Incubator escapee wiki

Kew

Article Discussion

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK place Kew (Template:IPAc-en) is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.<ref name="Vision">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436.<ref name="ons">Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density Office for National Statistics</ref> Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is also the home of important historical documents such as Domesday Book, which is held at The National Archives.

Julius Caesar may have forded the Thames at Kew in 54 BC during the Gallic Wars.<ref>Blomfield 1994, p.3</ref> Successive Tudor, Stuart and Georgian monarchs maintained links with Kew. During the French Revolution, many refugees established themselves there and it was the home of several artists in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Since 1965 Kew has incorporated the former area of North Sheen<ref name="Blomfield 1994, p.131">Blomfield 1994, p.131</ref> which includes St Philip and All Saints, the first barn church consecrated in England.<ref name=Leyborne>Blomfield, David. The Story of Kew, second edition, p.36, Leyborne Publications, 1996, Template:ISBN</ref> It is now in a combined Church of England parish with St Luke's Church, Kew.

Today, Kew is an expensive residential area because of its prosperous suburban attributes. Among these are sports-and-leisure open spaces, schools, transport links, architecture, restaurants, no high-rise buildings, modest road sizes, trees and gardens. Most of Kew developed in the late 19th century, following the arrival of the District line of the London Underground. Further development took place in the 1920s and 1930s when new houses were built on the market gardens of North Sheen and in the first decade of the 21st century when considerably more river-fronting flats and houses were constructed by the Thames on land formerly owned by Thames Water.

EtymologyEdit

File:Kew Pier, Cayho by Mark Folds.jpg
The sculpture Cayho by Mark Folds, on the towpath next to Kew Pier, is a play on words, with Kew's 14th-century name rendered as "keyhole".

The name Kew, recorded in 1327 as Cayho, is a combination of two words: the Old French kai (landing place; "quay" derives from this) and Old English hoh (spur of land). The land spur is formed by the bend in the Thames.<ref>Room, Adrian. Dictionary of Place-Names in the British Isles, Bloomsbury, 1988, Template:ISBN</ref>

GovernanceEdit

Kew is one of 18 wards in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.<ref name="Wards">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It forms part of the Richmond Park constituency in the UK Parliament; the Member of Parliament is Sarah Olney of the Liberal Democrats. For elections to the London Assembly it is part of the South West London Assembly constituency, which is represented by Gareth Roberts of the Liberal Democrats.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Kew was added in 1892 to the Municipal Borough of Richmond which had been formed two years earlier and was in the county of Surrey.<ref name="Vision"/> In 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, the Municipal Borough of Richmond was abolished. Kew, along with Richmond, was transferred from Surrey to the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, one of 32 boroughs in the newly created Greater London.

EconomyEdit

File:Caxton Name Plate Manufacturing Co (geograph 3242883).jpg
The Caxton Name Plate Manufacturing Company's former premises can still be identified from Kew Bridge, with its name on the building.
File:1954 Dodge Kew.jpg
1954 Dodge Kew lorry

The fashion clothing retailer Jigsaw's headquarters, now at Water Lane, Richmond,<ref name="Jigsaw">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> were previously in Mortlake Road, Kew.<ref name=" Meyer-Stabley">Template:Cite book</ref>

A former industry in Kew was that of nameplate manufacturing, by the Caxton Name Plate Manufacturing Company, based on Kew Green. The company was founded in 1964 and folded in 1997.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

It was in Kew that viscose was first developed into rayon, in a laboratory near Kew Gardens station run by Cowey Engineering. Rayon was produced in a factory on South Avenue, off Sandycombe Road, before Courtaulds acquired the patents for rayon in 1904.<ref name="Stilwell"/>

Also on a site near Kew Gardens station, the engineering company F C Blake, now commemorated in the Kew street name Blake Mews,<ref name="Streets - Blake">Template:Cite book</ref> produced petrol-powered traction engines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.<ref name="Stilwell">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Chrysler and DodgeEdit

Kew Retail Park stands on the site of a former aircraft factory established in 1918 by Harry Whitworth, who owned Glendower Aircraft Ltd. The factory built Airco DH.4s and Sopwith Salamanders for the British government in the First World War.<ref name="Stilwell"/>

