Riverside - south of the river, west of the Tower. Richmond - central and riverside
Riverside - south of the river, west of the Tower. Richmond - central and riverside
This post shows sites to the south of the river only. North of the river is Twickenham Park
Post to the west St.Margarets
This post shows sites to the south of the river only. North of the river is Twickenham Park
Post to the west St.Margarets
Post to the north Richmond
Bridge Street
This was once called Ferry Hill and built as part of the 18th bridge construction.
O’Higgins Square. On the east side of the street at the start of the bridge is a small park. This has a bust of Bernardo O’Higgins, the first president of Chile who studied here 1795 – 1798.
Tower House. This has an 'Italian villa' type tower. It became a restaurant and is now one of the Pitcher and Piano chain pubs. Part of the Quinlan Terry development.
Milestone. This is an obelisk which commemorates the opening of Richmond Bridge. The inscription says: "The first stone of this Bridge was laid 23 August 1774 and finished December 1777". Inscriptions on other faces give distances to London Bridge and Windsor.
Cholmondeley Walk
The walk is named after George, 3rd Earl of Cholmondley who owned land and lived here in the 18th. This is land reclaimed from the river in the 16th,
Garden Wall to Trumpeters House. This is 17th wall with a Tudor wall standing at right angles behind it. Behind the wall is a large lawn between the house and the riverside which is the site of Fountain Court – the central court of Richmond Palace and of the Privy Lodgings. The western part of the garden next to Asgill House is part of the Great Orchard and became part of Asgill House grounds in 1756.
Gazebo. This 18th structure is at the end of the garden of Trumpeters House ands built into the river wall. It was a bathing pavilion, built in the 1760s. It is now used as an artist's studio.
Queensberry House. Cholmondley House which had stood on the riverside was renamed Queensbury House in the 1780s. It was built for George Earl of Cholmondley. The grounds stretched from the sire of Wardrobe in the old Palace to the riverside. It was rebuilt by Lewis Vuillamy in 1835 using the materials of the old house. There are now flats on the site facing Friars Lane.
Library. The Earl of Cholmondley built a cruciform shaped library in his grounds on the riverside.
Church Terrace
Bethlehem Chapel. This is an independent Calvinistic church. The building dates from 1797 and still has its original galleried interior with pews and pulpit. It was built by John Chapman, and is a Huntington Chapel opened by Calvinist William Huntington. The church is traditional in worship and doctrine and uses the King James Bible. Richmond Messian Fellowship also use the building
Church Walk
6 restaurant in what is said to be the parish refectory
Parish Rooms for St.Mary’s Church. These are above the Refectory
Compass Hill
This is named after a pub called The Compasses which dated from at least 1737 and replaced a pub called The Rising Sun. It was demolished in 1952.
Duke Street
5-6 H.Beard & Co, Richmond Cycle Stores and workshops in the 1890s. They also used 1 The Green round the corner.
Friar’s Lane
This marks the boundary between the old Palace of Shene and the Convent of the Observant Friary set up by Henry VII. Henry V moved to an old Manor House known at Byfleet at Shene and then began to build a new palace. Henry VII later gave these Byfleet Buildings to the Observant Friars.
Chapel – a building near the south end of the west side appears to be an old chapel. It is said that a chapel building in the street was used by industry in the 1960s and earlier.
Lissen, Ltd., Lissenium Works. This was one of several sites owned by this firm, which made wireless sets in the 1920s and 1930s. Founded by a Mr. Cole in 1922 as a manufacturer and retailer of parts for radio receivers including audio transformers, variable resistances and rheostats. In the late 1920s they became involved with Ever Ready and taken over by them in the 1930s and they were wound up after the Second World War.
Richmond Brewery. In 1833 the Crown had sold the site and a brewery and malt houses were subsequently built. The brewery was built here about 1840 on the site of what had been Cholmondley House's stables and it brewed AK Dinner Ale. . By the 1890s it was owned by a Vincent Rollinson. In 1894 has been speculated that it was the works of the Ajax Non-Alcoholic Ale and Stout Co. Ltd,
Goldsmith and Sons. Dyers and cleaners. They were in the brewery buildings by 1903 until the start of the Great War
6 Sichel Adhesives Ltd. they made vegetable and synthetic adhesives, acquired the old brewery site in 1936. They remained until 1965 when the council bought the site for a car park. A sign for the works is said to remain on one of the walls.
Gazebo. Series of 6 brick arches ending with a hexagonal tower or gazebo. This gazebo has been restored into a little house. It was built in the mid 18th with one storey and basement. There is a battlemented parapet.
Queensberry House flats. The current flats were built in 1934 on the site of Queensherry House. A cast-iron fountain in the garden was probably from 1830 development. There are two plaques in the wall:-one records the site of the Palace of Shene here and the other refers to the building of Queensbury House.
Boathouses and stonemasons yard. The road curves at the end to take in a section of the riverside at the end of Cholmondley Walk.
George Street
The main street taking its name from George III. It was previously known as Great Street.
12 Martin’s Bank. After it was closed in 1971/2 it was taken over by Marks and Spencer next door.
22-24 Greyhound House. Offices from 1983-4 in the building which was once the Greyhound Hotel. It has begun as a pub called the White Horse and in the 1730s was rebuilt and named Greyhound. It was a major pub in the town and used for town meetings and for clubs and societies. It closed in 1923.
29 Tesco. The building was Wright’s Department store. High up on the gable are the initials WB and the date of 1896. Wright Bros used the overhead fast transit system round the store and lasted until the 1970s.
37 site of the old Castle Inn, replaced in 1761 on a different site
35/38 Police Station. This was closed and converted into shops in 1912. Opened in 1840.
St.Mary’s parochial schools. These were set up in the Lilypot Inn which was on the corner with Brewer Street. In 1713 and remained here until 1834.
52 Car Phone Warehouse with external handing clock. In the 1890s The Richmond Clock house was at 51 George Street- next door - but the external clock here seems to indicate their interest. It has unreadable lettering on it.
55-56 Courlander, Jeweller's shop. They are the oldest jewellers in Richmond and, Herman Courlander was Mayor of Richmond in the 1940s. They originated in Gracechurch Street City in 1881
70 George Street was the first Richmond Post Office. Built in 1886
80 House of Fraser. Built as Dickens and Jones opened in 1970. It had been Gosling’s opened in 1795 and which took over part of the Queen’s Head Hotel. Burnt down in 1968 and re-opened.
Heron Square
Heron Square. Herring or Heron court was a late 17th development with three houses facing the river. It was built in the site of the Royal Mews. The Royal Hotel was built here. The Heron Square development was designed by Quinlan Terry in 1988. It is mainly office buildings but incorporates Heron House which uses the façade of the old Palm Court Hotel and the old Tower Hotels.
The Drebble. This is a fully working submarine based on a design by Cornelius Drebbel from the Netherlands. Note the oars for rowing underwater. It is said to have was rowed underneath the surface of the Thames from Richmond Palace through London to Greenwich while watched by King James I
Hill Rise
Several varied shop fronts up the hill
Bills. Restaurant in stuccoed, late Georgian building. This was the Kings Head Hotel which began as a small alehouse called the Plough extant in 1659. It became the King's Head in the 19th and was enlarged several times. A series of dance halls and night clubs have since been in the building which has had a number of names,
Hill Street
1White Hart Inn. This was on the corner with Water Lane from in buildings of 1696 and opened as a pub by 1724. It appears to have remained open until the Great War. Writing on a plaque above the door of the current ‘flat iron’ building appears to have been erased.
3 this was the site of the shop where the Maids of Honour tarts were sold. In the 1950s the façade was removed and it was modernised. The commercial production of Maids of Honour here began in 1750 when Thomas Burdekin took a small shop and later expanded here. They were further exploited by the Billet family. . The shop closed in 1957. The recipe was however passed to the Bullen family who still make the tarts in the Kew Road.
5 New Royalty Kinema. This opened in 1914 operated by the Joseph Mears chain.an 18th house was used as the foyer. The original wood panelling and stars of the town house were retained, as was an original fireplace, which heated the foyer on cold winter nights. At the rear of the foyer, a short flight of steps on the left led down to a tea lounge. The auditorium was what had been the garden and the decoration was in a French Classical style and it had a sliding roof for hot summer days. In 1922 a Hill Norman & Beard organ was installed. In 1929 it was re-named Royalty Kinema. It closed in 1940, because of the war and re-opened in 1942. It was taken over by Odeon Theatres Ltd. In 1944 and eventually became part of the Rank Organisation who changed the name to Gaumont in 1949. The Gaumont was closed in 1980, and the auditorium was demolished in 1983 and part of the site –with a covenant on retention of cinema use is Curzon Richmond on Water Lane. The 18th facade and foyer were kept and are now in use as dentist, offices and a beer cellar.
7 Spread Eagle. This opened in 1761 as The Kings Arms, a taproom for the Castle Hotel. In 1823 it became separate from the hotel and was known as the The Spread Eagle. It closed in 1909 and is now a shop.
9 This was originally the Ellis wine business with a meeting hall above. It later became the London and County Bank, which, in 1852, was the first bank in Richmond. By the 1890s it was Hetherington’s pianoforte gallery
19 Etherington’s used this as their music warehouse in the 1890s, calling it Bach House. The business had been set up in Twickenham in 1792, moving to Richmond in 1830. In 1842 they moved to the corner of Hill Rise and later to this address in Hill Street. By the 1890s they had another premises opposite. Etherington's pianos were said to be widely advertised and popular. When Etherington Hall was built -possibly to the rear – these premises became their gramophone showroom.
