Introduction
Cadogan Place south gardens
Cadogan Place north gardens
Hans Place
Cadogan Square
Lowndes Square
Wilton Crescent
Belgrave Square
Belgrave Square (continued)
Eaton Square
Eaton Square (continued)
Chester Square
Introduction
Photo: English Heritage, Mayson Beaton Collection
Directions
The walk begins and ends at Sloane Street underground
station, and will take about two hours to complete.
Please be aware of your personal safety and security when walking.
Use this text in conjunction with a detailed street map and use
designated road crossings where possible.
Description
This walk explores the Georgian and early Victorian
garden squares of upper Chelsea and Belgravia. Along the way you will
meet some of the notable characters who have lived there over the years.
All of the gardens in this walk are private, but
can be enjoyed at any time of year, as there are views into the gardens
from the street of most of them. Several of the squares are open to the
public during
Open Garden Squares Weekend . The gardens are accessible to
wheelchairs, except where stated.
Cadogan Place south gardens
Directions
Outside the main entrance of Sloane Street underground
station, walk straight ahead, and use the crossing to cross Holbein
Place. Cross into the middle of the square at the traffic lights at the
junction of Lower Sloane Street. Continue across the square and into
Sloane Street, which is straight ahead. Walk down Sloane Street, taking
the fourth right turn into Cadogan Place .
Cross over and walk along with the garden on your
left. There is a view into the garden over the gate opposite number 84.
Continue walking round with the garden on your left and stop at No.
43B.
Continue on to No. 30.
If you are visiting this garden on Open Garden Squares Weekend, be careful to check the opening times.
Description
In 1717 Charles, second Earl of Cadogan, married Elizabeth, daughter
and heiress of Sir Hans Sloane, lord of the manor of Chelsea. In 1777
their son leased 100 acres of land to architect Henry
Holland (1745-1806) for building development.
After the Great Fire of London in the previous century, wealthy
Londoners had not wanted to return to the crowded, dangerous conditions
of the old medieval City. Instead they flocked to the new estates being
built in the countryside to the west of London.
These self-contained communities, based around squares, offered a
different, healthier way of life. Thousands of wealthy people migrated
to live in the new West End, while continuing to do business in the
City, becoming in effect London's first commuters.
The building lease system, which had first been used by Lord
Southampton in Bloomsbury Square, was very popular with the owners of
country estates close to London. Plots were leased to builders at a low
ground rent, usually for 99 years, after which the land and houses
became the property of the landowner again.
Henry Holland built what he called 'Hans Town' on Lord Cadogan's
land, consisting of Sloane Square, Sloane Street, Cadogan Place and Hans
Place. The simple terraced houses of stock brick became immediately
fashionable among the upper middle and professional classes. Charles
Dickens described the area in Nicholas Nickelby as the connecting link
between 'the aristocratic pavements of Belgrave Square and the barbarism
of Chelsea'.
Cadogan Place was the first square to be developed by Henry Holland,
together with Sloane Square. The garden is divided into two parts. The
southern part, which you are walking beside now, was once known as the
London Botanic Garden, and was laid out at the end of the 18th century
by William Salisbury (d. 1823-9), containing a library, hothouse,
greenhouse and conservatory.
No. 43B was where anti-slavery campaigner
William Wilberforce (1759-1833) spent the final days of his life, at the
home of his cousin. Wilberforce and others campaigned for almost two
decades to bring an end to the British slave trade, finally succeeding in
1807. Three days before his death in 1833, he heard that the bill to
abolish slavery altogether had been passed, the culmination of his life's
work.
No. 30 was home in the 18th century to the highly popular
Irish comedy actress Dorothy Jordan (1761-1816). She had many lovers,
and for 21 years was mistress to the Duke of Clarence, who later became
King William IV. Mrs Jordan had 10 children by the duke, to add to the
five she already had! She was known for her wit: once when the duke
suggested reducing her allowance, she sent him a note, saying ‘No money
returned after the rising of the curtain!’
Further information on LGT Inventory
Cadogan Place north gardens
Directions
Cross over Pont Street and continue along the side of the northern
part of Cadogan Place garden.