In 1923, the now-redundant aircraft factory was sold and it became a factory for road vehicles.<ref name="Stilwell"/> From the 1920s until 1967, Dodge made lorries at this factory, with the model name Kew. Cars were also manufactured there.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Dodge Brothers became a Chrysler subsidiary in 1928 and lorry production moved to Chrysler's car plant at Kew. In 1933 it began to manufacture a British chassis, at its works in Kew, using American engines and gearboxes.<ref name="Stevens-Stratten">Template:Cite book</ref> After Chrysler bought the Maxwell Motor Company and their Kew works, the cars of the lighter Chrysler range – Chryslers, De Sotos and Plymouths – were assembled at this Kew site until the Second World War. The various models of De Sotos were named Richmond, Mortlake and Croydon; Plymouths were Kew Six and Wimbledon.<ref name="Kimes">Template:Cite book</ref>

During the Second World War this Chrysler factory was part of the London Aircraft Production Group and built Handley Page Halifax aircraft assemblies. When wartime aircraft production ceased, the plant did not resume assembly of North American cars.

PeopleEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

Royal associations with KewEdit

File:West Hall, West Hall Road, Kew.jpg
West Hall is Kew's only surviving 17th-century building apart from Kew Palace.
File:Sarah Kirby (née Bull); John Joshua Kirby by Thomas Gainsborough.jpg
Sarah Kirby (née Bull) and Joshua Kirby by Thomas Gainsborough
File:Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his sisters by Philip Mercier.jpg
A musical portrait of Frederick, Prince of Wales and his sisters by Philip Mercier, dated 1733, uses the Dutch House, the present-day Kew Palace, as its plein-air backdrop.
File:Marianne North Gallery 821.JPG
Interior of Marianne North Gallery, Kew Gardens
File:Pissarro-Kew-greens-Lyon.jpg
French painter Camille Pissarro's impression of Kew Green in 1892
File:Tomb of Johan Zoffany.jpg
Tomb of the painter Johan Zoffany at St Anne's Church

The Tudors and StuartsEdit

Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester (Template:Circa 1460–1526) was granted lands at Kew in 1517. When he died in 1526 he left his Kew estates to his third wife, Eleanor, with the remainder to his son George. In 1538, Sir George Somerset sold the house for £200 to Thomas Cromwell (Template:Circa 1485–1540), who resold it for the same amount to Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk (Template:Circa 1484–1545). Brandon had probably already inhabited Kew during the life of his wife Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VII and widow of the French king Louis XII. According to John Leland's Cygnea Cantio ("Swan Song"), she stayed in Kew (which he refers to as "Cheva")<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> for a time after her return to England.<ref name="Parishes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

One of Henry VIII's closest friends, Henry Norris (Template:Circa 1482–1536), lived at Kew Farm,<ref>Blomfield 1994, p.5</ref> which was later owned by Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (1532–1588).<ref>Blomfield 1994, p.12</ref> This large palatial house on the Thames riverbank predated the royal palaces of Kew Palace and the White House. Excavations at Kew Gardens in 2009 revealed a wall that may have belonged to the property.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In Elizabeth's reign, and under the Stuarts, houses were developed along Kew Green.<ref>Blomfield 1994, p.16</ref> West Hall, which survives in West Hall Road, dates from at least the 14th century and the present house was built at the end of the 17th century.<ref>Blomfield 1994, p.18</ref>

Elizabeth Stuart (1596–1662), daughter of James I, later known as the "Winter Queen", was given a household at Kew in 1608.<ref name="Parishes"/>

Queen Anne subscribed to the building of the parish church on Kew Green, which was dedicated to St Anne in 1714, three months before the queen's death.<ref>Blomfield 1994, p.23</ref>

The HanoveriansEdit

The Hanoverians maintained the strongest links with Kew, in particular Princess Augusta who founded the botanic gardens<ref name="Heritage Year 2006">Template:Cite press release</ref> and her husband Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707–1751) who lived at the White House in Kew. Augusta, as Dowager Princess of Wales, continued to live there until her death in 1772.<ref name="Royal">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Frederick commissioned the building of the first substantial greenhouse at Kew Gardens.<ref>Blomfield 1994, p.32</ref>