23 the Royal Arms also called the Royal Hotel. This dared from from 1834 and was converted from a mansion built in the 1820s. The Royal Arms pub. This was the tap room for the hotel. By mid 1850s The Royal it had become three houses
32 in 1837 this was a showroom for Mears Motors,
34 TheTalbot Inn. Previously the Dog Inn before 1768
38 The Talbot Picture Theatre was built on part of the site of the Talbot Hotel, in 1911. The facade had a small tower feature and inside there were boxes each with a separate staircase. The auditorium in was in green and blue. In 1917, it was sold to Joseph Mears, and was closed in 1930 a week before Mears opened the Richmond Kinema. The frontage of the Talbot was demolished, and shops with flats above, were built. The auditorium survived at the rear and was used as a garage and works until 1978, when it was demolished.
72 The Richmond Kinema opened in 1930 built for the Joseph Mears Theatres circuit and designed by Leathart and Granger. It was re-named Premier Cinema in 1940 to allow the removal of the Richmond name from the facade. It was taken over by Oscar Deutsch’s Odeon Theatres in 1944 and was re-named Odeon. It had Halophane concealed lighting and was converted into a triple screen from in. the old circle retains the original auditorium in the style of a 17th Spanish courtyard with Spanish tiles, Moorish windows and plaster oranges and doves. The foyer plasterwork depicts the various trades carried on by the employees of the original owner, Joseph T. Mears.
King Street
This was once called Cross Street and then Furbelow Street.
Feathers Pub was on the corner with Water Lane. Before that it was the Golden Hynde. It was rebuilt in the 18th and then turned into offices in 1850s and demolished for road widening in 1907.
Feathers Yard lies behind the shops here. A building here was Broad & Co Printing Works. It had also been used as a Mission Room. It became a print works in 1853 for Thomas Darnell and Broads from 1893 until 1988,
3 The Old Ship with a 17th core and later additions. In 1682 it was called the Six Bells and then The Ship in 1724.
9 Before 1800 this was the post office run by a shopkeeper and sending three mail coaches to London a day.
12-13 at one time this was a pub called the New Ship
14 Wickham House. This was the offices of the Richmond and Twickenham Times owned by the Dimbleby family since 1874 when Frederick Dimbleby joined the paper. There was a print works to the rear. It was sold in 2001 and has now been converted to flats. It is said to have been the home of the Wickham family in the 18th, hence the name
Lewis Road
Richmond Hill Health Club. This was built on the site of Mears Motors Garage
Northumberland Place
This is on the riverside upriver of Richmond Bridge.
Northumberland House stood here from 1766 built for George Coleman, dramatist, who named it Bath House for his patron. It was later called Cambourne House, and then, as the home of the Duchess of Northumberland, it was Northumberland House. It was used by the Richmond Club – a ‘gentleman’s club’ - from 1888 and was been demolished in 1969 and replaced with modern up market housing.
Rotary Gardens. This is a “pocket gardens”, Cambourne Path is a step free path linking the tow path to Petersham Road, Northumberland House was once called Cambourne House.
Old Deer Park
Obelisk. This is one of three obelisks which are meridian marks set up for the purpose of adjusting the transit instruments in the Observatory Thus pillar corresponds to the west wing of the building.
Old Palace Lane
This was once called Palace Lane and also Asgill Lane. The Palace stood to the west of the lane.
1 The Virginals. This was called Cedar Grove until 1963. This is an 18th house built on or near the site of the King’s bake house.
28 White Swan Pub. This dates from 1787
Asgill House. This was built for Sir Charles Asgill, City banker and Lord Mayor who died 1788. It is a Palladian villa by Robert Taylor’s' and it was restored in 1969-70. It was Built 1757-8 as a summer residence Charles Asgill on the site of the palace brew house. It stands close to the river to exploit the river views. The garden is not large and has a winding path, made after 1969,
A stone plaque on the wall records that the royal palace extended to the river here and that Edward III, Henry VII and Elizabeth I all died here. It says: "On this site extending eastward to cloisters of the ancient Friary of Shene formerly stood the river frontage of the Royal Palace. First occupied by Henry in 1125”.
Crane Piece. This was the site on the riverside at the end of the Lane in the 17th where there was also a wharf. Near it was the Rock house, an unexplained feature which has been interpreted as a never finished giant water feature to adorn the grounds of Richmond Palace, but abandoned after the death of Henry Prince of Wales in 1612. It was later convertd into a brewhouse which was still functioning in the late 18th. There was also a cistern house for the Palace here which later became an armoury.
Old Palace Yard
This corresponds approximately to the outline of the Great Court of the Tudor Palace. All traces of the Palace have disappeared on the north and south-west sides but on the south-east side is a section of the original palace, in the range called the Wardrobe. These were some of the areas kept by the Crown in the late 17th.
The Wardrobe. This is an important relic of the Tudor Palace. It has blue diapered brickwork and blocked ground floor arcade. It was once storage for the monarch’s personal possessions. But it was altered in the late 17th and early 18th to link it to the Gatehouse; windows were added and the doorways were bricked up. The garden front at the back was in 1710. It is now converted into houses. There is wall plaque to George Cave. Lawyer, Home Secretary and Lord Chancellor who lived here for nearly 40 years
Trumpeters House. This was built in 1702-4 by John Yeomans for Richard Hill. The entrance is on the site of the Tudor Middle Gate building. It was named from two stone figures of trumpeting heralds that had stood on the Middle Gate and used in the new building. A portico was added in the 1740s. The main front faces the river across a lawn which is where the Privy Lodgings of the Tudor palace stood. Metternich lived here as a refugee in 1848, In the Second World War it was used as a Red Cross Club, and hit by a V1. In 1952 it was restored by C. Bernard Brown and is now flats. Middle Gateway would have led into Fountain Court, with the Royal Chapel on the south-east side, the Royal Apartments on the south-west side and on the Great Hall on the north-west side the Great Hall
Path, from Old Palace Yard to Old Palace Lane is the line of the Palace entrance for servants
Ormonde Avenue
Housing development in what was the garden of The Rosery, in Ormonde Road.
Ormond Road
The Free Church - Unitarian church. This was built in 1896, and was designed by T Locke Worthington. It has five windows by Morris & Co. installed in 1912. A rear extension designed by Kenneth Taylor was opened in 1966.
The Rosary. This is one of two houses built in 1699-1700 back to back by Nathaniel Rawlins, a Habersdasher and building speculator.
The Hollies – the other house built by Rawlins
7 Ormonde Lodge. St.Mary’s Vicarage – this moved here from Richmond Green in 1947.
Paradise Road
St.Mary Magdalene. This is the old parish church lying between the green and hill with a tower of built around 1507 and faced with flint and stone. The body of the church dates from 1750 but the front is earlier in yellow and red brick. There was an original chapel which was built around 1220 but it was entirely rebuilt during the when Henry VI rebuilt the palace here and renamed the town of Sheen as Richmond. It has been added to and rebuilt several times since then. In 1866 Arthur Blomfield replaced the nave ceiling with timber, added galleries and bench pews. In 1903–04 George Bidley replaced the chancel, two Chapels and the vestry. The tower has eight bells dated 1680 to 1761 which were re-hung in the 1980s. The organ was built in 1907 by J.W.Walker and it is on the National Pipe Organ Register
Churchyard. This is surrounded by low retaining walls and flagged footpaths. Some gravestones have been placed along the wall, with other tombs and monuments among the grass. There are mature trees including yews and also a stone war memorial.
Petersham Road
The road name dates only from 1895 and it was previously the Lower Causeway or the Lower Road.
Almshouses. These were built in 1600 a few hundred yards down river from the ferry. They were founded by Sir George Wright. They were gradually enlarged and called Queen Elizabeth’s Almshouses. They were later moved to the Vineyard
39 Belle Vue House. This sign is painted across the front of the house which might indicate some commercial use. It is believed to date from the late 18th and once overlooked a stretch of riverside gardens. In the 19th it held night-time river fetes with fireworks. It is now let into flats.
Rump Hall. This was a 17th house leased by the Vestry in 1730 as a workhouse. The brewery and poppy factory were later on the site
Hobart Hall. This was a house called Ivy Hall which replaced a previous house built before 1726. It was enlarged in 1757-8 for the widow of John Hobart, the Earl of Buckinghamshire. It became the home of her son Henry Hobart. By 1820 it was a boy’s school. Most recently it has been a hotel, now apparently closed.
18 Mews House. This was built as stables for Richmond Wells. In 1840 it was rebuilt and renamed in 1853 as the Lansdowne Brewery.
Lansdowne Brewery Store. The site on the Petersham Road was used for offices, stabling, storage, bottling and barrel washing – not actual brewing. The brewery itself was to the south. The building is red brick with RICHMOND BREWERY STORES" in white lettering on blue. The brewery closed.
Royal British Legion Poppy Factory took over the building in 1926. Poppies were made there until 1933 when the new factory opened. . Nearly 40 million poppies are made here each year, employing disabled war veterans. The old building was kept and the centre buttons for the poppies were made there, but it mainly a store and social club.
Rovex Plastics took over the building in 1954. They made plastic toys for Marks and Spencer. The company nameplate was placed over the brewery sign. By 1956 the factory was too small and they moved to Margate.
Red Lion Street
This was once called Back Lane
Olde Red Lyon, this was on the corner with George Street built in the 16th probably on the site of an earlier establishment. .It closed in the 1720s. It had been Richmond's principle hostelry from the mid-16th until the 1730s.
Red Lion Inn, This was built near to the site of the police station. It was built in the 1780s and closed in 1909. It is said to have had a plaque 'established 1525' but this related to the original inn.
Police Station. The station was moved here in 1912. The police no longer own this building,
Lion House. Modernist building of shops and flats. It is faced in light brick from the first floor upwards. The ground floor is tiled in contrasting horizontal bands of black and white tiles and. above, the floors mirror the banding of the tiles below. There is a projecting corner tower with an entrance to the building. The tower had a corner window for its full height. There are three vertical flagpoles atop the uppermost canopy.It dates from the 1930s and the architect is apparently unknown.
Odeon Studio Theatre. This opened in 1992 in a building which had previously been a Mecca Billiard Hall. It is in sub-divided into 3 screens and advertised separately to the main Odeon.
4 Haleon House. This address is given for the Etherington piano business then established in an adjacent premises in Hill Street. In the 1930s they appeat to hafe been taken voer by the larger firm or Robert Morley who are also listed for this address. A desdription is gficen in a trade paper of Etherimngton new oresmises in 1912. Mtyge address of it is given as George Street – however it appears to match this address in Red Lion Street. It should also be noted that Haleon House is adjacent to Bach House, their premises in Hill Street. The new building was to the designs of Smith and Brewer, architects and it was fronted with Doulton's Carrara ware. It is also said there us a staircase leading up to the first floor, which forms quite an imposing concert hall. A hall to the south of Haleon House is shown on maps from the period of the Great War and this is soon after marked as a billiard hall. It appears to be on the footprint of the current Odeon Studio Theatre
Retreat Road
This was a private road to Villa Retreat, which later became Retreat House
1 Friends Meeting House
The HQ 14th Richmond Viking Scout Boat Centre. The 14th Richmond was founded in 1921 and became a full Sea Scout section in 1946 with a group who have stayed together until the present. Viking is a rowed life boat originally purchased in 1932 from the Leander Sea Scouts at Kingston. She was originally built in 1904 by Harland and Woolfe as the lifeboat for the Bibby Line’s SS Worcestershire
Richmond Glass Works. Glass manufacturers who were here in the 1920s.
Print works. This was the works for the Richmond and Twickenham Times based at 14 King Street.
Richmond Bridge
Richmond Bridge, this is an 18th stone arch bridge designed by James Paine and Kenton Couse. It was built between 1774 and 1777 to replace a ferry. It was built with funding raised through a tontine scheme and it was tolled. It has five spans. The bridge was widened in 1937–40 and the foundations strengthened, but otherwise it is as its original design. It is the oldest surviving Thames bridge in London. There were tollhouses at each end of the bridge but tolls were abolished in 1859. Labourers removed toll the gates from their hinges and the toll houses were demolished, and replaced by seating in 1868. In 1931 the bridge was taken into the joint public ownership of Surrey and Middlesex councils.
Ferry. The Richmond ferry was considered to be very important and may date to the reign of Edward III. By the 16th the lease of the ferry was a sinecure for Crown servants who would lease it to a ferryman. It was a horse ferry. In the mid -18th it was becoming outdated and the then holder, William Windham, applied to built a wooden bridge and a number of complications arose concerning aristocratic landowners and also watermen’s rights. It eventually closed, after the bridge was built, in 1777.
Richmond Railway Bridge.
Richmond Railway Bridge.This runs alongside Twickenham Bridge. It was built in 1848 when the railway was extended from Richmond to Windsor. Joseph Locke and J E Errington designed the original bridge with three 100-foot cast iron girders supported on stone-faced land arches with two stone-faced river piers. There were concerns about its structural integrity, and it was rebuilt in 1908 on the original piers and abutments to designs of J.W.Jacomb Hood for the London and South West Railway. The main girders and decking were replaced in 1984. It is preceded by seven arches and viaduct over the Old Deer park as dictated by the Crown Commissioners.
Richmond Green
One of the biggest village greens in England and once was used as the jousting field for the palace. The site had been common wasteland, and used for archery in 1649. Cricket has been played here since the 18th and the earliest known fixture on the Green was Surrey v Middlesex in 1730. Cut and cover shelters were built here in the Second World War.
The Outer Gateway, This was the main access to Henry VII’s Palace, and led directly into the Great Court. Hinge pins remain from what were once large doors here and there is also a blocked opening on the east side. Henry VII’ arms were restored in 1976. This is a simple gateway with a large and a small stone arch.
The Gate House. This is mostly Tudor with renewed windows and chimneys. There is diapered brickwork in the tower beside it.
1-4 Maids of Honour Row. These houses were built in 1724 by a Thomas Honour for the Maids of Honour attending on the Princess of Wales, Princess Caroline of Anspach. The maids received £200 per year plus board and lodgings in one of two of these houses. However, the houses were only occupied by maids of honour until 1728 and from then on they were occupied by ordinary and wealthy people. They are sited on what was part of the Privy Garden and its wall. In 1744 4 belonged to Heidegger, the Manager of the Kings Theatre Haymarket. His scene painter, Antonio Jolli, painted the hall in the house with panels showing views of Switzerland, Italy, China, and emblems of the arts and seasons.
1 Shakespeare House. There is a story from the 17th that this was owned by Shakespeare's friend Simon Bardolph but there is no evidence of this. From about 1897 to 1926 this was the address of the bicycle manufacturer Beard and Co. whose showroom and workshop were round the corner in Duke Street.From 1979 it was offices of the Nichiren Shoshu.
2 This is an 18th house used as the Richmond Nursing Home from 1903 to the Second World War. During this time it was also the Office of the Richmond Corporation for Trained Nurses.
3 Gothic House
4 Levinge Lodge. This dates from 1755. From 1887to 1889, it was the Metropolitan Institution Servants Home and then from 1895 to 1918 it was the Princess Mary Adelaide Training Home for Young Servants.
9 Onslow House. This was built about 1710 by Lord Onslow. Much of the material used was re-used from the recently demolished Palace. In the 19th it was a school for young ladies. It is currently occupied by a firm of solicitor which had been set up in 1917 by Arthur Calvert-Smith and Norman Sutcliffe who moved here in 1954
11 Queen Anne House. This dates from the early 18th. In the basement is a lead cistern dated 1715. In 1726 this was used as a Coffee House and in the late 19th it may have been a boys' school.
17 From the early 18th this appears to have been a coffee house and in the 19th a school of cookery. Virginia Woolfe and her husband lived here temporarily in 1914 when it was a boarding house. In the 20th it was used as offices and eventually by Boots – whose store is to the rear in George Street – as offices and a depot. They turned the central window into an entrance and have removed most of the original interior.
19 St. Luke’s Mission Hall.There was a house here from the early 18th, used as a ladies school and a boarding house. It was demolished and replaced by St. Luke’s Hall in 1904. It is now an architects’ office. St. Luke’s mission is written over the door.
20 Shearwater House. Offices. A house here was demolished in 1903 to make an entrance to the GPO Sorting office in Park Lane to the rear.
21-22 These are known to have been built in 1692, which makes them the first example of an urban brick terrace in London. In the late 19th they used by the Post Office along with adjoining buildings in the High Street, with a yard between the buildings for carts and vans. A telephone exchange was installed necessitating the strengthening of the floors for the heavy equipment. The dormers were also removed to provide mechanical cooling for the equipment. Later they were converted to office use, with a new building in the yard. They have since been converted back to housing.
The Cricketers. Claims to date from 1770, when a pub called The Crickett Players stood here, but it may be earlier. A previous pub was The White Horse Inn. This building was burnt down in 1844. It was quickly rebuilt. It was owned by local brewer Edward Collins in the late 18th but taken over by Whitbreads.
28 Princes Head. The building dates to 1705. It was originally called The Duke of Ormonde’s Head, after James Butler, the 2nd Duke of Ormonde who became popular after his victory at Vigo Bay in 1702. Later the pub was known as The Duke’s Head. And from 1778, The Princes Head. In 1902 the proprietor of the Prince’s Head was royal barge master and champion sculler Bill East.
Drinking fountain. Late 19th in Portland stone and in a very plain Gothic design. A plaque says that it was repaired in 1977 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of HM Queen Elizabeth II".
29-32 Old Palace Terrace. This was called Powell’s Row until 1850. They were built in 1692 by Vestue Radford, a local barrister.
1 Old Palace Terrace was premises of Lloyds, pharmaceutical chemists –established in 1826 and an apothecary’s shop before that.
5 Old Palace Terrace was at one time the home of Stephen Rigaud of the Kew Royal Observatory from 1769 - 1814. It was then a carpenters’ shop and then a boarding house
29 Oak House on the site of the house of the Franciscan Observant Friars founded by Henry VII and dates from the mid 18thy It was used as the headquarters of the Richmond branch of the YMCA 1897-1915.
Theatre Royal. This stood the Green, at the top of Old Palace Lane next to where Garrick Close has now been built. . The first manager who also probably built it was an actor called James Dance. Inside the lobby was as those in Drury Lane. There were boxes for most of the audience and a galley and an orchestra pit. It opened in 1765, and later George III and Queen Charlotte became patrons. In 1831, Edmund Kean leased it and lived next door. However his health was poor and he died in 1833. Gas lighting was installed in the first half of the 19th. From 1858 the theatre became very prosperous. The last proprietor was John Russell, whose first season opened in 1880 but after initial success, attendance dropped and he was forced to engage street entertainers. In the early 1880s it closed and was demolished in 1884. Garrick House was built on the site,
Old Palace Place, Built around.1700, this is on the site of a 16th timber and plaster building. The remains of this earlier house were discovered during the Great War when it was used as a Red Cross Hospital. For a time it became two houses but they were reunited by Wellesley & Wills in 1928 for Sir Kenneth Clark. The original bread ovens remain in the basement. The south-west corner of the house is from around 1580 and it is a vaulted basement with a Tudor fireplace, a Tudor bedroom with a powder-room and a beamed galleried landing. Remains of Tudor wall paintings have been discovered. The house was subdivided again in 1982-3
Old Friars. This is on the Site of Observant Friars building. The date of in 1687 – is marked on a rainwater head and it was refronted around 1700. An extension on the east built in 1749 was used as a concert room called Beaver Lodge. In the late 19th it was used by the Richmond Liberal and Radical Club. There is a wrought-iron gate.
