Porchester Road, W2

Porchester Road has existed under a series of names since at least the 1750s.

There are a few Underground stations that take their names from a public house. The two most obvious ones are Swiss Cottage and Elephant and Castle. Royal Oak is less obvious - perhaps the most obscure is Manor House.
Credit: The Underground Map

The southern part was Black Lion Lane until the 1830s and another section had been called Pickering Place and urbanised in the 1820s.

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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

Hampden Street, W2

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

Parkers Row, SE1 Added: 9 Jan 2025 18:51 GMT	Parkers Row, SE1 My great great grandmother, and her soon to be husband, lived in Parker’s Row before their marriage in St James in June 1839. Thier names were - Jane Elizabeth Turner and Charles Frederick Dean. She was a hat trimmer and he was a tailor. Reply
Lindsay Trott Lockside, E14 Added: 1 Jan 2025 17:55 GMT	Lockside not on 1939 Register I have the Denby family living in Lockside in 1938 but it does not appear on the 1939 Register. Reply
Janelle Robbins Blossom Place, E1 Added: 27 Dec 2024 18:47 GMT	Harriet Robbins Please get in touch re Harriet Robbins Reply
Dave Hinves Bacon Street, E1 Added: 27 Nov 2024 03:55 GMT	he was a School Teacher Henry sailed from Graves End 1849 on ’The Woodbridge’ arrived South Australia 1850. In 1858 he married Julia Ann Walsh at Burra, South Australia, they had 3 children, and 36 grand children. Died 24 June 1896 at Wilmington, South Australia. He is my 1st cousin 3x removed. Reply
Kevin Pont St George’s Square, SW1V Added: 23 Nov 2024 17:03 GMT	St Georges Square This is rather lovely and well worth a visit! Reply
Simon Chapman Blossom Place, E1 Added: 22 Nov 2024 17:47 GMT	Blossom Place My Great Great Grandmother, Harriett Robbins lived in 2 Blossom Place in 1865 before marrying my Great Great Grandfather. They moved to 23 Spitall Square. Reply
Mark G Skidmore Street, E1 Added: 26 Oct 2024 21:54 GMT	Skidmore Street, E1 Skidmore Street was located where present day Ernest Street and Solebay Street now stand. They are both located above Shandy Street and Commodore Street. Reply
Alan Russell Cheshire Street, E1 Added: 26 Oct 2024 14:36 GMT	Cheshire Street, London E2 - 1969 Cheshire Street, London E2 - 1969 Reply

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Westbourne Green The story of the building of a suburb.

Westbourne Green

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Westbourne House

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Westbourne Lodge

Whiteley’s Whiteley’s, pictured here in the 1920s, was designated a Grade II Listed Building in 1970.

Whiteley’s

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Alexander Mews, W2

Alexander Street, W2 Alexander Street was built in 1853 by Alexander Hall of Watergate House, Sussex. (Westbourne Green)

Alexander Street, W2

Alfred Road, W2 Alfred Road is the last survivor of a set of Victorian streets (Westbourne Green)

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Burdett Mews, W2 Burdett Mews is a street in Paddington (Westbourne Green)

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Cervantes Court, W2

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Chepstow Place, W2

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Chepstow Road, W2

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Chilworth Court, W2

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Cleveland Court, W2

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Cleveland Gardens, W2

Cleveland Square, W2 Cleveland Square is a notable square in Paddington (Paddington)

Cleveland Square, W2

Cleveland Terrace, W2 Cleveland Terrace is a street in Paddington (Paddington)

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Cloucester Mews West, W2

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Devonshire Terrace, W2

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Elsie Lane Court, W2

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Garway Road, W2

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Gaydon House, W2

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Gloucester Gardens, W2

Gloucester Terrace, W2 Gloucester Terrace is an 1850s development (Paddington)

Gloucester Terrace, W2

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Hampden Street, W2

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Inver Court, W2

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Kensington Gardens Square, W2

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Kildare Terrace, W2

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Kingdom Street, W2

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Leinster Gardens, W2

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Leinster Square, W2

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Monmouth Road, W2

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Moulsford House, W2

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Newton Mews, W2

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Orsett Mews, W2

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Orsett Terrace, W2

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Pembridge Place, W2

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Pembroke House, W2

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Pickering House, W2

Pickering Mews, W2 Pickering Mews is a street in Paddington (Bayswater)