In 1772 King George III and Queen Charlotte moved into the White House at Kew.<ref name="Royal"/> Charlotte died at the Dutch House (now Kew Palace) in 1818.<ref name="Royal"/>

King William IV spent most of his early life at Richmond and at Kew Palace, where he was educated by private tutors.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Georgian expansionEdit

During the French Revolution, many refugees established themselves in Kew, having built many of the houses of this period. In the 1760s and 1770s the presence of royalty attracted artists such as Thomas Gainsborough and Johann Zoffany.<ref name="Parishes"/><ref name="Blomfield 1994, pp.43-45">Blomfield 1994, pp.43–45</ref>

Artists associated with KewEdit

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> She is known for landscapes, and has also painted portraits, literary subjects and still lifes. She has a particular interest in flower paintings, and is considered to owe much to the tradition of Walter Sickert.<ref name="Armfield, Diana Maxwell">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Buckman1">Template:Cite book</ref>

  • Margaret Backhouse (1818–1896) was a successful British portrait and genre painter during the 19th century who lived at Lichfield Villas.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Franz (later Francis) Bauer (1758–1840) was an Austrian microscopist and botanical artist who became the first botanical illustrator at Kew Gardens. By 1790 he had settled at Kew, where as well as making detailed paintings and drawings of flower dissections, often at microscopic level, he tutored Queen Charlotte, her daughter Princess Elizabeth and William Hooker in the art of illustration, and often entertained friends and botanists at his home. He is buried at St Anne's,<ref name="Local history notes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> next to Thomas Gainsborough.

  • The American-born English artist Walter Deverell (1827–1854), who was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, lived at 352 Kew Road, then called Heathfield House. He had a studio at the end of the garden where there are now garages. In this setting he painted A Pet (1853)<ref>Blomfield 1994, p.95</ref>[1].
  • Bernard Dunstan (1920–2017) lived in Kew. He was an artist, teacher and author, best known for his studies of figures in interiors and landscapes. At the time of his death, he was the longest serving Royal Academician.<ref name= "Partnership"/>
  • George Engleheart (1750–1829), one of the greatest English painters of portrait miniatures, was born in Kew.<ref name="Engleheart NT">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Walter Hood Fitch (1817–1892), botanical illustrator, lived on Kew Green.<ref>1881 England Census. Class: RG11; Piece: 845; Folio: 111; Page: 3; GSU roll: 1341200</ref>
  • Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788), who is considered one of the most important British artists of the second half of the 18th century,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> visited Kew many times, staying with his friend Joshua Kirby and, after Kirby's death, in a house probably rented by his daughter close to St Anne's Church, where he is buried.<ref name="Blomfield 1994, pp.43-45"/>
  • Arthur Hughes (1832–1915), Pre-Raphaelite painter, lived and died at Eastside House, 22 Kew Green.<ref name="Tate Hughes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> The site is marked by a blue plaque.<ref name="EH Hughes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:NHLE</ref>

  • Victorian artist Marianne North (1830–1890) did not live in Kew, but she left to Kew Gardens her collection of botanic art, painted on her extensive overseas travels, and funded a gallery – the Marianne North Gallery – to house them.<ref>Blomfield 1994, p.96</ref>
  • French Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) stayed in 1892 at 10 Kew Green, on the corner of Gloucester Road, now marked by a blue plaque.<ref name="Pissarro">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> During his stay he painted Kew Gardens – Path to the Great Glasshouse (1892)[2], Kew Greens (1892)[3] and Church at Kew (1892)[4]. His third son, Félix Pissarro (1874–1897), painter, etcher and caricaturist, died in a sanatorium at 262 Kew Road in 1897.<ref name="Pissarro West London 46">Template:Cite book</ref>

  • Charles Shannon (1863–1937), artist best known for his portraits, died in Kew<ref name="Annex">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> at 21 Kew Gardens Road.

Botanists who have lived in KewEdit

Unsurprisingly, many botanists have lived in Kew, near the botanic gardens:

File:St Anne's Church, Kew, John Smith and family headstone.jpg
Grave of John Smith and his family in the churchyard at St Anne's
  • William Aiton (1731–1793), botanist, was appointed director in 1759 of the newly established botanical garden at Kew, where he remained until his death. He effected many improvements at the gardens, and in 1789 he published Hortus Kewensis, a catalogue of the plants cultivated there.<ref group="nb">{{#if: |
   |{{#ifeq: Aiton, William |
                |{{#ifeq: |
                             |File:PD-icon.svg 
                             |File:Wikisource-logo.svg 
                           }}
                |File:Wikisource-logo.svg 
               }}
  }}{{#ifeq:  |
   |{{#ifeq: 1 |
                                    |This article
                                    |One or more of the preceding sentences
                                   }} incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 
  }}{{#invoke:template wrapper|{{#if:|list|wrap}}|_template=cite EB1911
   |_exclude=footnote, inline, noicon, no-icon, noprescript, no-prescript, _debug

   | noicon=1
  }}{{#ifeq:  ||}}</ref> When he died, he was succeeded as director at Kew Gardens by his son William Townsend Aiton (1766–1849), who was also a botanist, and was born in Kew.<ref name="DNB">Template:Cite DNB</ref> William Townsend Aiton was one of the founders of the Royal Horticultural Society.<ref name="DNB" /> He retired in 1841 but remained living at Kew, although passing much of his time with his brother at Kensington where he died in 1849.<ref name="DNB" /> Both father and son lived at Descanso House on Kew Green and are buried in St Anne's churchyard<ref name="DNB" /> where the substantial family tomb is a prominent feature. Inside the church there is also a memorial to them.<ref name="Aitons">Template:Cite book</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="RTT 30 Jul 2010">Template:Cite news</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>The National Archives (UK).1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/1377A. Ancestry.com.</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Other notable inhabitantsEdit

Historical figuresEdit

File:Cottages on Kew Green - geograph.org.uk - 1229005.jpg
Cottages on Kew Green
File:Harold-pinter-atp.jpg
Playwright Harold Pinter lived in Kew.
File:Krishnan Guru-Murthy at Chatham House 2013.jpg
Krishnan Guru-Murthy lives in Kew.
File:Milton Jones portrait.jpg
Comedian Milton Jones was brought up in Kew.
File:Gabby Logan cropped.jpg
TV presenter and former international gymnast Gabby Logan lives in Kew.
File:Achsmith.jpg
A. C. H. Smith, novelist and playwright, photographed in 2011 by Stephen Morris, was born in Kew.
  • Francis Claude Blake (1867–1954), engineer, lived at 13 Kew Gardens Road.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> which has since been demolished; the site is now occupied by Voltaire, a Modernist block of flats designed by Vivien Pilley (A V Pilichowski).<ref name="Voltaire">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Thomson video">Template:Cite AV media</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Phil Lynott (1949–1986), Irish rock guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and leader of Thin Lizzy, lived in Kew.<ref name="Phil Lynott remembered">Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Andrew Millar (1705–1768), Scottish bookseller and publisher, owned a country home on Kew Green<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite EB1911</ref> and died there in 1768.<ref group="nb">{{#if: | 

   |{{#ifeq: Aiton, William |
                |{{#ifeq: |
                             |File:PD-icon.svg 
                             |File:Wikisource-logo.svg 
                           }}
                |File:Wikisource-logo.svg 
               }}
  }}{{#ifeq:  |
   |{{#ifeq: 1 |
                                    |This article
                                    |One or more of the preceding sentences
                                   }} incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 
  }}{{#invoke:template wrapper|{{#if:|list|wrap}}|_template=cite EB1911
   |_exclude=footnote, inline, noicon, no-icon, noprescript, no-prescript, _debug