Old Court House. This was built about the same time as Maids of Honour Row but has been changed
Richmond Palace
Richmond Palace was built by Henry VII in 1499-1501 on the site of the manor-house of Sheen which had itself been established by at least 1125. A royal residence had stood here probably built by Edward III who died there in 1377. This had been destroyed by Richard II in 1395 following the death his wife Anne of Bohemia there in 1394. Henry V built another palace there 1413 – 1422 but this was burnt down in 1497 and it was this that Henry VII rebuilt. He died here in 1509 but Henry VIII lived here less frequently than his father. He gave it to Anne of Cleves wino lived here from 1540-47. Elizabeth later lived here as her favourite home and eventually died here in 1603. From the 17th it was used infrequently by the royals and was gradually demolished during and after the Commonwealth as new buildings replaced it.
Riverside
The Richmond riverside in this square is broken up into a number of sections. The square begins on the towpath at the southern end of the Old Deer Park, and then became Cholmondley Walk (see above), there is then a short section of the end of Friars Lane (see above) and the riverside then continues as a riverside walk extending and continuing beyond Richmond Bridge.
Towpath. In 1777 the City of London were authorised by an Act of Parliament to build a towpath suitable for horses between Kew and Ham.
The White Cross. This Young’s pub dates from 1835. It has a stained glass window to remind us that it was built on the site of the Observant Friars' convent whose sign was a white cross. The original pub here dated from around 1727 and was called the Waterman’s' Arms. In 1742 the landlady was a widow whose name was Cross, and the name was changed then and drawings of 1749 bear this out. It was rebuilt in the 1760s and in 1835, it was owned by Collins Brewery and sometimes called Eel Pie House. Young and Bainbridge, brewers bought it in 1870.
Barge House. This was sited at the end of Friars Lane
St. Helena House. 1815. Recording Napoleon’s banishment
St. Helena Terrace – the terrace dates from the mid 19th but the arched boat houses under the terrace dating from 1835 and may be older than the terrace. The doors open directly onto the riverside. In the early 20th some of these were used by coal merchants and others for building and repairing boats. They are know let out for boat storage but that also includes a potter's studio
Drawdock. This is at the end of Water Lane
Castle Inn. This pub was on a large site fronting onto Hill Street and Whittaker Street. The Gardens with the Assembly rooms stretched to the riverside.
Richmond Riverside. Designed by Quinlan Terry between 1984-7, the development includes two listed buildings and it is in the 18th architectural style including elements of English and Italian architecture, and the Gothic revival of the 19th. The development is made up of offices, flats, shops, restaurants, community facilities, underground car parks and riverside gardens. It was a joint development by Haslemere Estates and the Pension Fund Property Unit Trust, It opened in 1988.
Tootsies. This was Hotham House which had been developed in the late 17th. It was occupied around 1810 by Admiral Sir William Hotham and was thus named from him. By 106- it was semmi derelict and collapsed. It was rebuilt and is the largest of the Richmond Riverside Development buildings facing the river. In Heron Square it is supposed to represent the style of an English late 17th country house,
Heron House. This was the south of Hotham House and smaller. Built in 1716. It is said to have been the home of Emma Hamilton 1808-1810.
Palm Court. This was a 1850s building of a hotel said to be much used by aircrew from Heathrow. By 1875 it was empty and semi-derelict and was used as a women's refuge organised by Erin Pizzey. It has been rebuilt in Heron Square and is an office block
Royal Family Hotel. This was a house from the 1690s rebuilt in the 19th and later became a hotel,
Slug and Lettuce Pub. This was Riverside House which was originally part of Collins Brewery, which was founded in the 1720s and closed in the 1870s,
Bridge House Gardens. These gardens are on the site of Bridge House. The council acquired the derelict house in 1959 and it became a small public gardens. The lower level is now leased a café. The garden was restored in 2008 as part of the London’s Arcadia project. The upper level is O’Higgins Square.
Bridge House. This house dated from the late 17th and was south of the ferry. It was built by the Rev Abiel Borfett, Minister of Richmond, on the site of an early 17th cottage. By the early 20th it was a tea rooms but it was derelict by 1959
Richmond Bridge Boathouses. The royal shallop “The Jubilant” was built here by Mark Edwards, commissioned by the Thames Traditional Rowing Association for the Jubilant Trust. He also built the 42 foot shallop the Lady Mayoress, for the Company of Watermen and Lightermen. Gloriana, created for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, was also finished with her gilt paint here
Plane tree. This is claimed as London’s tallest Plane and on the tow path. It is likely to be 300 years old
St. Margaret’s Ferry
St. Margaret’s Ferry. This appears to have been a horse ferry in the 1880s with sixteen boats working it. It continued to run and after the bridge was built in 1933.
Twickenham Bridge
Twickenham Bridge. This was built in 1933 as part of the Chertsey Arterial Road and is part of the current A136. The architect was Maxwell Ayrton and the engineer was Alfred Dryland. It has three reinforced-concrete arches supported on art deco concrete piers. It was the first bridge to embody hinges enabling it to adjust to changes in temperature. The balustrades and lamps were constructed of open bronze work. In 1992, the first Gatso speed camera in the United Kingdom was launched on here,
Wakefield Road
Bus Station
Water Lane
This was once known as Thames Lane and it ran alongside a small stream going to the river
This lane has a cartway of twin lines of granite bricks and setts between the brick lines of stone, so that carts could go down in the mud at low tide before the weir was built and goods could be loaded over the side of boats. It was originally called Town Lane and was the route from the Town Wharf into the town. It leads to the old ferry
Collins Brewery. This was at the bottom of the lane. It was built in 1715 and closed in 1860. It was the first Richmond brewery. A brew house was first set up here 1711 and 1728 when t was sold to John and William Collins. They owned many tied houses in the town. ‘#
Water Works. Thus was a municipal works set up by Richmond Vestry with a pumping station on the site of Collins Brewery. A well was sunk beneath it and a bore hole. They had a Boulton and Watt engine. The pumping station was only used as a standby after 1931. In 1967, electrically-driven booster pumps were installed to pump water from the Hampton mains up to the Richmond Park reservoirs. It Closed in 1980.
Enclosure. At the bottom of Water Lane, behind the White Cross, is a small railed enclosure which contains the head of a shaft to the tunnel which carries the the Hampton — Barn Elms 42" diameter.water main under the river.There is an identical turret on the opposite side of the river.
12 Waterman's Arms. This is one of the oldest pubs in Richmond, dating back at least to 1660. It was once called the King’s Head at the Ferry and a favourite drinking place of bargemen.
Curzon Cinema. This was opened in the late-1980’s as the Richmond Filmhouse. It was built on part of the site of the auditorium of the demolished New Royalty Kinema because a covenant on the site said that a cinema should remain there. In 2008 it was re-named Curzon Richmond.
Whittaker Avenue
The road was named because a condition of the gift of the Castle was that a road should be made between Hill Street and the river in order to give more access to the riverside. This was called Castle Road, but the council later agreed to alter this to “Whittaker Avenue.”
Richmond Library. This was originallt Richmond Town Hall. In the late 1870s Richmond Vestry needed new premises and considered buying the Castle Hotel. John Whittaker Ellis bought the site in 1888 and gave it to the Vestry for a new municipal building. Followimg a competiopn they chose a design by W.J. Ancell. This was “Elizabethan Renaissance” in red brick and ut included a Council chamber, committee rooms, Mayor’s parlour and Councillors’ rooms as well as offices.The main entrance was in Whittaker Avenue, with a business entrance on Hill Street..By the time the building was finished Richmond had become a Borough The building was opened in 1893 by the Duke of York , the 2nd World War, the Town Hall suffered severe fire-bomb damage. The roof and top floor were completely destroyed and the Council Chamber was gutted. After the war so a modified scheme was approved. The restored Town Hall was re-opened in 1952. In 1965, Richmond was incorporated with the Boroughs of Barnes and Twickenham to become the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and Twickenham’s York House became the main municipal building.In the 1980s the whole of the riverside area between Water Lane and Richmond Bridge was redeveloped to a design by Quinlan TerryThe Old Town Hall was refurbished and modified as part of this. In 1987 the Central Reference Library was opened on the first floor. The Local Studies Library was given its own space and a small museum dedicated to the history of Richmond was also included
Gardens. The ground between the Town Hall and the towpath was laid out as a pleasure ground with 3 terraces and steps to the river bank. The site included the gardens to the river where the War Memorial now stands
Castle Hotel. This had an Assembly Room which overlooked gardens which stretched to a boathouse on the river. There was also a restaurant and ball room .The pub had been moved here from George Street in around 1760. It closed as a hotel in 1876 and in 1888 it was given to the town for the first municipal offices. Used for a whole as Richmond’s first cinema – The Castle Electric Theatre in 1910. The Town Hall was built on this site
War Memorial - built by the people of Richmond and unveiled on 23rd November 1921 by Field Marshall Sir William Robertson, Bart.
4 This was built in the 1980s as part of the Richmond Riverside development,
2 This new building includes the headquarters of Pay-Pal Europe
Sources
Behind the Blue Plaques
Bethlehem Chapel. Wikipedia. Web site
Cinema Theatres Association Newsletter
Cinema Treasures. Web site
Cloake. Cottages and Common Fields of Richmond and Kew.
Cloake. Richmond Past
Cloake. The Growth of Richmond
Clunn. The Face of London
Dunbar. A Prospect of Richmond
Environment Trust. Web site
Faded London. Web site
Field. London Place Names
GLC. Thames Guidelines.
GLIAS Newsletter
London Borough of Richmond. Web site
London Encyclopedia
London Gardens Online. Web site
London Transport Country Walks
MOLAS. Web site
Panorama of the Thames Project. Web site
Parker. North Surrey
Pastscape. Web site
Patrick Baty. Web site
Penguin. Surrey
Pevsner and Cherry. South London
Pevsner, Surrey
Port of London Magazine
Richmond Free Church. Web site
Richmond Museum. Web site
Richmond Upon Thames. Official Guide
The Kingston Zodiac
Thames Panorama. Web site
Tucker. Ferries of the Lower Thames
Walford. Village London
Wikipedia. Web site. As appropriate
Bridge Street
This was once called Ferry Hill and built as part of the 18th bridge construction.
O’Higgins Square. On the east side of the street at the start of the bridge is a small park. This has a bust of Bernardo O’Higgins, the first president of Chile who studied here 1795 – 1798.
Tower House. This has an 'Italian villa' type tower. It became a restaurant and is now one of the Pitcher and Piano chain pubs. Part of the Quinlan Terry development.
Milestone. This is an obelisk which commemorates the opening of Richmond Bridge. The inscription says: "The first stone of this Bridge was laid 23 August 1774 and finished December 1777". Inscriptions on other faces give distances to London Bridge and Windsor.
Cholmondeley Walk
The walk is named after George, 3rd Earl of Cholmondley who owned land and lived here in the 18th. This is land reclaimed from the river in the 16th,
Garden Wall to Trumpeters House. This is 17th wall with a Tudor wall standing at right angles behind it. Behind the wall is a large lawn between the house and the riverside which is the site of Fountain Court – the central court of Richmond Palace and of the Privy Lodgings. The western part of the garden next to Asgill House is part of the Great Orchard and became part of Asgill House grounds in 1756.
Gazebo. This 18th structure is at the end of the garden of Trumpeters House ands built into the river wall. It was a bathing pavilion, built in the 1760s. It is now used as an artist's studio.
Queensberry House. Cholmondley House which had stood on the riverside was renamed Queensbury House in the 1780s. It was built for George Earl of Cholmondley. The grounds stretched from the sire of Wardrobe in the old Palace to the riverside. It was rebuilt by Lewis Vuillamy in 1835 using the materials of the old house. There are now flats on the site facing Friars Lane.
Library. The Earl of Cholmondley built a cruciform shaped library in his grounds on the riverside.
Church Terrace
Bethlehem Chapel. This is an independent Calvinistic church. The building dates from 1797 and still has its original galleried interior with pews and pulpit. It was built by John Chapman, and is a Huntington Chapel opened by Calvinist William Huntington. The church is traditional in worship and doctrine and uses the King James Bible. Richmond Messian Fellowship also use the building
Church Walk
6 restaurant in what is said to be the parish refectory
Parish Rooms for St.Mary’s Church. These are above the Refectory
Compass Hill
This is named after a pub called The Compasses which dated from at least 1737 and replaced a pub called The Rising Sun. It was demolished in 1952.
Duke Street
5-6 H.Beard & Co, Richmond Cycle Stores and workshops in the 1890s. They also used 1 The Green round the corner.
Friar’s Lane
This marks the boundary between the old Palace of Shene and the Convent of the Observant Friary set up by Henry VII. Henry V moved to an old Manor House known at Byfleet at Shene and then began to build a new palace. Henry VII later gave these Byfleet Buildings to the Observant Friars.
Chapel – a building near the south end of the west side appears to be an old chapel. It is said that a chapel building in the street was used by industry in the 1960s and earlier.
Lissen, Ltd., Lissenium Works. This was one of several sites owned by this firm, which made wireless sets in the 1920s and 1930s. Founded by a Mr. Cole in 1922 as a manufacturer and retailer of parts for radio receivers including audio transformers, variable resistances and rheostats. In the late 1920s they became involved with Ever Ready and taken over by them in the 1930s and they were wound up after the Second World War.
Richmond Brewery. In 1833 the Crown had sold the site and a brewery and malt houses were subsequently built. The brewery was built here about 1840 on the site of what had been Cholmondley House's stables and it brewed AK Dinner Ale. . By the 1890s it was owned by a Vincent Rollinson. In 1894 has been speculated that it was the works of the Ajax Non-Alcoholic Ale and Stout Co. Ltd,
Goldsmith and Sons. Dyers and cleaners. They were in the brewery buildings by 1903 until the start of the Great War
6 Sichel Adhesives Ltd. they made vegetable and synthetic adhesives, acquired the old brewery site in 1936. They remained until 1965 when the council bought the site for a car park. A sign for the works is said to remain on one of the walls.
Gazebo. Series of 6 brick arches ending with a hexagonal tower or gazebo. This gazebo has been restored into a little house. It was built in the mid 18th with one storey and basement. There is a battlemented parapet.
Queensberry House flats. The current flats were built in 1934 on the site of Queensherry House. A cast-iron fountain in the garden was probably from 1830 development. There are two plaques in the wall:-one records the site of the Palace of Shene here and the other refers to the building of Queensbury House.
Boathouses and stonemasons yard. The road curves at the end to take in a section of the riverside at the end of Cholmondley Walk.
George Street
The main street taking its name from George III. It was previously known as Great Street.
12 Martin’s Bank. After it was closed in 1971/2 it was taken over by Marks and Spencer next door.
22-24 Greyhound House. Offices from 1983-4 in the building which was once the Greyhound Hotel. It has begun as a pub called the White Horse and in the 1730s was rebuilt and named Greyhound. It was a major pub in the town and used for town meetings and for clubs and societies. It closed in 1923.
29 Tesco. The building was Wright’s Department store. High up on the gable are the initials WB and the date of 1896. Wright Bros used the overhead fast transit system round the store and lasted until the 1970s.
37 site of the old Castle Inn, replaced in 1761 on a different site
35/38 Police Station. This was closed and converted into shops in 1912. Opened in 1840.
St.Mary’s parochial schools. These were set up in the Lilypot Inn which was on the corner with Brewer Street. In 1713 and remained here until 1834.
52 Car Phone Warehouse with external handing clock. In the 1890s The Richmond Clock house was at 51 George Street- next door - but the external clock here seems to indicate their interest. It has unreadable lettering on it.
55-56 Courlander, Jeweller's shop. They are the oldest jewellers in Richmond and, Herman Courlander was Mayor of Richmond in the 1940s. They originated in Gracechurch Street City in 1881
70 George Street was the first Richmond Post Office. Built in 1886
80 House of Fraser. Built as Dickens and Jones opened in 1970. It had been Gosling’s opened in 1795 and which took over part of the Queen’s Head Hotel. Burnt down in 1968 and re-opened.
Heron Square
Heron Square. Herring or Heron court was a late 17th development with three houses facing the river. It was built in the site of the Royal Mews. The Royal Hotel was built here. The Heron Square development was designed by Quinlan Terry in 1988. It is mainly office buildings but incorporates Heron House which uses the façade of the old Palm Court Hotel and the old Tower Hotels.
The Drebble. This is a fully working submarine based on a design by Cornelius Drebbel from the Netherlands. Note the oars for rowing underwater. It is said to have was rowed underneath the surface of the Thames from Richmond Palace through London to Greenwich while watched by King James I
Hill Rise
Several varied shop fronts up the hill
Bills. Restaurant in stuccoed, late Georgian building. This was the Kings Head Hotel which began as a small alehouse called the Plough extant in 1659. It became the King's Head in the 19th and was enlarged several times. A series of dance halls and night clubs have since been in the building which has had a number of names,
Hill Street
1White Hart Inn. This was on the corner with Water Lane from in buildings of 1696 and opened as a pub by 1724. It appears to have remained open until the Great War. Writing on a plaque above the door of the current ‘flat iron’ building appears to have been erased.
3 this was the site of the shop where the Maids of Honour tarts were sold. In the 1950s the façade was removed and it was modernised. The commercial production of Maids of Honour here began in 1750 when Thomas Burdekin took a small shop and later expanded here. They were further exploited by the Billet family. . The shop closed in 1957. The recipe was however passed to the Bullen family who still make the tarts in the Kew Road.
5 New Royalty Kinema. This opened in 1914 operated by the Joseph Mears chain.an 18th house was used as the foyer. The original wood panelling and stars of the town house were retained, as was an original fireplace, which heated the foyer on cold winter nights. At the rear of the foyer, a short flight of steps on the left led down to a tea lounge. The auditorium was what had been the garden and the decoration was in a French Classical style and it had a sliding roof for hot summer days. In 1922 a Hill Norman & Beard organ was installed. In 1929 it was re-named Royalty Kinema. It closed in 1940, because of the war and re-opened in 1942. It was taken over by Odeon Theatres Ltd. In 1944 and eventually became part of the Rank Organisation who changed the name to Gaumont in 1949. The Gaumont was closed in 1980, and the auditorium was demolished in 1983 and part of the site –with a covenant on retention of cinema use is Curzon Richmond on Water Lane. The 18th facade and foyer were kept and are now in use as dentist, offices and a beer cellar.
7 Spread Eagle. This opened in 1761 as The Kings Arms, a taproom for the Castle Hotel. In 1823 it became separate from the hotel and was known as the The Spread Eagle. It closed in 1909 and is now a shop.
9 This was originally the Ellis wine business with a meeting hall above. It later became the London and County Bank, which, in 1852, was the first bank in Richmond. By the 1890s it was Hetherington’s pianoforte gallery
19 Etherington’s used this as their music warehouse in the 1890s, calling it Bach House. The business had been set up in Twickenham in 1792, moving to Richmond in 1830. In 1842 they moved to the corner of Hill Rise and later to this address in Hill Street. By the 1890s they had another premises opposite. Etherington's pianos were said to be widely advertised and popular. When Etherington Hall was built -possibly to the rear – these premises became their gramophone showroom.