Description
The northern gardens were designed in the early 19th
century by leading landscape gardener Humphry Repton (1752-1818). His
original layout has been eroded by 20th century alterations, but some
plane trees and mulberries survive from the 19th century.
Further information on LGT Inventory
Hans Place
Directions
Turn left, passing the main entrance gates to the garden, and continue
into Sloane Street. Go over
the street at the crossing, turn left and walk along for a short way
before turning right into Hans Street.
Walk along here and into Hans Place.
Turn right, and walk around the Place, keeping the garden on your
left.
Continue walking round to No. 41.
Continue on to No. 23.
Description
Hans Place was also developed by Henry
Holland. Most of the original houses have gone, although Nos 15, 33
and 34 survive. Much of the housing was redeveloped after 1875, when the
new Cadogan and Hans Place Estate Company took over the management of the
estate. Although the buildings have changed, there is no evidence of
alterations to the garden, and it is likely that the layout remains
largely unchanged. The original railings were lost, however, taken to be
melted down for armaments in WWII.
No. 41 is on the site of an earlier house where
the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) and his wife Mary stayed in
1815. Mary (1797-1851), who was only 17, had eloped with her husband at
the age of 16, and gave birth to their first child while living here.
The baby died twelve days later. The following year, the Shelleys
travelled to Switzerland, to stay with Lord Byron, where Mary began work
on her Gothic horror novel, Frankenstein.
No. 23 is the site of an earlier house visited by novelist
Jane Austen (1775-1817), where her brother Henry lived. Henry helped
Jane to get her work published, beginning with Sense and Sensibility
in 1811, which was an overnight success. Jane stayed here for almost a
year from 1814 to 1815 at the height of her career. Pride and
Prejudice had come out to much acclaim the previous year, and Mansfield
Park was published while she was here. During her time in London,
Jane was summoned to meet the Prince Regent, who was a fan of her books
and asked that her next work, Emma , be dedicated to him.
Further information on LGT Inventory
Cadogan Square
Directions
Leave Hans Place from here and cross over Pont Street, using the
traffic island. Turn left and then immediately right into Cadogan
Square . Walk up the road and turn right when you reach the square
garden, walking around it with the gardens to your left.
Continue walking to a set of gates on your left, opposite number 60,
where there is a view into the square. The sculpture is Dancer with Bird
by David Wynne.
Carry on along the side of the square, turning
left and crossing the road towards No. 75 at the next corner.
If you are visiting this garden on Open Garden Squares Weekend, be careful to check the opening times.
Description
Cadogan Square was built in the late 19th century by the
Cadogan and Hans Place Estate Company. The houses which surround the
square were one of the first major 19th-century developments to be built
in red brick rather than stucco.
The square was built on the site of Henry
Holland's own mansion, which originally opened on to Hans Place. The
mansion had a miniature landscape park, including a 16-acre meadow, formal
flowerbeds laid out in French fashion and a Gothic ice-house.
The novelist Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) lived at No. 75 from
1921 until shortly before his death. He was the author of many novels,
including Clayhanger , and in his later years was the highest-paid
literary journalist in England, working for the London Evening Standard .
He died of typhoid, contracted as a result of drinking a glass of tap
water in France, which he had done to demonstrate the purity of the
nation's water supply.
Further information on LGT Inventory
Lowndes Square
Directions
Continue past the house and go straight on out of the square via
Cadogan Gate, across Pavilion Road and back into Sloane Street. Turn
left and walk for some way up Sloane Street, crossing Pont Street, and
continuing to the zebra crossing outside Gucci. Cross here, turn left
and then right into Harriet Street. Continue on into Lowndes Square ,
and stop by the gate into the square garden ahead of you.
Description
Lowndes Square is also part of the Cadogan Estate, built in the 1840s. After the
construction of Hans Town, building slowed as war and economic recession
intervened. In the 1820s,
as confidence returned, a new building boom began and a fresh swathe of
squares were laid out.
The square is surrounded by 1930s railings, but the original gate piers on
both sides are intact. There
is reputed to be a ghost here – several people claim to have seen a
white-haired old lady in an old-fashioned bath chair who sits at the
kerbside and pulls terrible faces at anyone who looks at her!
