The monks of Westminster claimed to have been granted a small farm at Paddington in 959 and to have held 2 hides there in 1042. Although the early charters were spurious, Paddington, Knightsbridge, and Westbourne were probably part of the abbey's ancient endowment and among the 13½ hides at Westminster attributed to it in Domesday Book.

The estate known in the 19th century as the manor of Westbourne formed part of the abbey's lands in the parish. Together with all the lands in Paddington formerly devoted to the Lady chapel, they were leased for 99 years in 1542 to Sir Edward North. Thereafter the estate consisted mainly of the three fields in Westbourne, 6 acres further south in the common fields near the Uxbridge Road, and five closes west of Arnold's field, formerly of St. Mary's chapel and known by 1669 as Ashgroves. They were leased in 1631 to George Stonhouse, who in 1632 succeeded as Sir George Stonhouse, Baronet of Radley. Sir George settled the lease on his third son James, for whom and for whose heirs it was repeatedly renewed. In 1725 the lessee was James's son Richard Stonhouse and in 1742 Richard's son James, physician, who later inherited the baronetcy, and in 1796 the Revd. Timothy Stonhouse Vigor and George Vansittart were trustees for Sir James Stonhouse's son Sir Thomas. Their interest was conveyed in 1805 to the engineer John Braithwaite (d. 1818), who obtained a new lease in 1811.

The Stonhouses probably always divided and subleased their estate: Ashgroves and William's field were subleased in 1634 and Ashgrove, Ash field, and Knight's field were part of the large Westbourne Green farm in 1776. No house was recorded in leases by Westminster until the early 19th century, when Westbourne Manor House stood north-east of Harrow Road and north of the Grand Junction canal, with William's field to the north-east. John Braithwaite's residence in 1814, with two storeys and a steeply pitched roof, was perhaps of c. 1700; the main front was of five bays, with a single-storeyed extension of three bays, beyond which it was proposed to build new stables and offices. Extensive improvements were reported in 1815, including the inclosure and planting of ground between the house and Harrow Road and probably a tree-lined walk which ran from the rear alongside William's field to the Westbourne. Braithwaite died at Westbourne Manor House, which his son John (1797-1870), also a noted engineer, retained until c. 1840. Later tenants were William Charles Carbonell, a wine merchant, who held it with 14 acres in 1846, and from 1854 John, afterwards Sir John, Humphreys. The house probably survived in 1866 but had been replaced by the western end of Sutherland Avenue in 1867.

Source: 'Paddington: Manors and Other Estates', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington (1989), pp. 226-233.


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