   | noicon=1
  }}{{#ifeq:  ||}}</ref>
  • Samuel Molyneux (1689–1728), Member of Parliament and an amateur astronomer, who was married to Lady Elizabeth Diana Capel, the eldest daughter of Algernon Capell, 2nd Earl of Essex, inherited Kew House on the death of Lady Capel of Tewkesbury.<ref name="Molyneux bio">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Molyneux set up an observatory at the house and collaborated there with James Bradley in innovative designs for reflecting telescopes.<ref name="Molyneux bio"/> Kew House which later, as the White House, became the home of Prince Frederick and Princess Augusta, was pulled down in 1802 when George II's short-lived gothic "castellated palace" was built.<ref name="Kew House archive">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • George Pither (1899–1966), professional footballer, was born in Kew.<ref name="BristolRoversHistory">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Clementina Jacobina Sobieski Schnell (1760–1842), lived for 53 years at the Little Red House on Kew Green. She was related to Flora MacDonald. Her husband, Francis Schnell, was tutor to Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. She died in 1842 when her headdress caught fire.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Sarah Trimmer (née Kirby; 1741–1810), writer and critic of 18th-century British children's literature, lived in Kew before her marriage.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Patrick Troughton (1921–1987), actor, most famous for playing the Second Doctor in the TV series Doctor Who, lived in Kew.<ref name="Troughton">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • George Vassila (1857–1915), cricketer, was born in Kew.<ref name="Vassila Archive">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="blackhistorymonth">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> retired to London in around 1910 and died of pneumonia at 88 Forest Road, Kew in 1921.<ref name = "Watsondeath">Template:Cite news</ref> He is buried in Richmond Cemetery.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Living peopleEdit

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Marie-Elsa Bragg, writer, Anglican priest and therapist, lived in Kew as a young child.<ref name="Stanford"/>
  • Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, broadcaster and author, lived in Kew when he was married to his first wife, Marie-Elisabeth Roche.<ref name="Stanford">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="BrooksST">Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Ray Brooks, television and film actor, lives in Kew.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Aggrey Burke (born 1943), psychiatrist and academic, born in Jamaica, who spent the majority of his medical career at St George's Hospital in London, specialising in transcultural psychiatry and writing literature on changing attitudes towards black people and mental health. In 1959, while still a teenager, he moved to Britain with his parents. The family settled in Kew, where Burke was schooled and was the only black child in his class.<ref name="Kehinde Andres interview">Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Justin Lee Collins, comedian and television presenter, lives in Kew.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Sir David Durie, former civil servant and Governor of Gibraltar, lives in Kew.<ref name="Family">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Simon Fowler, social historian and author, lives in Kew.<ref name="RLHS Who">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • A. C. H. Smith, novelist and playwright, was born in Kew.<ref name="A C H Smith">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

DemographyEdit

In the ten years from the time of the 2001 census, the population rose from 9,445<ref name="Ward statistics">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> to 11,436,<ref name=ons/> the sharpest ten-year increase in Kew since the early 20th century. This was partly accounted for by the conversion of former Thames Water land to residential use, and increases in property sizes. The figures are based on those for Kew ward,<ref name="Ward statistics"/> the boundaries of the enlarged parish having been adjusted to allow for all wards in the borough to be equally sized.

Homes and householdsEdit

2011 Census homes
Ward Detached Semi-detached Terraced Flats and apartments Caravans/temporary/
mobile homes/houseboats		 Shared between households<ref name=ons/>
Kew 426 1,029 1,212 2,268 4 25
File:Kew Bridge in London 2007 Sept 21.jpg
Kew Bridge
File:Kew Gardens Pier.jpg
Kew Pier
File:Kew Rail Bridge stonework.JPG
Kew Railway Bridge stonework
File:Kew Gardens Station Footbridge (geograph 3763563).jpg
Kew Gardens Station Footbridge
File:Kew Gardens station building.jpg
Kew Gardens Station: main entrance on the eastbound side, 2014
2011 Census households
Ward Population Households % Owned outright % Owned with a loan Hectares<ref name=ons/>
Kew 11,436 4,941 30 30 330

EthnicityEdit

In the 2011 census, 66.2% of Kew's population were White British. Other White was the second largest category at 16%, with 8.1% being Asian.<ref name="Census Data">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