Further information on LGT Inventory
Wilton Crescent
Directions
Walk to your right and leave the square via Lowndes Street, then turn
left into Motcomb Street. There are a number of bars and cafés here, including Rococo Chocolates at No. 5, which has a small Moroccan-style courtyard garden.
At the end of Motcomb Street, turn left into Wilton Crescent .
Cross over the road to the railed garden.
If you are visiting this garden on Open Garden Squares Weekend, be careful to check the opening times.
Description
Wilton Crescent was laid out in 1827
as part of the new Grosvenor Estate, built on the lands of the Duke of
Westminster. The buildings on the north side were refaced with stone in
the early 1900s, making them look different from the stuccoed terraces
which are a characteristic feature of the rest of the estate.
On the left, No. 2 was home from 1959 to 1968 to Lord
and Lady Mountbatten of Burma, who were the last Viceroy and Vicereine of
India and together oversaw the end of British rule in 1947. Lady
Mountbatten (1901-1960), whose life had been dedicated to public
service, did not live long after they came to this address. Worn out by
work with the St John Ambulance Brigade, Save The Children and some
hundred other organisations, she died in 1960. She was buried off
Portsmouth with full naval honours, escorted by a warship, sent by
India's first prime minister, Nehru.
Further information on LGT Inventory
Belgrave Square
Photo: Colin Wing
Directions
Retrace your steps and walk along Wilton Terrace into Belgrave
Square .
Cross towards the square garden using the zebra crossing, turn left and
stop at the statue of Henry the Navigator.
Turn left and begin to walk around the inner pavement of the square,
with the garden on your right. Stop at the next set of gates, which
gives a partial view into the centre of the garden.
Continue to the corner of the square.
If you are visiting this garden on Open Garden Squares Weekend, be careful to check the opening times.
Description
The Grosvenor Estate, begun in the 1820s, was the most
prestigious development so far attempted in London and the 10-acre
Belgrave Square was its centrepiece.
The Grosvenor family, who later became the Dukes of Westminster,
acquired the land in 1677 when Sir Thomas Grosvenor married Mary Davies,
heiress to some 1000 acres of boggy farmland west of London. The area
was originally known as the Five Fields, feared in the 18th century as a
place ‘where robbers lie in wait’.
The Grosvenors had already developed some of their land in nearby
Mayfair, and in the early 1800s turned their attention to the Five
Fields, after the king brought in top architect John Nash to remodel the
nearby Buckingham House with the aim of making it the main royal
residence.
Lord Grosvenor saw the potential, and in 1820 commissioned plans for
the new estate. Building leases were sold to developers, the main one
being Thomas Cubitt. He drained the marshy fields using spoil from his
excavation of St Katherine's Dock, near the Tower of London, to raise
the land.
Thomas Cubitt (1788-1855) was the leading developer of the early 19th
century. He was the first large-scale commercial builder, employing his
own workforce including dozens of brick-makers, masons, plasterers and
painters. He also had a professional staff of architects and surveyors,
as well as his own legal and letting departments.
Between 1820 and 1835, Cubitt built the houses and laid out the
gardens of most of the estate. He realised that a lavishly planted
garden was a major selling point for wealthy buyers, and established his
own nursery specifically for the purpose.
Belgrave Square was established in 1825, with George Basevi as
architect. It was named after the village of Belgrave in Leicestershire,
part of the Grosvenor family estates.
Now largely occupied by embassies and other organisations, the grand,
stuccoed residences of the square were once home to wealthy families who
flocked to live close to Buckingham Palace.
Prince Henry the Navigator is one of four statues
of historical figures which surround the square, reflecting its
international nature. He was a Portuguese prince whose sailors travelled
widely to uncharted parts of the ocean, discovering the island of Madeira
and exploring the West African coast.
The four-and-a-half-acre garden was laid out in 1826,
and was designed for privacy, surrounded by a dense belt of shrubbery
and with outer and inner paths separated by more shrub planting. The
centre of the garden features classical-style shelters and wooden
pergolas. You can see the children's playground from here, and there are
also tennis courts. During the Second World War, the gardens were
covered in clinker, and used as a compound for army vehicles.