Pickering Mews, W2

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Pickering Place, W2

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Pickering Terrace, W2

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Polperro House, W2

Porchester Gardens Mews, W2 Porchester Gardens Mews is a road in the W2 postcode area (Bayswater)

Porchester Gardens Mews, W2

Porchester Gardens, W2 Porchester Gardens is a street in Paddington

Porchester Gardens, W2

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Porchester Road, W2

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Porchester Square, W2

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Porchester Terrace North, W2

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Queen’s Gardens, W2

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Queens Gardens, W2

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Queens Mews, W2

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Ralph Court, W2

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Ranelagh Bridge, W2

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Redan House, W2

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Redan Place, W2

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Robert Crosbie House, W2

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Sitia House, W2

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St Stephen’s Gardens, W2

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Swanleys, W2

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Tenby House, W2

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The Battleship Building, W2

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The Colonnades, W2

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The Whiteleys Centre, W2

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Torquay Street, W2

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Trinity Court, W2

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Viscount Court, W11

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Warwick Crescent, W2

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Waverley Road, W2

Westbourne Court, W2 Westbourne Court stood at the corner of Orsett Terrace and Westbourne Terrace by 1938 (Paddington)

Westbourne Court, W2

Westbourne Gardens, W2 Westbourne Gardens is a street in Paddington (Westbourne Green)

Westbourne Gardens, W2

Westbourne Grove Terrace, W2 Runs north from Westbourne Grove (Westbourne Green)

Westbourne Grove Terrace, W2

Westbourne Grove, W2 Westbourne Grove began its existence as a footpath (Bayswater)

Westbourne Grove, W2

Westbourne Park Road, W2 Houses at the Paddington end of Westbourne Park Road date from the 1850s (Westbourne Green)

Westbourne Park Road, W2

Westbourne Park Villas, W2 Westbourne Park Villas is a street in Paddington (Westbourne Green)

Westbourne Park Villas, W2

Westbourne Terrace Mews, W2 Westbourne Terrace Mews is a road in the W2 postcode area (Paddington)

Westbourne Terrace Mews, W2

Westbourne Terrace Road, W2 Westbourne Terrace Road is a street located in Little Venice that connects Blomfield Road in the north and Westbourne Bridge in the south. (Little Venice)

Westbourne Terrace Road, W2

Westmont Court, W2 Westmont Court is located on Monmouth Road (Bayswater)

Westmont Court, W2

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Westway, W2

Worcester House, W2 Worcester House is a block on Unnamed Road (Paddington)

Worcester House, W2

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LOCAL PHOTOS

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Notting Hill TUM image id: 1510169244 Licence: CC BY 2.0	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. TUM image id: 1556886976 Licence:	Pembridge Road (1900s) TUM image id: 1556889569 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Mrs Siddons’ house at Westbourne Green c. 1800 TUM image id: 1557227342 Licence:	Amberley Estate (2009) Credit: Wiki Commons/Panhard TUM image id: 1687170603 Licence: CC BY 2.0
The Bayswater Conduit in 1798. TUM image id: 1490459429 Licence: CC BY 2.0	A GWR 4073 Class locomotive waits to depart Paddington Station, adjacent to Brunel’s cast-iron Bishop’s Bridge road bridge, in April 1962. Credit: Wiki Commons/Ben Brooksbank TUM image id: 1611679064 Licence:	The picture painted to show the opening of the Grand Junction canal in 1801 clearly shows the embankment over the valley of the former river Westbourne TUM image id: 1483566096 Licence:	The Royal Oak pub in Bayswater gave its name to the nearby station TUM image id: 1621895594 Licence:	Bayswater Road TUM image id: 1552860722 Licence: CC BY 2.0
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 TUM image id: 1483796732 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Chilworth Street, W2 TUM image id: 1483806751 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 TUM image id: 1666003307 Licence:	Junction of Cirencester Street, W2 Cirencester Street was curtailed when the post-war Warwick Estate was built TUM image id: 1620671975 Licence:	Lord Hills Road at the junction with Senior Street Credit: Historic England TUM image id: 1588433441 Licence: