Riverside north of the river and west of the Tower. Marble Hill



This post relates to sites north of the river only. South of the river is Ham House

Post to the east Richmond Star and Garter
Post to the north Richmond, central and riverside and Twickenham Park
Post to the west Twickenham and Ham Street riverside


Beaufort Road
Private gated road
Beaufort Engineering Works. The Beaufort Motor Co was based here in the early 20th. They made cars and buses, some of  which double deckers  were tried out by London General Ominbus Co. The Argson Engineering Works moved here in the 1920s making motor cycles and tricyles.

Cambridge Park
This area was previously Twickenham Meadows
Meadowbank. This was a brick mansion built in 1610. An earlier building may have been incorporated into the house. It is said to have later been the home of Lily Langtry. It was demolished in 1937 and replaced by the Cable and Wireless sports ground.
Meadowbank. A new house called Meadowbank, was built by George Owen Cambridge in 1824. He had been Proprietor of the Montpelier Row chapel and Archdeacon of Middlesex and Prebendary of Ely. He had previously lived in his father’s house in Cambridge Park.
Meadowbank Club. This was built in 1996 as a sports and social club for Cable & Wireless employees who had worked abroad but it closed in 1999. Replacing a larger building from 1960 it was designed by David Prichard of McCormac Jamieson Prichard and had eight acres of grounds leading down to the Thames towpath and views of Richmond Hill. The care home next door is part of the estate and has some rights over the grounds. It is said to have been converted into a private house.
Lynde House. Care Home. Named after Humphrey Lynd who built the predecessor to Cambridge House
Observatory. Built by George Bishop to replicate his father’s observatory near Regent’s Park in 1863 and constructed to follow the same system of work. It closed in 1877 and the instruments were given to the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte in Italy,

Glovers Island
This was originally called Petersham Ait. In the 1872 it was bought by a waterman called Joseph Glover for £70. He later tried to sell it and a long argument ensured with Richmond Council about the price.  It was eventually purchased by a resident who then gave it to the Council.


Little Marble Hill
Little Marble Hill was first built as a cottage in 1752 and enlarged in 1764.  It has had various names - Spencer Grove, Twickenham Meadows, Marble Hill Farm and Little Marble Hill. It was demolished in the mid 19th.

Marble Hill
Marble Hill. This is noted as Mardelhyll in 1350 which may mean there is a connection with martens. The House and the Park were laid out in the 1720s and it became the home of Henrietta Howard. It was unoccupied from 1887, and in 1902, it came into municipal ownership and was opened to the public.
Beaufort Lodge. This is on the site of the original 18th entrance. This was adapted to give access to little Marble Hill in the mid 1820s.
Marble Hill House. This dates from 1724 and is a stucco-faced rectangular Palladian mansion. Designed by Lord Pembroke and Roger Morris in the 1720s. It was built in 1729 for a royal mistress, Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, as a refuge from Court and her husband.  Her royal lover, George II, paid for it. Later occupied by Mrs. Fitzherbert, who had secretly married the Prince Regent, later George IV.   It was restored by the Greater London Council, 1965, and given to Twickenham as an Art Gallery.
Stables. These are 19th and house the cafe and other facilities.
Park.  The grounds slope gently down towards the Thames and were laid out in the early 18th said to be with advice from Alexander Pope and Charles Bridgeman. There are short parallel rows of chestnuts to the left and right of the house facing the river, with terraced lawns between them. There are small areas of woodland to east and west of the house, with broad lawns to north and south flanked by trees. There is a noted black walnut of the mid-18th in an enclosure.
Countess of Suffolk's Grotto. The remains of this are south of the mansion. Built in the 1740s it was inspired by Alexander Pope's Grotto at Strawberry Hill. Excavations have revealed traces of marble and flint patterns on the floor, and traces of the original incrustations of flints, clinker, corals and minerals on the walls; the ceiling was also likely to have been similarly incrusted. This brick built structure covered with evergreen was one of two... The second had gone by 1816 and its site is not known.
Ice house. This 18th brick structure is on then north-west edge of the shrubberies. It is a single brick chamber of beehive shape, largely below ground.
The East Meadow. This is grassland bordering the car park and the children's play area and is used for, football - there are posts in the centre. In
The North Lawn. This is used for cricket nets and hard tennis courts
Kitchen garden. This was still flourishing in 1890 when it was described well stocked and partly walled in, contains Range of Cucumber Pits, Green-house, Tomato-house, Vinery, Potting shed and Tool-house'. It had been abandoned by 1902.
Model Market Garden. This was built in 2014 on what may have been the site of the kitchen garden. It is now a showcase for heritage varieties, there are ten community plots. Throughout the 19th Middlesex provided food for London's expanding population. Farms became market gardens, nurseries and orchards. The Model Market Garden is a living tribute to market gardeners and nurserymen


Montpelier Row
Built after 1720 as a speculative development by Captain John Grey,
15 Chapel House. This was the home of poet, Tennyson, and later Pete Townsend
Chapel. This was first known as Twickenham Chapel and later as the Montpelier Chapel and was built in 1727 by John Gray, who also built the houses. It was not consecrated, but the clergy served it and were licensed by the bishop. It chapel was sold and because it had no endowment was supported by pew rents. Some marriages took place there. After the opening in 1875 of St. Stephen's Church it was used as a public hall and then as a laundry. It collapsed in 1941 and the ruins were cleared.

Orleans Gardens
The riverside grounds are now a woodland garden. It was part of the grounds of Orleans House named after Louis Phillippe, Duc d'Orleans whose widow bought the house in 1852. Riverside Orleans Gardens were originally linked to the House via a tunnel under the road and were purchased by Twickenham Corporation in the 1930s.

Orleans Road
30 Phoenix Pub. This closed during the Great War
31 The Old Chapel. This was the Montpelier chapel school, built in 1856 . No school board was formed, and instead the voluntary schools were extended. It closed in 1896


Richmond Road
147 The Crown. Late 18th pub described as ‘local community pub’ – listed and Michelin starred.
White Lodge. Late 18th lodge which stands by what was the approach drive to Marble Hill House.
277-279 Alba, this was the Alexsander, and before that the Rising Sun


Warren Footpath
Warren Footpath.  in 1883 Edward Dean Paul, later Sir Edward, annoyed the Twickenham Local Board by erecting railings on each side of the river towpath to prevent people crossing his lawns. In 1887 the Board agreed to create a footpath 12 ft wide alongside which Sir Edward erected his iron railings. This later became known as the Warren Footpath opened in 1923 by the Duke of York when an embankment with seating had been put in place to avoid flooding.


Sources
British History Online. Twickenham. Web site
Clunn. The Face of London
Field. London Place Names
Greater London Council. Thames Guidelines
London Borough of Richmond. Web site.
London Parks and Gardens online. Web site
London Transport. Country walks
Model Market Garden. Web site
Penguin. Surrey
Parks and Gardens. Web site
Pevsner and Cherry. South London
Simpson. Twickenham Past
Stevenson. Surrey
Walford. Village London 
Wheatley and Meulenkamp. Follies

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