Road to Nowhere?

Royal Avenue Looking North 2013 (© Ellen Leslie)

Royal Avenue Looking South 2013 (© Ellen Leslie)

At weekends I like to explore little historic pockets of London. Yesterday I checked out the peaceful streets behind the bustling King's Road in Chelsea.  One of the curiosities I found was a beautiful avenue of Horse Chestnut trees lining a long gravelled open space with gullies either side. The trees were flanked by the fine stuccoed townhouses synonymous with this part of London. Usually, there is a private garden in the middle of these elegant spaces; but not here. What made it different? I checked the street name “Royal Avenue”.  Looking south the trees stopped opposite a fine set of gates that lead to Burton Court and The Royal Hospital (a 17th century home for army veterans established by Charles II and designed by Sir Christopher Wren).  At the other end it met with the buzzing and trendy Kings Road.

1797 Map by Cary, showing "White Stiles"

Looking into this curious yet pretty arrangement, I found that Royal Avenue also owed its existence to Sir Christopher Wren. When it was laid out in the late 17th century there were no houses lining it. But looking further into the history of this small stretch of road, there seems to be a discrepancy between when it was built, for whom and why.

Royal Avenue by William Evelyn Osborn 1900 (© Tate)

The plaque displayed on the site says the Avenue was sponsored by King Charles II, but that on his death in 1685 there was no more money to continue its development. Others say, and they are possibly more reliable sources, that it was built in the early 1690s for William III and Mary II as a direct carriageway  from The Royal Hospital to their new residence Kensington Palace (previously Nottingham House). However, why it went no further than the King’s Road is not known, although lack of funds is the most probable reason.

By 1748 the short road was known as White Stiles, because of the white fencing that lined the avenue, but was eventually renamed Royal Avenue in the early 19th century when the town houses were built around it. Famous residents of Royal Avenue include Fanny Cornforth artist's model and muse of Dante Gabriel Rossetti who lived there 1869-1877 and  the film director, Jospeh Losey who moved to the UK in the 1950s to avoid the McCarthy Witch Hunts. One little additional finding .... Avenue Road is the fictional home of James Bond.

Fanny Cornforth

Butcher Cumberland Comes Clean!

©Ellen Leslie

There was once a time when I never missed any changes to the London urban landscape. Those were the days when virtually all my research work was carried out within the six London transport zones. But now that I work all over the country, keeping tabs on new developments (happening at an alarming rate) in the centre of town, is trickier.   But last week I had to visit the Howard de Walden estate, just north of Oxford Street. I walked through Cavendish Square, close to Oxford Circus and was surprised to sense the fresh smell of soap. Believe you me, in this part of the world, soap is the last thing you expect! Also something was different about the square. I’ve known it all my life. What was it? The soap happened to be a clue.

For years there had been a large, late 18^th century stone plinth in the middle of the square, dedicated to the Duke of Cumberland (1721-1765).  This third son of George II had defeated Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden (1746). This victory made him extremely popular for a short time, but it was his “pacification” of the Jacobites, his unbending punishment of any enemy sympathiser, that earned him the name “Butcher Cumberland”.

Despite his latter unpopularity the plinth, with a statue of the Duke of Cumberland on horseback on top, erected by his small but dedicated group of supporters, wasn’t removed until nearly 100 years later in 1868. The plinth remained, and that is how I remembered the square.

When I walked through last week though, the statue of “Butcher Cumberland” and horse had been “returned”. But something wasn’t quite right. The surface looked overly weather worn as if it had stood there fighting the elements for nearly 250 years …. and it smelt of soap. 

It transpired that it is in fact  a soap sculpture, created by South Korean artist Meekyoung Shin. Entitled, “Written in Soap, A Plinth Project”, it was erected in July last year and will be there for a year, so you still have a few months to go and see it for yourself. The purpose of the fast-eroding statue is to examine the passage of time, as it weathers through all four seasons of the year.

© theartnewspaper.com

Could this be the way forward for other statues of controversial individuals? Put up a soap carving for a few months and as it erodes before our eyes, we would be coerced to consider the reputation of the person depicted, whether the final analysis is good or bad ….

©Ellen Leslie

2012: A Year in the Life of a Buildings Historian

The Somerset Vicarage Pre-Victorian Addition

Well, what a year 2012 has been! Jubilees and Olympics aside,  it really hasn't stopped and my work has taken me all over the country researching the history of buildings, predominantly to support planning applications for listed buildings, but also for the owners to simply understand their historic home better. I have also been giving talks on house histories, architecture as well as “How To Read Your Church”, to various groups around the country.

1700 Map of Aylesford by Abraham Walter

Buildings I have been privileged to uncover in 2012 include: An early 18^th century farmhouse in Hertfordshire with links to King James I; a late 18^th century mill house in Buckinghamshire with tragic tales of bankruptcy and disaster, but with a history that stretched back to the 9^th century and an 18th century farmhouse near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. A project that particularly stood out was a beautiful vicarage in Somerset, ostensibly a Victorian structure with earlier, surviving evidence that went back as far as the 14^th century.  

I also uncovered the story of a house in Aylesford in Kent, built in 1709 and owned by barge-builders in its time. The intriguing part was the cellar, that proved to be a good deal older than 1709 and helped us understand its relationship with the ancient pub next door.

Other projects included two elegant townhouses in London; assessing the historic interior of a red-brick “Pont-Street-Dutch” house in Chelsea and piecing together the story of one of John Nash’s elegant Grade I houses in Regent’s Park.

Booth's Poverty Map of London circa 1890 Showing Regent's Park 

One of my favourite archives to visit is the East Sussex Record Office in Lewes and this year, I found myself visiting ESRO to research a 17^th century longhouse on the Sussex Downs that had been occupied by one family of tenant farmers for over 250 years. Despite staff shortages, they couldn't have been more accommodating, helping me to pull out nearly 400 years of recorded history in the form of photographs and drawings, maps, plans, leases and deeds for me to piece together. 

One of the last projects this year was for a hotel in London which led to researching not only the story of the building and the business but also its links to the Age of Steam and the famous people, politicians, writers, philanthropists and actresses who have passed through its brass-dressed revolving doors in its 150 year history.

So what of 2013? Well, it will be my fourth year exhibiting at the Listed Property Show at Olympia (16^th/17^th February). I will also be giving a talk there on the Saturday, 16^th February. This year the show is bigger than ever with the event sponsored by The Daily Telegraph and English Heritage. Click this link for details:Listed Property Show 2013

But the big news of 2013 is that I will be holding my house history workshops at two of England’s most elegant and historic country house hotels, namely Cliveden in Berkshire and Ickworth in Suffolk, starting in March and continuing throughout the year. So, if you want to unlock the history of your house for yourself but don’t know where to start, details about the day are on my website! www.ellenleslie.com.

Cliveden Housex

2012 was a great year … looking forward to seeing how next year unfolds. Thanks for reading my blog and may I wish you all a very Happy 2013!