At the north corner there is a statue of General Don José de San
Martin, an Argentinian national hero who was important in gaining the
independence of Argentina, Chile and Peru from Spain.
Further information on LGT Inventory
Belgrave Square (continued)
Directions
Continue walking along the NE and SE sides of Belgrave Square as far as the fourth (south) corner.
If you are visiting this garden on Open Garden Squares Weekend, be careful to check the opening times.
Description
On the right, through a gap in the planting, opposite
Nos 39 and 40, is a view of another statue, Plazotta's Homage to
Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man .
The next statue on the right is of Simon Bolivar, a
revolutionary leader who liberated South America from Spanish rule.
Looking across the road, No. 34 was home to Field
Marshall Viscount Gort (1886-1946), commander-in-chief at Dunkirk, who
lived here from 1920 to 1926. A lifelong soldier, he displayed great
bravery in WWI, and rose to become the youngest ever
Chief of the Imperial Staff.
At the south corner of the square there is a statue of Christopher
Columbus, whose voyages across the
Atlantic to the Americas opened up a new era of European exploration and
colonisation.
Further information on LGT Inventory
Eaton Square
Directions
Cross the road using the zebra crossing and leave the square via
Belgrave Place. At the junction with Eaton Place, look over to No 36.
On reaching Eaton Square , turn right and walk along to No. 93.
Go a little further along to No. 86.
Continue along the terrace, cross Lyall Street and walk to No. 80.
If you are visiting this garden on Open Garden Squares Weekend, be careful to check the opening times.
Description
At 36 Eaton Place Sir Henry Wilson (1864-1922) was shot
dead on his doorstep by Irish republicans. Born into a landed Irish
family, Sir Henry was a high-ranking soldier and Irish MP, who believed
that Sinn Fein and the IRA should only be crushed by force.
Looking a little further along, 99 Eaton Place is
where the Polish composer, Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) gave concerts
during a stay in London in 1848. Like many others, Chopin had taken refuge
here from the uprisings in much of Europe, during what was known as ‘the
year of revolutions’.
Eaton Square's gardens were laid out between 1827 and 1853 by Thomas Cubitt
and later another builder, W.H. Seth Smith. It was named after the Duke of
Westminster's country house, Eaton Hall, in Cheshire.
The long, narrow square is divided by cross-cutting roads into six
rectangular gardens, which are filled with mature trees and colourful
roses. The site originally contained market gardens. Due to the slow
progress of building around the square, the northern part of the garden,
which you are looking at now, remained a nursery, belonging to the firm of
McKenzie, until 1842.
No. 93 was home to Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947),
who was Prime Minister three times in the 1920s and 1930s. His time in
office coincided with both the General Strike and the abdication of Edward
VIII. Baldwin began the policy of appeasement towards fascist dictators in
Europe, which was continued by another resident of Eaton Square, Neville
Chamberlain, whom we will meet later on.
No. 86 was the home of Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
(1881-1959), who was Viceroy of India in the 1920s and 30s, during
Gandhi's campaign of civil disobedience. Before the war, Halifax as
Foreign Secretary had been part of Neville Chamberlain's attempts to
negotiate with Adolf Hitler, but he eventually recognised that this was
not going to work and that war was inevitable. In the 1940s he became
ambassador to the US, where he played a vital role in securing American
support for the British war effort.
The grand porticoed terrace including No. 80 was where George Peabody (1795-1869),
an American merchant banker and philanthropist, died. Renowned for his
lavish entertaining, Peabody was nevertheless very concerned at the
plight of London's poor and established a network of housing schemes
which are still in use today, with the intention to ‘ameliorate the
condition of the poor and needy of this great metropolis’.
Further information on LGT Inventory
Eaton Square (continued)
No photo available.
Directions
At the end of the terrace, turn left and walk towards Eaton Gate. Some
of the square's very old plane trees can be seen in the garden on your
left. Cross at the traffic lights and continue on around the south side
of Eaton Square, keeping the garden on your left.
