Clarendon Crescent, W2

Road in/near Westbourne Green, existed between the 1860s and 1961.

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(51.52262 -0.19082, 51.522 -0.19) 
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Road · * · W2 ·
APRIL
8
2021
Clarendon Crescent was said to be the longest road in London without a turning.

By 1861 Desborough Lodge and Westbourne Farm had been demolished and Clarendon Street, Woodchester Street and Cirencester Street were build on their lands.

There was a rapid social decline in the streets between the railway and the canal. Subletting to weekly lodgers had made Brindley Street the most overcrowded in Paddington, with over 3 people to a room. By 1869, when the worst areas were near the canal basin at Paddington Green.

Clarendon Street (later Crescent) had 17 people per house on average. Subletting had gone so far that a room might have different tenants by day and by night and could only be controlled by declaring buildings to be lodging houses. Such decay was attributed in 1899 to the canal, as elsewhere in London, to isolation arising from a lack of through traffic and to the density of building.

The road was renamed from Clarendon Street to Clarendon Crescent, probably as part of the 1937 London-wide renaming scheme.

The borough council in 1938 had plans to clear Clarendon Crescent but the war intervened. The worst slums, between the railway and the canal from Warwick Crescent to Clarendon Crescent, were transformed by the L.C.C. post war.

Under a scheme of 1958, and affecting 6700 residents, half of the land was to be used for 1127 dwellings, of which 946 were to be in new blocks and the others in renovated houses; the rest was to be used for shops, garages, schools and other institutions. A canalside walk and 8 acres of badly needed open space took over the site of Clarendon Crescent.

The Warwick estate, as it came to be called, was opened in 1962. The scheme, together with the alignment of Westway along part of Harrow Road, caused the disappearance of nearly all the streets from Delamere Terrace and Blomfield Villas westward to Waverley Road.




Main source: Paddington: Westbourne Green | British History Online
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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY


Lady Townshend   
Added: 8 Sep 2023 16:02 GMT   

Tenant at Westbourne (1807 - 1811)
I think that the 3rd Marquess Townshend - at that time Lord Chartley - was a tenant living either at Westbourne Manor or at Bridge House. He undertook considerable building work there as well as creating gardens. I am trying to trace which house it was. Any ideas gratefully received

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Comment
PETER FAIRCLOUGH   
Added: 10 May 2021 14:46 GMT   

We once lived here
My family resided at number 53 Brindley Street Paddington.
My grandparents George and Elizabeth Jenkinson (ne Fowler) had four children with my Mother Olive Fairclough (ne Jenkinson) being born in the house on 30/09/1935.
She died on 29/04/2021 aged 85 being the last surviving of the four siblings

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Lived here
Robert Burns   
Added: 5 Jan 2023 17:46 GMT   

1 Abourne Street
My mother, and my Aunt and my Aunt’s family lived at number 1 Abourne Street.
I remember visitingn my aunt Win Housego, and the Housego family there. If I remember correctly virtually opposite number 1, onthe corner was the Lord Amberley pub.

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Lived here
   
Added: 22 Aug 2023 12:31 GMT   

Hampden Street, W2
My great great grandparents William and Hannah Playford lived at 60 Hampden Street from the mid 1880s when they moved from rural poverty in Norfolk to inner city hardship in Paddington and where all their children were born. My great grandfather was a road sweeper and sold cat meat. They had seven children in all, of whom five survived infancy: three boys who all volunteered for the army at the outbreak of WW1 and miraculously returned via Salonika, France and a German POW camp; and two daughters, the eldest of whom was my great grandmother, Annie Playford b 1888. She had an illegitimate daughter in 1910, my grandmother Hilda Sarah Catherine. She brought her up singlehandedly and assumed a false married name to conceal her (then socially unacceptable) status as a single mother. In fact she never married and would never tell my grandmother anything about her father. Because of her longevity (she died in 1986) I remember Annie very well. As a child I perceived her as grumpy, uncommunicative, unsocial and a voracious eater. Of course as an adult I realised this was borne from pride loneliness, ill health, a grim determination to survive, and hunger. Somehow she did survive on her own as a single parent, despite lack of family support and serious deprivation. She worked three back breaking menial cleaning jobs over many years to make ends meet. With the advent of DNA I now know the identity of my grandmother’s father which she always dearly wished to know herself. She used to ask her mother if she loved her. The answer: "I kept you, didn’t I?" In the context of the times, I think that says it all. I only wish nanny was still here so that I could tell her all about her father.

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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Comment
Wendy    
Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT   

Polygon Buildings
Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings.

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Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT   

Road construction and houses completed
New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only.

Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT   

Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS)
One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc.

I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Charles   
Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT   

My House
I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s.

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NH   
Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT   

Telephone House
Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000

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Comment
Paul Cox   
Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT   

War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street
Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there.

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Comment
Diana   
Added: 28 Feb 2024 13:52 GMT   

New Inn Yard, E1
My great grandparents x 6 lived in New Inn Yard. On this date, their son was baptised in nearby St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch

Source: BDM London, Cripplegate and Shoreditch registers written by church clerk.

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Comment
Vic Stanley   
Added: 24 Feb 2024 17:38 GMT   

Postcose
The postcode is SE15, NOT SE1

Reply



LOCAL PHOTOS
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Sutherland Avenue, W9
TUM image id: 1453139016
Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

Click an image below for a better view...
This photo from 6 August 1857 shows guests at the wedding at Westbourne Lodge, Paddington (Royal Oak) The wedding was of Florence Augusta Saunders, daughter of Charles Saunders, first general secretary of the Great Western Railway, with the Reverend Frederick Manners Stopford. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was amongst the guests. During the wedding, both Brunel and Saunders were able to experience trains running beside the wedding party along the railway which they had built.
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Mrs Siddons’ house at Westbourne Green c. 1800
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The Royal Oak pub in Bayswater gave its name to the nearby station
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Bourne Terrace - taken from Torquay Street. On the corner of Bourne Terrace is Saws Ltd at number 264 along with various blocks which no longer exist.
Credit: Bernard Selwwyn
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Chippenham Mews (1959) This photo was taken by a Swiss maid who worked in the area during the late 1950s. Chippenham Mews lies behind Harrow Road running from Chippenham Road to Marylands Road. Building had been begun in the 1860s with substantial terraces near Harrow Road. The area did not attract the upper classes that were expected and parts of the area came to suffer from cramped layouts and houses.
Credit: Gregoire Ming
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Junction of Cirencester Street, W2 Cirencester Street was curtailed when the post-war Warwick Estate was built
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Lord Hills Road at the junction with Senior Street
Credit: Historic England
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Sutherland Avenue, W9
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Waiting for the number 6 bus in Shirland Road, Maida Vale, W9 #stpeterspark
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Westbourne Terrace Road bridge - the northern end of Westbourne Terrace Road Through the bridge, and some 13 miles (but no locks) later, you will arrive at Bulls Bridge Junction on the Grand Union main line.
Credit: IG/NeilClifton
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