there is a large red-brick synagogue in the Byzantine style. It was opened in March, 1879. The walls are lined with slabs of alabaster set in marble, and the details of the fittings are rich in gilding. The pillars are of light-green marble from the quarries near Sion in the Rhone Valley. These decorations are the result of many separate memorial gifts. Further northward, on the west side of Petersburgh Place, is the fine church of St. Matthew, consecrated on May 20, 1882. The church contains 1,550 seats, of which 355 are free. The church is in an Early English style, and has an immensely high spire. Westward is what was known as the Shaftesbury House Estate, through which Palace Court now runs. Lysons says "Little Shaftesbury House in this parish (near Kensington gravel pits), the seat of Ambrose Godfrey, Esq., is said to have been built by the Earl of Shaftesbury, author of the 'Characteristics,' or his father the Chancellor."

The borough boundary turns out of Kensington Gardens in Palace Gardens, and, crossing the Bayswater Road, goes up northward between Ossington Street and Clanricarde Gardens. North of Moscow Road there is a Greek church of St. Sophia, built of red brick with a high central dome.

There is a small Baptist chapel at the back of Porchester Gardens. Across the Queen's Road there are St. Matthew's Parochial Schools, built in 1831, enlarged 1861. Further northward in Queen's Road are the capacious buildings of the Paddington Public Baths and Washhouses, erected at a cost of £40,000.

Holy Trinity Church, in Bishop's Road, was consecrated July 30, 1846, and considerably renovated in 1893. It is a very handsome church, of Kentish ragstone, in the Perpendicular style, with quatrefoil parapet, ornamental pinnacles and spire. The site on which it stands was formerly a deep hole, and consequently the cost of foundations alone came to £2,000.

Almost on the spot where Royal Oak Station now is was once the rural Westbourne Green, companion to Paddington Green further eastward. In Rocque's time there were a few scattered houses here. At Westbourne Farm, which stood until about 1860, Mrs. Siddons lived for some time. Lysons says: "A capital messuage called Westbourne Place, with certain lands thereto belonging, was granted by Henry VIII. anno 1540 to Robert White. This estate was some years ago the property of Isaac Ware, the architect (editor of Palladio's works and other professional publications), who, with the materials brought from Lord Chesterfield's house in Mayfair (which he was employed to rebuild), erected the present mansion called Westbourne Place a little to the south of the old house, which was suffered to stand several years longer. Westbourne Place was sold by Ware's executors to Sir William Yorke, Bart., Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland, who resided there a short time and afterwards let it to a Venetian Ambassador. In the year 1768 he sold it to Jukes Coulson, Esq., who expended a very considerable sum in enlarging the house and laying out the grounds. The library which he added to the house is said to have cost about £1,500. The situation is extremely pleasant, and so uncommonly retired that a person residing here could hardly conceive himself to be in a parish adjoining that of St. George's, Hanover Square." The vast meshes of the railway network at present on the spot are in eloquent contrast to the above. Further down in the Porchester Road is the Westbourne Park Chapel, a red-brick building in the Pointed or Gothic style, built in 1876.

To the south, near Westbourne Grove, lies St. Thomas's Church, a temporary iron building. Close by is a Presbyterian church named St. Paul's. It is faced with Kentish ragstone, and was consecrated 1862. In the Artesian Road is a Roman Catholic church, St. Mary of the Angels, consecrated on July 2, 1857, but since enlarged three times. The architect of the latter portions was J. F. Bentley. There is in the interior a fine painting of St. Anthony of Padua, supposed to be a genuine Murillo. The schools in connection are on the south side. In Westbourne Park Road is St. Stephen's Church. The organ is by Hill. At the north end of Westbourne Park Road are national schools.