Walk to number 54.
Continue along, crossing Elizabeth Street, to the set of garden gates
opposite No. 43.
Continue along to No. 37.
At the next corner, turn right into Eccleston Street and walk towards
Chester Square. You will pass entrances to Eaton Mews South on either
side of the street.
If you are visiting this garden on Open Garden Squares Weekend, be careful to check the opening times.
Description
No. 50 was home to actress Vivien Leigh (1913-1967), best known
for her Oscar-winning performance as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the
Wind . She was married to stage and screen star Laurence Olivier, and
they had a stormy relationship. Their marriage ended in 1960, and Leigh
died here of tuberculosis while still only in her 50s.
Looking into the garden opposite No. 43, you can see an area set out with a sunken
pool, raised beds and pergola. This covers an air raid shelter, which
was installed in the square during the Second World War.
At number 44, Austrian statesman Prince Metternich
(1773-1859), lived with his family in 1848. The family, like Chopin, had
taken flight from the popular uprisings that were occurring across Europe
in ‘the year of revolutions’, and took refuge in Eaton Square from May to
September.
Politician Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940) lived at No. 37 from 1923 to
1935. While in this house, he was Minister for Health, and responsible
for considerable social reform, which included abolishing the Poor Law
and transferring welfare responsibilities to local councils. He then
became Chancellor of the Exchequer, steering the British economy
successfully through the years of world-wide recession. His reputation
suffered when he became Prime Minister, and pursued his much-criticised
policy of appeasement with Hitler's Nazi Germany, claiming that he had
secured ‘peace in our time’ shortly before the Second World War broke
out.
The mews was a particular feature of grand Victorian housing,
introduced to London for the first time on the Grosvenor Estate. The
mews provided somewhere for servants to live and kept stables and
services close to the big houses, while remaining hidden from view and
providing a discreet way for the ‘night-soil’ men to remove rubbish.
Further information on LGT Inventory
Chester Square
Directions
On reaching Chester Square , turn left and walk to No. 2.
Retrace your steps, go back over Eccleston Street and continue walking
along the north terrace of Chester Square, stopping at the gate into
the square garden opposite No 19.
Continue along to No. 24.
Continue on to No. 38.
Continue out of the square via Chester Row, passing St Michael's
Church on your left. Cross Elizabeth Street and continue along Chester
Row, crossing South Eaton Place and Eaton Terrace. At the end of Chester
Row, cross Bourne Street into Whittaker Street. Turn right at the end
into Holbein Place, and follow the road round, turning right to bring
you back to Sloane Street underground station, where the walk ends.
If you are visiting this garden on Open Garden Squares Weekend, be careful to check the opening times.
Description
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), poet, writer and schools inspector, lived
at No. 2 from 1858 to 1868. While at this address, he wrote Culture and
Anarchy , which attacked Victorian values. Three of his five children
were born here, but Arnold was deeply saddened by the death of two of
his sons during this time: Thomas, aged 16, and Basil, who was just two.
The houses and gardens of Chester Square were planned in 1828 as part
of Cubitt's development of the Grosvenor Estate, but building did not
start until 1835. The houses were designed by Cubitt and the rectangular
garden laid out in 1835 in imitation of Eaton Square. Notice the
wheatsheaf on the garden entrance sign. This is the insignia of the
Grosvenor Estate, a reference to the family's agricultural roots.
At No. 24 we meet Mary Shelley again, who lived here from 1846
until her death in 1851. Mary had been left a widow at the age of 24
when Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned in a storm off the coast of Italy. To
add to the tragic circumstances of her life, she had given birth to
three more children, of whom all but one had died. Mary continued to
write, producing a further five novels as well as poetry, but remained
alone, rejecting several proposals of marriage. She suffered intense
headaches for the last few years of her life, and died, it was
discovered, of a brain tumour.
The top floor flat of No. 38 was home to Guy Burgess (1911-1963), one of
the ‘Cambridge spies’, from 1935 to 1940. Burgess, who defected to the
USSR in 1951, concealed his communist sympathies by decorating his flat
in patriotic red, white and blue.
Further information on LGT Inventory