23 the Royal Arms also called the Royal Hotel. This dared from from 1834 and was converted from a mansion built in the 1820s. The Royal Arms pub. This was the tap room for the hotel. By mid 1850s The Royal it had become three houses
32 in 1837 this was a showroom for Mears Motors,
34 TheTalbot Inn. Previously the Dog Inn before 1768
38 The Talbot Picture Theatre was built on part of the site of the Talbot Hotel, in 1911. The facade had a small tower feature and inside there were boxes each with a separate staircase. The auditorium in was in green and blue. In 1917, it was sold to Joseph Mears, and was closed in 1930 a week before Mears opened the Richmond Kinema. The frontage of the Talbot was demolished, and shops with flats above, were built. The auditorium survived at the rear and was used as a garage and works until 1978, when it was demolished.
72 The Richmond Kinema opened in 1930 built for the Joseph Mears Theatres circuit and designed by Leathart and Granger. It was re-named Premier Cinema in 1940 to allow the removal of the Richmond name from the facade. It was taken over by Oscar Deutsch’s Odeon Theatres in 1944 and was re-named Odeon. It had Halophane concealed lighting and was converted into a triple screen from in. the old circle retains the original auditorium in the style of a 17th Spanish courtyard with Spanish tiles, Moorish windows and plaster oranges and doves. The foyer plasterwork depicts the various trades carried on by the employees of the original owner, Joseph T. Mears.
King Street
This was once called Cross Street and then Furbelow Street.
Feathers Pub was on the corner with Water Lane. Before that it was the Golden Hynde. It was rebuilt in the 18th and then turned into offices in 1850s and demolished for road widening in 1907.
Feathers Yard lies behind the shops here. A building here was Broad & Co Printing Works. It had also been used as a Mission Room. It became a print works in 1853 for Thomas Darnell and Broads from 1893 until 1988,
3 The Old Ship with a 17th core and later additions. In 1682 it was called the Six Bells and then The Ship in 1724.
9 Before 1800 this was the post office run by a shopkeeper and sending three mail coaches to London a day.
12-13 at one time this was a pub called the New Ship
14 Wickham House. This was the offices of the Richmond and Twickenham Times owned by the Dimbleby family since 1874 when Frederick Dimbleby joined the paper. There was a print works to the rear. It was sold in 2001 and has now been converted to flats. It is said to have been the home of the Wickham family in the 18th, hence the name
Lewis Road
Richmond Hill Health Club. This was built on the site of Mears Motors Garage
Northumberland Place
This is on the riverside upriver of Richmond Bridge.
Northumberland House stood here from 1766 built for George Coleman, dramatist, who named it Bath House for his patron. It was later called Cambourne House, and then, as the home of the Duchess of Northumberland, it was Northumberland House. It was used by the Richmond Club – a ‘gentleman’s club’ - from 1888 and was been demolished in 1969 and replaced with modern up market housing.
Rotary Gardens. This is a “pocket gardens”, Cambourne Path is a step free path linking the tow path to Petersham Road, Northumberland House was once called Cambourne House.
Old Deer Park
Obelisk. This is one of three obelisks which are meridian marks set up for the purpose of adjusting the transit instruments in the Observatory Thus pillar corresponds to the west wing of the building.
Old Palace Lane
This was once called Palace Lane and also Asgill Lane. The Palace stood to the west of the lane.
1 The Virginals. This was called Cedar Grove until 1963. This is an 18th house built on or near the site of the King’s bake house.
28 White Swan Pub. This dates from 1787
Asgill House. This was built for Sir Charles Asgill, City banker and Lord Mayor who died 1788. It is a Palladian villa by Robert Taylor’s' and it was restored in 1969-70. It was Built 1757-8 as a summer residence Charles Asgill on the site of the palace brew house. It stands close to the river to exploit the river views. The garden is not large and has a winding path, made after 1969,
A stone plaque on the wall records that the royal palace extended to the river here and that Edward III, Henry VII and Elizabeth I all died here. It says: "On this site extending eastward to cloisters of the ancient Friary of Shene formerly stood the river frontage of the Royal Palace. First occupied by Henry in 1125”.
Crane Piece. This was the site on the riverside at the end of the Lane in the 17th where there was also a wharf. Near it was the Rock house, an unexplained feature which has been interpreted as a never finished giant water feature to adorn the grounds of Richmond Palace, but abandoned after the death of Henry Prince of Wales in 1612. It was later convertd into a brewhouse which was still functioning in the late 18th. There was also a cistern house for the Palace here which later became an armoury.
Old Palace Yard
This corresponds approximately to the outline of the Great Court of the Tudor Palace. All traces of the Palace have disappeared on the north and south-west sides but on the south-east side is a section of the original palace, in the range called the Wardrobe. These were some of the areas kept by the Crown in the late 17th.
The Wardrobe. This is an important relic of the Tudor Palace. It has blue diapered brickwork and blocked ground floor arcade. It was once storage for the monarch’s personal possessions. But it was altered in the late 17th and early 18th to link it to the Gatehouse; windows were added and the doorways were bricked up. The garden front at the back was in 1710. It is now converted into houses. There is wall plaque to George Cave. Lawyer, Home Secretary and Lord Chancellor who lived here for nearly 40 years
Trumpeters House. This was built in 1702-4 by John Yeomans for Richard Hill. The entrance is on the site of the Tudor Middle Gate building. It was named from two stone figures of trumpeting heralds that had stood on the Middle Gate and used in the new building. A portico was added in the 1740s. The main front faces the river across a lawn which is where the Privy Lodgings of the Tudor palace stood. Metternich lived here as a refugee in 1848, In the Second World War it was used as a Red Cross Club, and hit by a V1. In 1952 it was restored by C. Bernard Brown and is now flats. Middle Gateway would have led into Fountain Court, with the Royal Chapel on the south-east side, the Royal Apartments on the south-west side and on the Great Hall on the north-west side the Great Hall
Path, from Old Palace Yard to Old Palace Lane is the line of the Palace entrance for servants
Ormonde Avenue
Housing development in what was the garden of The Rosery, in Ormonde Road.
Ormond Road
The Free Church - Unitarian church. This was built in 1896, and was designed by T Locke Worthington. It has five windows by Morris & Co. installed in 1912. A rear extension designed by Kenneth Taylor was opened in 1966.
The Rosary. This is one of two houses built in 1699-1700 back to back by Nathaniel Rawlins, a Habersdasher and building speculator.
The Hollies – the other house built by Rawlins
7 Ormonde Lodge. St.Mary’s Vicarage – this moved here from Richmond Green in 1947.
Paradise Road
St.Mary Magdalene. This is the old parish church lying between the green and hill with a tower of built around 1507 and faced with flint and stone. The body of the church dates from 1750 but the front is earlier in yellow and red brick. There was an original chapel which was built around 1220 but it was entirely rebuilt during the when Henry VI rebuilt the palace here and renamed the town of Sheen as Richmond. It has been added to and rebuilt several times since then. In 1866 Arthur Blomfield replaced the nave ceiling with timber, added galleries and bench pews. In 1903–04 George Bidley replaced the chancel, two Chapels and the vestry. The tower has eight bells dated 1680 to 1761 which were re-hung in the 1980s. The organ was built in 1907 by J.W.Walker and it is on the National Pipe Organ Register
Churchyard. This is surrounded by low retaining walls and flagged footpaths. Some gravestones have been placed along the wall, with other tombs and monuments among the grass. There are mature trees including yews and also a stone war memorial.
Petersham Road
The road name dates only from 1895 and it was previously the Lower Causeway or the Lower Road.
Almshouses. These were built in 1600 a few hundred yards down river from the ferry. They were founded by Sir George Wright. They were gradually enlarged and called Queen Elizabeth’s Almshouses. They were later moved to the Vineyard
39 Belle Vue House. This sign is painted across the front of the house which might indicate some commercial use. It is believed to date from the late 18th and once overlooked a stretch of riverside gardens. In the 19th it held night-time river fetes with fireworks. It is now let into flats.
Rump Hall. This was a 17th house leased by the Vestry in 1730 as a workhouse. The brewery and poppy factory were later on the site
Hobart Hall. This was a house called Ivy Hall which replaced a previous house built before 1726. It was enlarged in 1757-8 for the widow of John Hobart, the Earl of Buckinghamshire. It became the home of her son Henry Hobart. By 1820 it was a boy’s school. Most recently it has been a hotel, now apparently closed.
18 Mews House. This was built as stables for Richmond Wells. In 1840 it was rebuilt and renamed in 1853 as the Lansdowne Brewery.
Lansdowne Brewery Store. The site on the Petersham Road was used for offices, stabling, storage, bottling and barrel washing – not actual brewing. The brewery itself was to the south. The building is red brick with RICHMOND BREWERY STORES" in white lettering on blue. The brewery closed.
Royal British Legion Poppy Factory took over the building in 1926. Poppies were made there until 1933 when the new factory opened. . Nearly 40 million poppies are made here each year, employing disabled war veterans. The old building was kept and the centre buttons for the poppies were made there, but it mainly a store and social club.
Rovex Plastics took over the building in 1954. They made plastic toys for Marks and Spencer. The company nameplate was placed over the brewery sign. By 1956 the factory was too small and they moved to Margate.
Red Lion Street
This was once called Back Lane
Olde Red Lyon, this was on the corner with George Street built in the 16th probably on the site of an earlier establishment. .It closed in the 1720s. It had been Richmond's principle hostelry from the mid-16th until the 1730s.
Red Lion Inn, This was built near to the site of the police station. It was built in the 1780s and closed in 1909. It is said to have had a plaque 'established 1525' but this related to the original inn.
Police Station. The station was moved here in 1912. The police no longer own this building,
Lion House. Modernist building of shops and flats. It is faced in light brick from the first floor upwards. The ground floor is tiled in contrasting horizontal bands of black and white tiles and. above, the floors mirror the banding of the tiles below. There is a projecting corner tower with an entrance to the building. The tower had a corner window for its full height. There are three vertical flagpoles atop the uppermost canopy.It dates from the 1930s and the architect is apparently unknown.