St. Paul's Church and schools stand in Marlborough Street. The church was built in 1873, and is of earth-brick, without spire or tower. This part of Paddington is considerably cut up both by the railway and canal. Crossing the latter at the Lock Bridge, we see the Lock Hospital and Asylum standing on the west side of the road. The hospital was established in 1737, and the asylum in 1787. Adjoining the hospital is the workhouse, occupying with its infirmary about 5 acres. The workhouse has 623 beds, and the infirmary 280. All the wards are here and all the paupers except the school-children. Beyond the workhouse still remain some nursery gardens, and in the continuation of the Harrow Road is a Roman Catholic church, the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Vincent de Paul, of Kentish ragstone with a wheel window in the east end. The foundation-stone was laid in 1878, and it was opened in 1882 as a private chapel. In 1893 it was opened to the public. The altar and altar-rails are of white Carrara marble inlaid with malachite. In connection with the church next door is the St. Vincent's Home for boys. This was begun by a railway clerk, and passed into the hands of the Brotherhood of St. Vincent de Paul. Lord Douglas took up the work, established the home in its present position, and built the church. In 1889 St. Joseph's Home, Enfield, was amalgamated with St. Vincent's. The home contains 100 boys, received between the years of twelve and sixteen, who are taught various trades by which to earn their own living. Further on in the Harrow Road, opposite Ashmore Road, is Emmanuel Church, built of brick in a plain Pointed style. The foundation-stone was laid in 1886. The schools in connection are next door.

The new bit of Paddington at Kensal Green requires little comment; chapels, schools, and St. John's Church break the monotony of dreary streets. In fact, all this part of northern Paddington, though varying in the width of streets and the class of its houses, contains nothing of any interest. We must now return southward and eastward to what is known as Church Ward, which contains nearly all that is most interesting of old Paddington. The old parish church, named St. Mary's, stands to the north of the Harrow Road. It is a small building of earth-brick in the form of a Maltese cross, with a cupola in the centre, supposed to have been designed after a Greek model. The side fronting the road has a portico, and on the south and west walls there are curious niches formed by bricks. The interior is heavy and ugly, with a massive circular gallery running round three sides. The pulpit stands right over the central aisle, supported by the steps on one side and the reading-desk on the other, making thus a curious arch under which everyone must pass to reach the Communion rails; it is of mahogany which has been painted, and the figures of Dutch oak on the panels are supposed to be Flemish work. The church holds about 800 persons. There are many monuments and tablets on the walls, but only two worthy of note: one in memory of Mrs. Siddons, who is buried in the churchyard, on the north side of the chancel; one to Nollekens the sculptor, who died 1823, on the south side of the chancel. This is a bas-relief of a man seated by the side of a pallet or bench, on which rests a woman holding a baby; behind, an angel, representing Religion, points upward. The apparently irrelevant subject excited much comment until an explanation was suggested. In the Howard Chapel of Wetherall Church, in Cumberland, there is a sculptured monument in memory of one of the ladies of the Howard family who died in childbirth. The bas-relief over Nollekens' tomb is the facsimile of this sculpture, with the exception of the male figure in the foreground. The sculpture was executed by Nollekens himself, and is supposed to be one of his masterpieces. The monument to Nollekens is, therefore, obviously representative of the sculptor himself executing this great work. The present church was built in 1791, and stands on the site of a pond. Its predecessor was dedicated to St. James, a saint to whom the present parish church has returned, and stood a little to the northward on the site of the present right of way.

But this itself was only the successor of a still more ancient building, of which Newcourt says: "As to the church here, I guess it was dedicated to St. Katharine, because, before the old church was pulled down, I observed the picture of St. Katharine to be set up in painted glass at the top of the middle panel of the east window in the chancel.... The church was but small, and being very old and ruinous, was, about the year 1678, pulled down, and new-built from the ground at the cost and charges of Sir Joseph Sheldon, knight, sometime Lord Mayor of the City of London, and his brother, Mr. Daniel Sheldon, then Lessees of the Mannor of Paddington."