TransportEdit

In the past, a main mode of transport between Kew and London, for rich and poor alike, was by water along the Thames, which separated Middlesex (on the north bank) from Surrey: Kew was also connected to Brentford, Middlesex by ferry, first replaced by a bridge in 1759. The current Kew Bridge, which carries the South Circular Road (the A205), was opened by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1903.<ref name="Royal"/>

Kew Road (A307) passes through Kew as a single carriageway, and provides the main road link to Richmond. The M4 motorway starts a short distance north of Kew, providing access to Heathrow Airport and the west. The A316 road starts in Chiswick and continues over Chiswick Bridge and a complex junction with the South Circular Road at Chalker's Corner at the south-eastern end of the district.

Since 1869 rail services have been available from Kew Gardens station. London Underground (District line) services run to Richmond and to central London. London Overground (Mildmay line) trains run to Richmond and (via Willesden Junction) to Stratford.

The 65, 110 and R68 bus routes serve Kew.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

River bus services run from Kew Pier to Westminster Millennium Pier, Richmond and Hampton Court.<ref name="River Boats">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Nearest places
Nearest railway stations
Bridges

Parks and open spacesEdit

File:Kew Green panorama 661-3 Hugin b.jpg
Kew Green
File:London Kew Gardens Japanese Part pano 5.jpg
Japanese garden in Kew Gardens
File:Kew War Memorial Garden, Westerly Ware.jpg
The war memorial gate at Westerley Ware
  • Kew Green is used by Kew Cricket Club for cricket matches in the summer.
  • Kew Pond, near the northeast corner of Kew Green, believed to date from the tenth century,<ref name="Adams">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> is originally thought to have been a natural pond fed from a creek of the tidal Thames. During high (spring) tides, sluice gates are opened to allow river water to fill the pond via an underground channel. The pond is concreted, rectangular in shape and contains an important reed bed habitat which is vital for conservation and resident water birds.

  • North Sheen Recreation Ground in Dancer Road, known locally as "The Rec", was originally part of an orchard belonging to the Popham Estate, owned by the Leyborne Pophams whose family seat was at Littlecote House, Wiltshire. Opened in June 1909 and extended in 1923, it now contains football pitches, a running track, a children's paddling pool and two extensive playgrounds.<ref name="North Sheen Recreation Ground">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is also the home of a local football club, Kew Park Rangers. A sports pavilion<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> was opened in September 2011.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

  • Pensford Field,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> previously playing fields of the former Gainsborough School, is now a nature reserve managed by Pensford Field Environmental Trust and also the home of Pensford Tennis Club and of Dose of Nature, a mental health and well-being charity.<ref name="Dose of Nature">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • St Luke's Open Space, a quiet sitting area and toddlers' play area, was previously a playground for a former Victorian primary school.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref group="nb">The former building of St Luke's School is now an art studio.{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Westerley Ware is at the foot of Kew Bridge. It was created as a memorial garden to those who died in the First World War, and also has a grass area, three hard tennis courts and a children's playground. Its name refers to the practice of netting weirs or "wares" to catch fish.<ref name=Ware>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Gardens online">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Sport and leisureEdit

Kew's several other sports clubs include:

  • North Sheen Bowling Club on Marksbury Avenue<ref name="Bowling">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Priory Park Club on Forest Road – tennis and (until 2017) bowls<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Priory Park">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Putney Town Rowing Club on Townmead Road
  • Richmond Gymnastics Association on Townmead Road<ref name="RGA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The nearest Premier League football club is Brentford FC; its stadium, opened in 2021, is on the other side of Kew Bridge, near Kew Bridge station.

SocietiesEdit

Template:Infobox organization

The Kew Horticultural Society, founded in 1938, organises an annual show in late August/early September<ref name="KHS History">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Show">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Gupta">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> as well as talks, events and outings throughout the year.

The Kew Society, founded in 1901 as the Kew Union,<ref name="Blomfield, 1994, p.112 and p.131"/> is a civic society that seeks to enhance the beauty of Kew and preserve its heritage. It reviews all planning applications in Kew with special regard to the architectural integrity and heritage of the neighbourhood, and plays an active role in the improvement of local amenities. The Society, which is a member of Civic Voice,<ref name="Civic Voice">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> organises community events including lectures and outings and produces a quarterly newsletter.