Odeon Studio Theatre. This opened in 1992 in a building which had previously been a Mecca Billiard Hall. It is in sub-divided into 3 screens and advertised separately to the main Odeon.
4 Haleon House. This address is given for the Etherington piano business then established in an adjacent premises in Hill Street. In the 1930s they appeat to hafe been taken voer by the larger firm or Robert Morley who are also listed for this address. A desdription is gficen in a trade paper of Etherimngton new oresmises in 1912. Mtyge address of it is given as George Street – however it appears to match this address in Red Lion Street. It should also be noted that Haleon House is adjacent to Bach House, their premises in Hill Street. The new building was to the designs of Smith and Brewer, architects and it was fronted with Doulton's Carrara ware. It is also said there us a staircase leading up to the first floor, which forms quite an imposing concert hall. A hall to the south of Haleon House is shown on maps from the period of the Great War and this is soon after marked as a billiard hall. It appears to be on the footprint of the current Odeon Studio Theatre
Retreat Road
This was a private road to Villa Retreat, which later became Retreat House
1 Friends Meeting House
The HQ 14th Richmond Viking Scout Boat Centre. The 14th Richmond was founded in 1921 and became a full Sea Scout section in 1946 with a group who have stayed together until the present. Viking is a rowed life boat originally purchased in 1932 from the Leander Sea Scouts at Kingston. She was originally built in 1904 by Harland and Woolfe as the lifeboat for the Bibby Line’s SS Worcestershire
Richmond Glass Works. Glass manufacturers who were here in the 1920s.
Print works. This was the works for the Richmond and Twickenham Times based at 14 King Street.
Richmond Bridge
Richmond Bridge, this is an 18th stone arch bridge designed by James Paine and Kenton Couse. It was built between 1774 and 1777 to replace a ferry. It was built with funding raised through a tontine scheme and it was tolled. It has five spans. The bridge was widened in 1937–40 and the foundations strengthened, but otherwise it is as its original design. It is the oldest surviving Thames bridge in London. There were tollhouses at each end of the bridge but tolls were abolished in 1859. Labourers removed toll the gates from their hinges and the toll houses were demolished, and replaced by seating in 1868. In 1931 the bridge was taken into the joint public ownership of Surrey and Middlesex councils.
Ferry. The Richmond ferry was considered to be very important and may date to the reign of Edward III. By the 16th the lease of the ferry was a sinecure for Crown servants who would lease it to a ferryman. It was a horse ferry. In the mid -18th it was becoming outdated and the then holder, William Windham, applied to built a wooden bridge and a number of complications arose concerning aristocratic landowners and also watermen’s rights. It eventually closed, after the bridge was built, in 1777.
Richmond Railway Bridge.
Richmond Railway Bridge.This runs alongside Twickenham Bridge. It was built in 1848 when the railway was extended from Richmond to Windsor. Joseph Locke and J E Errington designed the original bridge with three 100-foot cast iron girders supported on stone-faced land arches with two stone-faced river piers. There were concerns about its structural integrity, and it was rebuilt in 1908 on the original piers and abutments to designs of J.W.Jacomb Hood for the London and South West Railway. The main girders and decking were replaced in 1984. It is preceded by seven arches and viaduct over the Old Deer park as dictated by the Crown Commissioners.
Richmond Green
One of the biggest village greens in England and once was used as the jousting field for the palace. The site had been common wasteland, and used for archery in 1649. Cricket has been played here since the 18th and the earliest known fixture on the Green was Surrey v Middlesex in 1730. Cut and cover shelters were built here in the Second World War.
The Outer Gateway, This was the main access to Henry VII’s Palace, and led directly into the Great Court. Hinge pins remain from what were once large doors here and there is also a blocked opening on the east side. Henry VII’ arms were restored in 1976. This is a simple gateway with a large and a small stone arch.
The Gate House. This is mostly Tudor with renewed windows and chimneys. There is diapered brickwork in the tower beside it.
1-4 Maids of Honour Row. These houses were built in 1724 by a Thomas Honour for the Maids of Honour attending on the Princess of Wales, Princess Caroline of Anspach. The maids received £200 per year plus board and lodgings in one of two of these houses. However, the houses were only occupied by maids of honour until 1728 and from then on they were occupied by ordinary and wealthy people. They are sited on what was part of the Privy Garden and its wall. In 1744 4 belonged to Heidegger, the Manager of the Kings Theatre Haymarket. His scene painter, Antonio Jolli, painted the hall in the house with panels showing views of Switzerland, Italy, China, and emblems of the arts and seasons.
1 Shakespeare House. There is a story from the 17th that this was owned by Shakespeare's friend Simon Bardolph but there is no evidence of this. From about 1897 to 1926 this was the address of the bicycle manufacturer Beard and Co. whose showroom and workshop were round the corner in Duke Street.From 1979 it was offices of the Nichiren Shoshu.
2 This is an 18th house used as the Richmond Nursing Home from 1903 to the Second World War. During this time it was also the Office of the Richmond Corporation for Trained Nurses.
3 Gothic House
4 Levinge Lodge. This dates from 1755. From 1887to 1889, it was the Metropolitan Institution Servants Home and then from 1895 to 1918 it was the Princess Mary Adelaide Training Home for Young Servants.
9 Onslow House. This was built about 1710 by Lord Onslow. Much of the material used was re-used from the recently demolished Palace. In the 19th it was a school for young ladies. It is currently occupied by a firm of solicitor which had been set up in 1917 by Arthur Calvert-Smith and Norman Sutcliffe who moved here in 1954
11 Queen Anne House. This dates from the early 18th. In the basement is a lead cistern dated 1715. In 1726 this was used as a Coffee House and in the late 19th it may have been a boys' school.
17 From the early 18th this appears to have been a coffee house and in the 19th a school of cookery. Virginia Woolfe and her husband lived here temporarily in 1914 when it was a boarding house. In the 20th it was used as offices and eventually by Boots – whose store is to the rear in George Street – as offices and a depot. They turned the central window into an entrance and have removed most of the original interior.
19 St. Luke’s Mission Hall.There was a house here from the early 18th, used as a ladies school and a boarding house. It was demolished and replaced by St. Luke’s Hall in 1904. It is now an architects’ office. St. Luke’s mission is written over the door.
20 Shearwater House. Offices. A house here was demolished in 1903 to make an entrance to the GPO Sorting office in Park Lane to the rear.
21-22 These are known to have been built in 1692, which makes them the first example of an urban brick terrace in London. In the late 19th they used by the Post Office along with adjoining buildings in the High Street, with a yard between the buildings for carts and vans. A telephone exchange was installed necessitating the strengthening of the floors for the heavy equipment. The dormers were also removed to provide mechanical cooling for the equipment. Later they were converted to office use, with a new building in the yard. They have since been converted back to housing.
The Cricketers. Claims to date from 1770, when a pub called The Crickett Players stood here, but it may be earlier. A previous pub was The White Horse Inn. This building was burnt down in 1844. It was quickly rebuilt. It was owned by local brewer Edward Collins in the late 18th but taken over by Whitbreads.
28 Princes Head. The building dates to 1705. It was originally called The Duke of Ormonde’s Head, after James Butler, the 2nd Duke of Ormonde who became popular after his victory at Vigo Bay in 1702. Later the pub was known as The Duke’s Head. And from 1778, The Princes Head. In 1902 the proprietor of the Prince’s Head was royal barge master and champion sculler Bill East.
Drinking fountain. Late 19th in Portland stone and in a very plain Gothic design. A plaque says that it was repaired in 1977 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of HM Queen Elizabeth II".
29-32 Old Palace Terrace. This was called Powell’s Row until 1850. They were built in 1692 by Vestue Radford, a local barrister.
1 Old Palace Terrace was premises of Lloyds, pharmaceutical chemists –established in 1826 and an apothecary’s shop before that.
5 Old Palace Terrace was at one time the home of Stephen Rigaud of the Kew Royal Observatory from 1769 - 1814. It was then a carpenters’ shop and then a boarding house
29 Oak House on the site of the house of the Franciscan Observant Friars founded by Henry VII and dates from the mid 18thy It was used as the headquarters of the Richmond branch of the YMCA 1897-1915.
Theatre Royal. This stood the Green, at the top of Old Palace Lane next to where Garrick Close has now been built. . The first manager who also probably built it was an actor called James Dance. Inside the lobby was as those in Drury Lane. There were boxes for most of the audience and a galley and an orchestra pit. It opened in 1765, and later George III and Queen Charlotte became patrons. In 1831, Edmund Kean leased it and lived next door. However his health was poor and he died in 1833. Gas lighting was installed in the first half of the 19th. From 1858 the theatre became very prosperous. The last proprietor was John Russell, whose first season opened in 1880 but after initial success, attendance dropped and he was forced to engage street entertainers. In the early 1880s it closed and was demolished in 1884. Garrick House was built on the site,
Old Palace Place, Built around.1700, this is on the site of a 16th timber and plaster building. The remains of this earlier house were discovered during the Great War when it was used as a Red Cross Hospital. For a time it became two houses but they were reunited by Wellesley & Wills in 1928 for Sir Kenneth Clark. The original bread ovens remain in the basement. The south-west corner of the house is from around 1580 and it is a vaulted basement with a Tudor fireplace, a Tudor bedroom with a powder-room and a beamed galleried landing. Remains of Tudor wall paintings have been discovered. The house was subdivided again in 1982-3
Old Friars. This is on the Site of Observant Friars building. The date of in 1687 – is marked on a rainwater head and it was refronted around 1700. An extension on the east built in 1749 was used as a concert room called Beaver Lodge. In the late 19th it was used by the Richmond Liberal and Radical Club. There is a wrought-iron gate.