These Sheldons were the nephews of the Bishop Sheldon to whom the manor was restored at the Restoration in 1661. Newcourt tells us that before the Parliament had seized it the church was a donative or curacy in the gift of the Bishop of London; that the pension of the curate was but £28 per annum. This was increased by Bishop Sheldon to £80, and the larger sum was fixed by Act of Parliament, and the lessee was bound by his lease to pay the Vicar £80 a year. The first curate mentioned is one "Griffin Edwards, A.B., licentiat., December 18, 1598." The churchyard proper only comprises about 1 acre of land, but the old burial-ground, including the site of the older church, adjoins to the northward and includes 3 acres. This was laid out as a public garden in 1885. The freehold rests with the Vicar of Paddington. On the east side, above the centre pathway, is a flat stone to the memory of Mrs. Siddons, who died 1831, aged 76. On it are three glazed vases added later by the parish. In the same vault is buried Mrs. Martha Wilkinson, her dresser, who died in 1847, and was laid here by her own especial request. On the west side, below the centre path, is a flat stone to the memory of one John Hubbard, who lived from 1554 to 1665, and therefore reached the patriarchal age of 111 years. The churchyard also contains the remains of Collins, an artist, who painted English coast scenery; Dr. Geddes, translator of the historical books of the Old Testament; Banks, the sculptor, 1805; Nollekens; the Marquis of Lansdowne; Vivares, the engraver, 1780. The churchyard was enlarged in 1753, when Sherlock was Bishop of London, and further in 1810, when the piece of ground at the north-east corner, which is marked on a map of the beginning of the nineteenth century "Manor House," was enclosed. To the east of the church is the famous Paddington Green, now shrunk to very small dimensions. A statue of Mrs. Siddons in white marble has been erected on Paddington Green. The statue was designed by M. Chavalliand, and executed by Messrs. Brindley. The total cost was about £450.

In Greville House, which stands on the north side of the Green, Emma, afterwards Lady Hamilton, lived for four years under the protection of the Hon. Charles Greville, to whom her mother was housekeeper. None of the other houses now standing are old enough to merit comment. Paddington House, "a handsome brick structure," built by Denis Chirac, who had been jeweller to Queen Anne, formerly stood on the east side of the Green, near to Harrow Road. He entered upon his residence here in 1753. At the corner of Church Street, on the Green, stands the Children's Hospital, a large red-brick building. The origin of this was a Free Dispensary for Sick Children, opened in 1862 in Lisson Grove by two medical men. Relief was afforded to 20,000 children during the first six years of the work, which was carried on under the management of a medical committee. In 1869 a building fund was suggested. But it was in 1881, by the earnest work of Mr. George Hanbury, that practical steps were taken for the establishment of a small hospital. In 1883 the freehold of the land at the corner of Church Street was purchased, and the buildings standing there were adapted for the purpose. Further ground was bought at the back in 1885, and an out-patient department established. In 1890, owing to the pressure of applications for in-patients, it was decided to build a new wing. However, for sanitary reasons, it was considered better to pull down the old building and entirely rebuild the hospital. The children then in the hospital were temporarily sent to Harrow, and the new building was commenced in 1894, and was reopened in June, 1895. An interesting old shop at the corner of Church Street was pulled down to make way for it. It contains all modern improvements, including electric light and cooking by gas. There is an isolation ward for any infectious illness which may break out, and two large, bright wards for the ordinary patients. The walls of these are lined with glazed bricks and tiles, and one of the wards contains large tile-work pictures representing well-known fairy tales. Boys are received up to the age of twelve, and girls to fourteen years. Babes of even three and four days are admitted. The out-patients' department is entirely free, no letter of any sort being required. The payment of a nominal fee of a penny to insure genuine cases is all that is exacted. Out-patients are selected by the medical staff to become in-patients. The children look bright and well cared for; the wards are models of cleanliness and comfort. The hospital is entirely supported by voluntary contributions and subscriptions. The temporary house at Harrow has been retained as a convalescent home.

A house, No. 13, close by the hospital, is one of Dr. Stainer's Homes for Deaf and Dumb Children.

The Paddington charities may be here described. But it must be remembered that amounts where mentioned are only given in general terms, and are liable to variation.