The Richmond Local History Society is concerned with the history of Kew, as well as that of Richmond, Petersham and Ham.<ref name="RLHS charity">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

EducationEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

File:Darrell Primary School, North Sheen, Richmond (geograph 1974754).jpg
Darell Primary and Nursery School

Primary schoolsEdit

  • Darell Primary and Nursery School is on Darell Road and Niton Road. It opened in 1906, as the Darell Road Schools, at the southern end of what had been the Leyborne-Popham estate.<ref>Blomfield 1994, pp.114–115</ref> It was Richmond Borough Council's first primary school and was built in the Queen Anne Revival style, in brick with white stone facings. Although it has been extended several times, it is now the only Richmond borough primary school still in its historic original pre-1914 building.<ref name="Darell history">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Kew Riverside Primary School, on Courtlands Avenue, opened in 2002.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • The King’s Church of England Primary School is in Cumberland Road, where it moved in 1969.<ref name="King's History">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> In her will of 1719, Dorothy, Lady Capel of Kew House left to four trustees Perry Court Farm in Kent, which she had inherited from her father. One twelfth of the rent from the farm was to be given to St Anne's Church to establish a school in Kew.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1810, a "Free School" was opened in the church for 50 children, financed by subscribers who gave one guinea a year, in addition to a contribution by King George III. In 1824 the school moved to a site near the pond on Kew Green. The foundation stone was laid on 12 August, the birthday of King George IV, who gave £300 on condition that it be called "The King's Free School". Queen Victoria gave permission for it to be called "The Queen's School" and decreed that its title should change with that of the monarch.<ref name="King's History"/> In 2016, the building that had been created after the move to the Cumberland Road site in 1970 was demolished and a new structure installed in its place.<ref name="King's History"/>

Independent preparatory schoolsEdit

  • Broomfield House School, on Broomfield Road, was founded in 1876.<ref name="Broomfield Early">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Kew College Prep, a co-educational school for 3- to 11-year-olds, was founded in 1927 by Mrs Ellen Upton in rooms over a shop in Kew. Mrs Upton's young daughter was one of the first pupils. The school later moved to Cumberland Road. In 1953, Mrs Upton retired and sold the school to Mrs Hamilton-Spry who, in 1985, handed over the buildings to a charitable trust to ensure the school's long term continuity.
  • Kew Green Preparatory School, at Layton House, Ferry Lane, near Kew Green, opened in 2004.
  • Unicorn School, established in 1970, is a co-educational, parent-owned independent preparatory school on Kew Road, opposite Kew Gardens.<ref name="Unicorn">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Former schoolsEdit

In the 19th century, Leopold Neumegen operated a Jewish school at Gloucester House in Kew after his earlier school in Highgate closed and when, for financial reasons, he needed to commence work again.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

Places of worshipEdit

Four churches in Kew are currently in use:

Name Denomination History Address Website Image
Our Lady of Loreto and St Winefride's, Kew Roman Catholic From 1890 to 1906 local Roman Catholics met in a temporary chapel at a Catholic mission on Kew Gardens Road. Designed by the architects Scoles & Raymond, the new church was opened in 1906 and the side aisles, baptistery and chapels were added in 1968. The sanctuary was remodelled in 1977 and the church was refurbished and decorated in 1998. A parish hall is located next to the church. After a parishioner's bequest paid off the church's debts, the church was dedicated and consecrated in 1979. 1 Leyborne Park, Kew, Richmond TW9 3HB url}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:URL with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y | 1 | 2 }} File:Our Lady of Loreto and St Winefride's, Kew.jpg
St Anne's Church, Kew Anglican Built in 1714 on land given by Queen Anne, the church, now Grade II* listed, has been extended several times. The present parish hall was built in 1978. The churchyard has two Grade II* listed monuments – the tombs of the artists Johan Zoffany (d. 1816) and Thomas Gainsborough (d. 1788). Kew Green, Kew, Richmond TW9 3AA url}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:URL with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y | 1 | 2 }} File:StAnne'sChurchKew.jpg
St Luke's Church, Kew Anglican Founded in 1889, St Luke's now forms a joint parish with the Barn Church (below). The church, built in the Gothic Revival style by architects Goldie, Child and Goldie, was redesigned in 1983 to create a smaller space for Christian worship in the former chancel area and to enable the former nave, and a second hall constructed in a loft conversion, to be used for community purposes also: it now hosts the Kew Community Trust and acts as a community centre. The Avenue, Kew, Richmond TW9 2AJ url}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:URL with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y | 1 | 2 }} File:St Luke's church, Kew - west end - geograph.org.uk - 1526467.jpg
St Philip and All Saints Church, Kew (the Barn Church) Anglican Founded in 1929, this was the first barn church to be consecrated in England. Local Anglicans previously worshipped at St Peter's, a hall erected in 1910 (and now demolished) on the corner of Marksbury Avenue and Chilton Road. The church building was constructed in 1929 from a 17th- (or possibly 16th-) century barn from Oxted in Surrey. The west end was converted in 2002 into a large parish room with a gallery above looking down the length of the building. The sanctuary was refurbished and remodelled in 1998. Atwood Avenue, Kew, Richmond TW9 4HF url}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:URL with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y | 1 | 2 }} File:The Barn Church, Kew.jpg

Former churches include:

  • Kew Baptist Church, a Grace Baptist church, was founded in 1861 in Richmond as Salem Baptist Church. It moved in 1973 to a new building on Windsor Road in Kew, adopting the name Kew Baptist Church in 1990, and closed in 2020. The building is now used as a pool for children's swimming lessons.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • the late 19th-century Cambridge Road Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, previously known as the Gloucester Road Wesleyan Methodist Chapel<ref name="Wesleyan">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> and also known as Cambridge Road Methodist Church,<ref name="NRA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which was in use from 1891 to 1969.<ref name="NRA"/> It is now a private residence. A late Victorian Salvation Army hall at 6 North Road, built in the style of a chapel, was converted into flats (1–5 Quiet Way) in 2006.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Cemeteries and crematoriumEdit

File:North Sheen Cemetery. - geograph.org.uk - 46385.jpg
North Sheen Cemetery

Mortlake Crematorium and two cemeteries – North Sheen Cemetery and Mortlake Cemetery – are located in Kew.<ref name="Kew Village Plan">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The crematorium serves the boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames and the two cemeteries are managed by Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

Literary references to KewEdit

File:Syringa 6540.JPG
Lilac in Kew Gardens
File:London United Tramways tram in front of its tram-shed, Kew Road, Richmond, UK - c 1900.jpg
Tram to Kew and Richmond c.1900

I am His Highness' dog at Kew;
Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?

Epigram, engraved on the Collar of a Dog which I gave to his Royal Highness (Frederick, Prince of Wales), 1736<ref name="Pope">Template:Cite journal</ref> (Alexander Pope, 1688–1744)

And the wildest dreams of Kew are the facts of Khatmandhu.

In The Neolithic Age, 1892 (Rudyard Kipling, 1865–1936)

Go down to Kew in lilac-time, in lilac-time, in lilac-time;
Go down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from London!)
And you shall wander hand in hand with love in summer's wonderland;
Go down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from London!)

The Barrel-Organ, 1920 (Alfred Noyes, 1880–1958)

Trams and dusty trees.
Highbury bore me. Richmond and Kew
Undid me.

The Waste Land, 1922 (T. S. Eliot, 1888–1965)

Lady Croom: My hyacinth dell is become a haunt for
hobgoblins, my Chinese bridge, which I am assured is
superior to the one at Kew, and for all I know at Peking, is
usurped by a fallen obelisk overgrown with briars.

Arcadia, 1993 (Tom Stoppard, b. 1937)

See alsoEdit

NotesEdit

Template:Reflist

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

SourcesEdit

Further readingEdit

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project Template:EB1911 poster Template:Wikivoyage

Template:LB Richmond Template:Areas of London Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://zalansite.site/mediawiki/index.php?title=Kew&oldid=62720"