Old Court House. This was built about the same time as Maids of Honour Row but has been changed
Richmond Palace
Richmond Palace was built by Henry VII in 1499-1501 on the site of the manor-house of Sheen which had itself been established by at least 1125. A royal residence had stood here probably built by Edward III who died there in 1377. This had been destroyed by Richard II in 1395 following the death his wife Anne of Bohemia there in 1394. Henry V built another palace there 1413 – 1422 but this was burnt down in 1497 and it was this that Henry VII rebuilt. He died here in 1509 but Henry VIII lived here less frequently than his father. He gave it to Anne of Cleves wino lived here from 1540-47. Elizabeth later lived here as her favourite home and eventually died here in 1603. From the 17th it was used infrequently by the royals and was gradually demolished during and after the Commonwealth as new buildings replaced it.
Riverside
The Richmond riverside in this square is broken up into a number of sections. The square begins on the towpath at the southern end of the Old Deer Park, and then became Cholmondley Walk (see above), there is then a short section of the end of Friars Lane (see above) and the riverside then continues as a riverside walk extending and continuing beyond Richmond Bridge.
Towpath. In 1777 the City of London were authorised by an Act of Parliament to build a towpath suitable for horses between Kew and Ham.
The White Cross. This Young’s pub dates from 1835. It has a stained glass window to remind us that it was built on the site of the Observant Friars' convent whose sign was a white cross. The original pub here dated from around 1727 and was called the Waterman’s' Arms. In 1742 the landlady was a widow whose name was Cross, and the name was changed then and drawings of 1749 bear this out. It was rebuilt in the 1760s and in 1835, it was owned by Collins Brewery and sometimes called Eel Pie House. Young and Bainbridge, brewers bought it in 1870.
Barge House. This was sited at the end of Friars Lane
St. Helena House. 1815. Recording Napoleon’s banishment
St. Helena Terrace – the terrace dates from the mid 19th but the arched boat houses under the terrace dating from 1835 and may be older than the terrace. The doors open directly onto the riverside. In the early 20th some of these were used by coal merchants and others for building and repairing boats. They are know let out for boat storage but that also includes a potter's studio
Drawdock. This is at the end of Water Lane
Castle Inn. This pub was on a large site fronting onto Hill Street and Whittaker Street. The Gardens with the Assembly rooms stretched to the riverside.
Richmond Riverside. Designed by Quinlan Terry between 1984-7, the development includes two listed buildings and it is in the 18th architectural style including elements of English and Italian architecture, and the Gothic revival of the 19th. The development is made up of offices, flats, shops, restaurants, community facilities, underground car parks and riverside gardens. It was a joint development by Haslemere Estates and the Pension Fund Property Unit Trust, It opened in 1988.
Tootsies. This was Hotham House which had been developed in the late 17th. It was occupied around 1810 by Admiral Sir William Hotham and was thus named from him. By 106- it was semmi derelict and collapsed. It was rebuilt and is the largest of the Richmond Riverside Development buildings facing the river. In Heron Square it is supposed to represent the style of an English late 17th country house,
Heron House. This was the south of Hotham House and smaller. Built in 1716. It is said to have been the home of Emma Hamilton 1808-1810.
Palm Court. This was a 1850s building of a hotel said to be much used by aircrew from Heathrow. By 1875 it was empty and semi-derelict and was used as a women's refuge organised by Erin Pizzey. It has been rebuilt in Heron Square and is an office block
Royal Family Hotel. This was a house from the 1690s rebuilt in the 19th and later became a hotel,
Slug and Lettuce Pub. This was Riverside House which was originally part of Collins Brewery, which was founded in the 1720s and closed in the 1870s,
Bridge House Gardens. These gardens are on the site of Bridge House. The council acquired the derelict house in 1959 and it became a small public gardens. The lower level is now leased a café. The garden was restored in 2008 as part of the London’s Arcadia project. The upper level is O’Higgins Square.
Bridge House. This house dated from the late 17th and was south of the ferry. It was built by the Rev Abiel Borfett, Minister of Richmond, on the site of an early 17th cottage. By the early 20th it was a tea rooms but it was derelict by 1959
Richmond Bridge Boathouses. The royal shallop “The Jubilant” was built here by Mark Edwards, commissioned by the Thames Traditional Rowing Association for the Jubilant Trust. He also built the 42 foot shallop the Lady Mayoress, for the Company of Watermen and Lightermen. Gloriana, created for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, was also finished with her gilt paint here
Plane tree. This is claimed as London’s tallest Plane and on the tow path. It is likely to be 300 years old
St. Margaret’s Ferry
St. Margaret’s Ferry. This appears to have been a horse ferry in the 1880s with sixteen boats working it. It continued to run and after the bridge was built in 1933.
Twickenham Bridge
Twickenham Bridge. This was built in 1933 as part of the Chertsey Arterial Road and is part of the current A136. The architect was Maxwell Ayrton and the engineer was Alfred Dryland. It has three reinforced-concrete arches supported on art deco concrete piers. It was the first bridge to embody hinges enabling it to adjust to changes in temperature. The balustrades and lamps were constructed of open bronze work. In 1992, the first Gatso speed camera in the United Kingdom was launched on here,
Wakefield Road
Bus Station
Water Lane
This was once known as Thames Lane and it ran alongside a small stream going to the river
This lane has a cartway of twin lines of granite bricks and setts between the brick lines of stone, so that carts could go down in the mud at low tide before the weir was built and goods could be loaded over the side of boats. It was originally called Town Lane and was the route from the Town Wharf into the town. It leads to the old ferry
Collins Brewery. This was at the bottom of the lane. It was built in 1715 and closed in 1860. It was the first Richmond brewery. A brew house was first set up here 1711 and 1728 when t was sold to John and William Collins. They owned many tied houses in the town. ‘#
Water Works. Thus was a municipal works set up by Richmond Vestry with a pumping station on the site of Collins Brewery. A well was sunk beneath it and a bore hole. They had a Boulton and Watt engine. The pumping station was only used as a standby after 1931. In 1967, electrically-driven booster pumps were installed to pump water from the Hampton mains up to the Richmond Park reservoirs. It Closed in 1980.
Enclosure. At the bottom of Water Lane, behind the White Cross, is a small railed enclosure which contains the head of a shaft to the tunnel which carries the the Hampton — Barn Elms 42" diameter.water main under the river.There is an identical turret on the opposite side of the river.
12 Waterman's Arms. This is one of the oldest pubs in Richmond, dating back at least to 1660. It was once called the King’s Head at the Ferry and a favourite drinking place of bargemen.
Curzon Cinema. This was opened in the late-1980’s as the Richmond Filmhouse. It was built on part of the site of the auditorium of the demolished New Royalty Kinema because a covenant on the site said that a cinema should remain there. In 2008 it was re-named Curzon Richmond.
Whittaker Avenue
The road was named because a condition of the gift of the Castle was that a road should be made between Hill Street and the river in order to give more access to the riverside. This was called Castle Road, but the council later agreed to alter this to “Whittaker Avenue.”
Richmond Library. This was originallt Richmond Town Hall. In the late 1870s Richmond Vestry needed new premises and considered buying the Castle Hotel. John Whittaker Ellis bought the site in 1888 and gave it to the Vestry for a new municipal building. Followimg a competiopn they chose a design by W.J. Ancell. This was “Elizabethan Renaissance” in red brick and ut included a Council chamber, committee rooms, Mayor’s parlour and Councillors’ rooms as well as offices.The main entrance was in Whittaker Avenue, with a business entrance on Hill Street..By the time the building was finished Richmond had become a Borough The building was opened in 1893 by the Duke of York , the 2nd World War, the Town Hall suffered severe fire-bomb damage. The roof and top floor were completely destroyed and the Council Chamber was gutted. After the war so a modified scheme was approved. The restored Town Hall was re-opened in 1952. In 1965, Richmond was incorporated with the Boroughs of Barnes and Twickenham to become the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and Twickenham’s York House became the main municipal building.In the 1980s the whole of the riverside area between Water Lane and Richmond Bridge was redeveloped to a design by Quinlan TerryThe Old Town Hall was refurbished and modified as part of this. In 1987 the Central Reference Library was opened on the first floor. The Local Studies Library was given its own space and a small museum dedicated to the history of Richmond was also included
Gardens. The ground between the Town Hall and the towpath was laid out as a pleasure ground with 3 terraces and steps to the river bank. The site included the gardens to the river where the War Memorial now stands
Castle Hotel. This had an Assembly Room which overlooked gardens which stretched to a boathouse on the river. There was also a restaurant and ball room .The pub had been moved here from George Street in around 1760. It closed as a hotel in 1876 and in 1888 it was given to the town for the first municipal offices. Used for a whole as Richmond’s first cinema – The Castle Electric Theatre in 1910. The Town Hall was built on this site
War Memorial - built by the people of Richmond and unveiled on 23rd November 1921 by Field Marshall Sir William Robertson, Bart.
4 This was built in the 1980s as part of the Richmond Riverside development,
2 This new building includes the headquarters of Pay-Pal Europe
Sources
Behind the Blue Plaques
Bethlehem Chapel. Wikipedia. Web site
Cinema Theatres Association Newsletter
Cinema Treasures. Web site
Cloake. Cottages and Common Fields of Richmond and Kew.
Cloake. Richmond Past
Cloake. The Growth of Richmond
Clunn. The Face of London
Dunbar. A Prospect of Richmond
Environment Trust. Web site
Faded London. Web site
Field. London Place Names
GLC. Thames Guidelines.
GLIAS Newsletter
London Borough of Richmond. Web site
London Encyclopedia
London Gardens Online. Web site
London Transport Country Walks
MOLAS. Web site
Panorama of the Thames Project. Web site
Parker. North Surrey
Pastscape. Web site
Patrick Baty. Web site
Penguin. Surrey
Pevsner and Cherry. South London
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Richmond Museum. Web site
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Wikipedia. Web site. As appropriate
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