The Bread and Cheese Charity is of very ancient origin, and is said to have been founded by two maiden ladies. The bequest was in the form of land, though the name of the donors and the date of the gift are unknown. With the rents of the land bread and cheese were purchased, and thrown from the church tower to poor people on the Sunday before Christmas. The annual income arising from this source is now divided, being expended partly upon education, partly upon apprenticeship, and a certain amount upon coals and blankets to be distributed among the poor of the parish.

Johnson's Charity is a rent-charge of £1 a year, distributed in small sums among the poor of the parish. The date of this bequest is not known.

Lyon's Charity is of very ancient date—namely, 1578. It consists of an estate in Kilburn and an estate in Paddington, and is distributed among many different parishes. The greater part of the income, which, of course, varies in amount, goes to the repairing of roads.

Harvest's Charity in 1610 bequeathed an estate to the parishes of Paddington and Marylebone for repairing the highways. The income derived from this source is devoted to the above-mentioned purpose.

Dr. Compton's and Margaret Robertson's, or Robinson's Charity.—This is supposed to have been partly the gift of Dr. Compton, Bishop of London. The first grant was made in 1717, which was after Dr. Compton's death, but it is possible that he promised the gift which was granted by his successor, Dr. Robinson. Lysons says "the donation was confirmed by Dr. Robinson." "The first admission to the land, the property of Margaret Robertson's Charity, was on the 18th day of April, 1721" (Charity Commissioners' Report). The same persons are trustees for both charities. The gross total income, which amounts to about £535, is distributed as follows: £321 for education purposes, £107 for apprenticing, and the same as the latter sum to be given to the poor of the parish in kind.

The Almshouse Charity.—Paddington is singularly deficient in almshouses, the only houses of the kind having been pulled down between 1860 and 1870. These stood opposite the Vestry Hall, and are mentioned below. The Almshouse Charity includes the charity of Frances King. It is described as having been mentioned first on the Court Rolls of the manor of Paddington in 1720, but Lysons, in referring to the same charity, says: "Several small almshouses were built at the parish expense in the year 1714." There were seventeen of these almshouses in all, inclusive of four built by Samuel Pepys Cockerell. Two of them were used as rooms by the master and mistress of the Charity School. Some of these houses must have been pulled down previous to the year 1853, for at that date the Vestry applied for permission to pull down the twelve almshouses in the Harrow Road, considering that the estate could be more advantageously administered. It was not until 1867, however, that the order of the Court of Chancery was finally obtained, and after the demolition part of the land was let on a building lease. Another part, with a frontage to the Harrow Road, was let also on a building lease 1869. The houses erected on this are Nos. 111, 113, 115, 117, 119, Harrow Road. Frances King's Charity was £200, given by will in 1845 to be expended in coals for the inhabitants of the above-mentioned almshouses. The total income of the Almshouse Charity is somewhere about £200; of this amount the trustees pay a yearly sum of £50 to the trustees of St. Mary's School, and the remainder is applied to necessary expenses, and to pensions of £10 to £12 a year to deserving candidates in the parish.

Denis Chirac left in 1777 a sum of £100 (Report Charity Commissioners; Lysons says £138) for the benefit of the poor children of the parish. This amount, together with £120 given by Baron Maseres, was applied to the building of a schoolroom. The old Charity School, still standing near the site of the almshouses, was built in 1822 upon copyhold land granted for the purpose by the Bishop. St. Mary's Schools at present stand near the spot in Church Place.

Abourne's Charity was left in 1767. It is at present £300 in stock, and produces an annual income of from £8 to £9, distributed in bread among the poor of the parish.

Simmonds' Charity consists of the dividends on £600 stock, from which an annual income of from £16 to £20 is distributed among poor women of the parish in sums of 10s. 6d.

