The Kensington District | Page 4

it to the Lady Margaret,
Countess of Richmond, mother of King Henry VII. This manor seems
to have included lands lying without the precincts of Kensington, for in
an indenture entered into by the Lady and the Abbot of Westminster in
regard to the disposal of her property we find mentioned "lands and
tenements in Willesden, Padyngton, Westburn, and Kensington, in the
countie of Midd., which maners, lands, and tenements the said Princes
late purchased of Sir Reynolds Bray knight." The Countess left the
greater part of her property to the Abbey at Westminster, and part to the
two Universities at Oxford and Cambridge. On the spoliation of the
monasteries, King Henry VIII. became possessed of the Westminster
property; he took up the lease, granting the lessee, Robert White, other
lands in exchange, and added it to the hunting-ground he purposed
forming on the north and west of London. At his death King Edward VI.
inherited it, and leased it to Sir William Paulet. In 1587 it was held by
Lord Burghley. In 1599 it was sold to Walter Cope.
Earl's Court or Kensington Manor we traced to the three sisters of the
last Earl. One of these died childless, the other two married respectively
John Nevill, Lord Latimer; and Sir Anthony Wingfield. Family
arrangements were made to prevent the division of the estate, which
passed to Lucy Nevill, Lord Latimer's third daughter. She married Sir
W. Cornwallis, and left one daughter, Anne, who married Archibald,
Earl of Argyll, who joined with her in selling the manor to Sir Walter
Cope in 1609. Sir Walter Cope had thus held at one time or another the
whole of Kensington. He now possessed Earl's Court, West Town, and
Abbot's Manor, having sold Notting Barns some time before. His
daughter and heiress married Sir Henry Rich, younger son of the first
Earl of Warwick. Further details are given in the account of Holland
House (p. 76).
PERAMBULATION.--We will begin at the extreme easterly point of
the borough, the toe of the boot which the general outline resembles.
We are here in Knightsbridge. The derivation of this word has been
much disputed. Many old writers, including Faulkner, have identified it
with Kingsbridge--that is to say, the bridge over the Westbourne in the
King's high-road. The Westbourne formed the boundary of Chelsea,

and flowed across the road opposite Albert Gate. The real King's bridge,
however, was not here, but further eastward over the Tyburn, and as far
back as Henry I.'s reign it is referred to as Cnightebriga. Another
derivation for Knightsbridge is therefore necessary. The old
topographer Norden writes: "Kingsbridge, commonly called Stone
bridge, near Hyde Park Corner, where I wish no true man to walk too
late without good guard, as did Sir H. Knyvett, Kt., who valiantly
defended himself, being assaulted, and slew the master-thief with his
own hands." This, of course, has reference to the more westerly bridge
mentioned above, but it seems to have served as a suggestion to later
topographers, who have founded upon it the tradition that two knights
on their way to Fulham to be blessed by the Bishop of London
quarrelled and fought at the Westbourne Bridge, and killed each other,
and hence gave rise to the name. This story may be dismissed as
entirely baseless; the real explanation is much less romantic. The word
is probably connected with the Manor of Neyt, which was adjacent to
Westminster, and as pronunciation rather than orthography was relied
upon in early days, this seems much the most likely explanation.
Lysons says: "Adjoining to Knightsbridge were two other ancient
manors called Neyt and Hyde." We still have the Hyde in Hyde Park,
and Neyt is thus identified with Knightsbridge.
Until the middle of the nineteenth century Knightsbridge was an
outlying hamlet. People started from Hyde Park Corner in bands for
mutual protection at regular intervals, and a bell was rung to warn
pedestrians when the party was about to start. In 1778, when Lady
Elliot, after the death of her husband, Sir Gilbert, came to
Knightsbridge for fresh air, she found it as "quiet as Teviotdale." About
forty years before this the Bristol mail was robbed by a man on foot
near Knightsbridge. The place has also been the scene of many riots. In
1556, at the time of Wyatt's insurrection, the rebel and his followers
arrived at the hamlet at nightfall, and stayed there all night before
advancing on London. As already explained, the Borough of
Kensington does not include Knightsbridge, but only touches it, and the
part we are now in belongs to Westminster.
The Albert Gate leading into the park was erected in 1844-46, and was,

of course, called after Prince Albert. The stags on the piers were
modelled after prints by Bartolozzi, and were first set up