Exploring history in London & abroad with my camera
In this post Mr Bradshaw and I complete our wanderings around Islington! The London Fever Hospital was established on the site of King's Cross Station in 1815, moving to Liverpool Road from 1849 where it remained in use until the 1970s when the new Royal Free Hospital opened in Hampstead. V0013546 London…
Read More "Bradshaw’s Hand Book to London, Day 8, In Islington & Highbury (no.74)"
Mr Bradshaw says '..Pentonville ...Of late years it has extended rapidly, Barnsbury Road and Barnsbury Park, a new and daily improving district, derive their names from Lady Juliana Berners, Abbess of St Albans, who had a large manor is this neighbourhood..'. However, The London Encyclopaedia says the name derives from Bernersbury Manor which was held by Ralph…
Read More "Bradshaw’s Hand Book to London, Day 8, Barnsbury Square (no.72)"
Thornhill Square was the centre and showpiece of the Thornhill Estate, but 86 acres was a lot of land and other roads associated with the family include Matilda Street, Richmond Avenue, Thornhill Road, Belitha Villas. This is just a brief glimpse into some of the sights. Richmond Avenue was the first part of the Thornhill Estate to be developed,…
Read More "Bradshaw’s Hand Book to London, 1862, Day 8, The Thornhill Estate contd (no.71)"
The Thornhill Estate in London was laid out between 1810-49 by Joseph Kay on land owned by the Thornhill family. The family originated in Yorkshire, moving to Diddington Manor in 1730. Their property portfolio was extensive, and included 86 acres in Islington - most of Barnsbury. The London estate was let out for dairy farming but the…
Read More "Bradshaw’s Hand Book to London, 1862, Day 8, The Thornhill Estate (no.69)"
I think this is liriodendron tulipifera, or more simply, the tulip tree
Read More "Bradshaw’s Hand Book to London, Tulip Tree in Lonsdale Square Gardens, (no.67)"
The village of Islington was known for its clean, fresh air and its dairy farms. The Drapers Company inherited land known as 'Gossey Field' in the late 1600s which was farmed and then used as a cattle pen en route to Smithfield Market. In the early 1800s, in the building boom to satisfy London's expanding…
Read More "Bradshaw’s Hand Book to London, Lonsdale Square (no.66)"
Milner Square was the second of the two squares in the Milner-Gibson Estate. It was laid out by Robert Lewis Roumieu and Alexander Dick Gough who also designed a church for the square, but this was never built. The building was undertaken from 1841-47, resulting in what Roy Porter calls 'the astonishing Milner Square'. Pevsner goes further:…
Read More "Bradshaw’s Hand Book to London, 1862, Day 8, Milner Square (no.65)"
Major Thomas Gibson (d.1807) made his fortune in the West Indies' sugar plantations. The family return to England when Thomas Milner-Gibson (1806-84) was a baby to live in Theberton House, Suffolk. (This site has a comprehensive history of the family.) Theberton House, 1845, http://www.amazon.co.uk/SUFFOLK-Theberton-House-Gibson-DUGDALE/dp/B008CP503M Theberton Hall, c.1850, photograph in the Church of St…
Read More "Bradshaw’s Hand Book to London, the Milner-Gibson Estate (no.63)"