Marion Mayne's Charity.—In 1854 Marion Mayne left a sum of money by her will for keeping in repair certain tombstones, tablets, etc., including her own, and a sum for the maintenance of Paddington Green in good order, and a sum to be expended in annuities among the poor of the parish. The present income is derived from the dividends on £6,416 1s. 7d. stock, the latest income of which is expended as directed.

Smith Charity.—Under Augustus Frederick Smith's will, proved March 19, 1881, dividends on £9,985 3s. 8d. were left to the parish. The income is between £200 and £300. This is distributed amongst poor women about sixty years of age resident in Paddington, in pensions of not more than £20, or less than £10 per annum.

Following St. Mary's Terrace northwards, we see on the east side a curious little passage leading to a small Welsh chapel, an iron building. Close by the chapel stands a genuine old cottage, whitewashed and thatched, a remnant of the time when Paddington was largely composed of open ground. This cottage is said by an antiquarian authority to be several centuries old. It was granted to the Welsh congregation by the Bishop of London in 1890. Not far from this, up another narrow opening, is an old brick house with quaint red-tiled roof. This is Claremont House. It is picturesque, but has no authentic history. Opening out of St. Mary's Terrace on the east side, Howley and Fulham Places and Porteus Road recall the ownership of the Bishops of London.

We must now mention the Grand Junction Canal. When it was first opened it was the fashion to go excursions by the day on the water, a custom referred to in "Nollekens and his Times." In 1812 the Regent's Canal Company was incorporated and given authority to make and maintain a navigable canal from the Grand Junction Canal in the parish of Paddington to the river Thames in the parish of Limehouse. The canal to the Regent's Park basin was opened two years after this, but was only completed in 1820. About "Paddington Basin," as it is called, are clustered many poor houses. The streets between the Harrow Road on the one side, and the basin on the other, are miserable and squalid. At the corner of Green Street is a church formerly belonging to the Catholic Apostolic community, later purchased by the Baptists, and now belonging to the Salvation Army. This is a structure of Kentish ragstone in a Gothic style with small steeple. In the Edgware Road are one or two public-houses, which, if not actually old, stand on the sites and inherit the names of famous old predecessors. The White Lion, now amalgamated with a music-hall, bears date of foundation 1524. It is said that G. Morland, the animal painter, painted a sign for this. It is No. 267. Northward, at the corner of Church Street, is the Wheatsheaf, which, says Robins, "has the credit of having frequently entertained honest and learned Ben Jonson."

The Red Lion, No. 239, a little to the north of Praed Street, claims as ancient a date. Tradition says that Shakespeare acted in one of the old wooden rooms, now vanished, and the inn boasts a haunted chamber.

In Cambridge Place is St. Mary's Hospital and Medical School. The suggestion of a hospital was discussed in 1840, but the foundation was not laid until 1843 by the late Prince Consort. The building was designed to hold 380 beds, but though it has been added to from time to time it still contains less than this, a supply totally inadequate to the demand for accommodation. The first wing was opened in 1857, and contained 150 beds. In 1865 the present King laid the foundation-stone of a further wing, and in 1892 the stone of the Clarence memorial wing. By 1886 all the building land acquired by the hospital had been used, and it was found necessary to purchase other land. In 1887 negotiations were made by which the Grand Junction Canal Company agreed to sell their interest in the required land. After five years' labour and the expenditure of £48,000, the desired result was achieved, and the Clarence wing was commenced. The hospital now faces Praed Street as well as Cambridge Place, the intervening houses having been pulled down. It is a great square red-brick building with stone facings. Behind the hospital are All Saints' Schools, and to the west of them the Great Western Railway Terminus. The Act for the extension of the Great Western line to Paddington, and for the erection of a station, was dated 1836. The first station was, however, only temporary. The present one was designed by I. K. Brunel, commenced 1849, and completed in 1854. It contains three passenger platforms, and the roof is divided by columns into three great spans, of which the centre one measures over 102 feet in width, and the outer ones 68 feet each. The station buildings and platforms at Paddington cover an area of 373,407 feet, but even this extent is insufficient for the railway purposes. Adjacent houses have consequently been adapted for the offices, and there is continual need for further accommodation. There are eight platform lines, and the platforms themselves are 780 feet in length. The daily passenger trains number from 250 to 300, and with the addition of excursion trains in the season the total daily average has reached 350. The diurnal number of passengers is estimated at 14,000, but high-water mark has been touched between 40,000 and 50,000. Twenty-five tons of news parcels are despatched from Paddington in one day, and nearly 3,000 mail-bags and parcels-post packages pass through the station in the same time, besides about 5,000 milk-churns. The above figures give some indication of the enormous traffic at this great terminus. The army of workers employed numbers 2,000, exclusive of the large clerical staff employed in the general department. The Great Western Hotel in a Renaissance style fronts Praed Street. It was built from 1850 to 1852, and its frontage is nearly 89 yards in length, and it is connected with the station by means of a covered way. Covered ways also connect the station with Praed Street and Bishop's Road Stations of the Metropolitan Railway.

In No. 19, Warwick Crescent, Robert Browning lived for five-and-twenty years, a fact recorded by a tablet of the Society of Arts. He came here in 1862, broken down by the death of his wife, and remained until a threatened railway near the front of the house—an innovation never carried out—drove him away. We are now once more in the region where the name of Westbourne is freely used. There is Westbourne Terrace and Square, Westbourne Park Crescent and Terrace Road. Near to Park Crescent in Chichester Place is a Jewish synagogue of red brick, with ornate stone carving over doors and windows. Next door is a curiously built Primitive Methodist chapel, with bands of differently coloured bricks in relief. St. Mary Magdalene's Church and schools stand at the corner of Cirencester Street. A temporary church was first opened in 1865, and the real building in 1868. This was the work of G. E. Street, R.A., and is a compactly built church of dark-red brick, with apse and very high spire, 202 feet in height. It stands in rather a peculiar situation at the junction of three or four roads, and suits the position well.

On July 13, 1872, while workmen were still busy with the roofing, the church caught fire. The damage, however, was not great. The church was finally completed in 1878. The services are High Church. The patronage is held by Keble College, Oxford, and the population of the parish is about 10,000. The ward of Maida Vale is bounded by Church ward on the south, Westbourne and Harrow Road wards on the west, and the borough boundary north and east. Between the Maida Vale Road and St. Saviour's Church in the Warwick Road there is nothing to comment on. The church of St. Saviour is in a Decorated style of Gothic. It is ornately built, with a square tower buttressed and pinnacled. The church was consecrated in 1856, and in 1883 a very fine and solidly-built chancel was added. This is faced on the interior with Cosham stone. Carved stone niches run on the north and south and on both sides of the Communion table. Some of these contain life-size statues of saints and the Apostles. A very handsome set of sanctuary lamps, after a Florentine design, hang across the chancel. In Formosa Street are the Church schools of St. Saviour's, and in Amberley Road there is a Board School. At the north of Shirland Road is a dingy brick building like a large meeting-room. This is the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church; in it the services are held in Welsh. Across Sutherland Avenue, at the corner of Shirland Road, is a very large brick building faced with red brick, which has two doorways with porticos supported by columns with ornamented capitals. This is a Wesleyan Methodist chapel, built in 1876. The schools in connection are beneath the chapel. Further northward in the Shirland Road is a large brick building with two entrances. This is the Wordsworth Ladies' College and a branch of the Kilburn Orphanage. It was built in the year 1887 for both purposes, and there is no interior division between the college and home. The orphans are only kept here until nine years of age, when they are passed on to the Central Home. The Kilburn Sisters have patented a form of cot surrounded with wire to prevent the very little ones from falling out in their sleep. The room where there are rows upon rows of these cots with head curtains is a very curious spectacle, though it certainly suggests the desirability of further accommodation. The college has large class-rooms and a studio for art students. Some students board here, but the greater number attend daily. The terms are very low—fifteen shillings a week, including board, lodging, and tuition. The college is intended to assist girls desirous of passing the Government examinations as elementary school teachers. Almost immediately opposite the college is a small brick Baptist chapel, considerably below the level of the road. In Elgin Avenue there is a school of the Girls' Public Day School Company. On either side of Elgin Avenue are large spaces of open ground used by market-gardeners and others. To the north lies Paddington Recreation Ground, with cricket, football, and tennis grounds, running and cycling tracks. Beyond this, in the most northerly part of the borough, is the Kilburn Orphanage. This was begun in 1875 in two houses in the Kilburn Park Road, but funds were raised for building purposes, and in 1880 the present orphanage was completed. The Sisters themselves supplied quite half of the money required. The rule of the Sisterhood is that, though each retains control of her own capital, her income goes into the common fund. The orphanage is a large red-brick building standing in Randolph Gardens. The western wing, now connected with the main building, was added later, and the chapel last of all; it was not completed until about 1890. The chapel is well fitted up, and the whole building has an air of comfort and warmth in the interior. The passages are paved with tessellated pavement, and the floors of the large schoolrooms are of parquet. This is only one of the orphanage homes. There is a large establishment at Broadstairs, which is partly a home for convalescents and partly for orphans; and another at Margate; a relief home for little ones, already mentioned, in the Shirland Road; and homes for boys at Brondesbury, Oxford, and elsewhere. In Burwood Place there are printing-offices and workshops connected with the orphanage, entirely managed by the boys. During the last few years there has been much discussion on the methods of the orphanage, and several charges have been brought against the Sisters, of which the chief are: (1) Want of business method and properly audited accounts; (2) injudicious methods: advertising for illegitimate children without inquiry, to the encouragement of vice; (3) receiving payment with such children, when the foundation was intended for the absolutely destitute; (4) repudiation of all external control, evidenced by deposing the Archbishop of Canterbury from his post of patron when he attempted inquiry. These offences seem to have been chiefly the result of mismanagement, not deliberately wrought, and might be condoned. The orphanage receives children from the workhouse under five years of age, and also foundlings. The community comprises about 160 Sisters, of which many are abroad. The orphan girls are trained in domestic work, and do all their own work in the home. They do not leave until they are nineteen or twenty years of age.

Adjoining the orphanage is the large red-brick church of St. Augustine. This is a remarkable church both inside and out. It was designed by J. L. Pearson, who thereby obtained the distinction of adding the letters R.A. to his name. Through this building he also obtained the commission to build Truro Cathedral. The church, as above stated, is of red brick, in the first Pointed style, with long lancet windows. At the four corners are four Pointed towers enriched with stonework. The centre steeple has never been added, for want of funds, though the foundations for it are deeply laid. The interior is very picturesque. There is a triforium formed by the bays of the arches carried up from the centre aisle. The roof is groined, and the chancel-screen, pulpit, walls of the chancel, and the reredos are all stonework, with niches fitted with stone figures. In the transeptal chapels are some fine oil paintings executed on brick; that in the south chapel is the work of a prize pupil of the Royal Academy. The church was built entirely owing to the exertions of the present vicar, Mr. Kirkpatrick, who himself contributed largely. An iron church on the same site was erected in 1870, and was so constructed that the present building could be built over and enclose it; therefore service was never interrupted for one day during the process. In 1871 the greater part of the church was built, and in 1877 the nave was opened. It was completed in 1880.

There is very little of interest in the remaining part of the district. St. Peter's Church, Elgin Avenue, was consecrated on August 12, 1872. The church is built of Kentish ragstone, and is in a plain Early English style, with an apse at the east end. The square tower, surmounted by a short steeple, was added a few years later. The pillars are of polished Aberdeen granite. St. Peter's National Schools lie to the south in Chippenham Road. In Fernhead Road there is a Wesleyan chapel, built in an ornate style with two square towers. Further north, just within the borough boundary, is St. Luke's Church, built of brick, with schools attached. This was consecrated in January, 1877, and is in a severe Gothic style.