Kew

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Coordinates: 51°29′01″N 0°16′41″W / 51.4837°N 0.2780°W / 51.4837; -0.2780

Kew
Kew is located in Greater London
Kew

 Kew shown within Greater London
OS grid reference TQ195775
London borough Richmond
Ceremonial county Greater London
Region London
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town RICHMOND
Postcode district TW9
Dialling code 020
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
EU Parliament London
UK Parliament Richmond Park
London Assembly South West
List of places: UK • England • London

Kew is a village in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London.

The Parish Church of Saint Anne, Kew

Kew is best known for being the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens, now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is also the home of Domesday Book which is on public display at The National Archives (previously known as the Public Record Office).

Since 1965 Kew has incorporated the former area of North Sheen[1] which includes St Philip and All Saints, the first barn church to be consecrated in England.[2] It is now in a combined Church of England parish with St Luke's Church, Kew.

"Kew Village" refers to the parades of shops adjoining Kew Gardens station. It contains the Kew Bookshop, a whole foods store, several independent retailers, restaurants and cafes. A village community market is held on the first Sunday of every month. There are also major high street retailers at the nearby Kew retail park (originally known as Richmond Retail Park).

Today, Kew is a popular residential area because of its open spaces, schools, transport links and proximity to Kew Gardens. Most of Kew developed in the late 19th century, following the arrival of the District Line of the Underground, and is characterised by large detached or semi-detached houses. Further development took place in the 1920s and 1930s when new houses were built on the market gardens of North Sheen and in the first decade of the 21st century when flats and houses were constructed at Kew Riverside on land formerly owned by Thames Water.

Contents

[edit] Etymology

The name Kew is a combination of two words: the Old French kai (landing place; 'quay' derives from this) and Old English hoh (spur of land). The land spur is the bend in the Thames. The name was recorded in 1327 as Cayho.[3]

[edit] History

The earliest written reference to Kew is thought to be contained in Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars, as the location where the Roman Army forded the Thames in 54 BC [4].Henry V developed a Carthusian monastery to the south west of where Kew Observatory now stands.[5] Successive Tudor, Stuart and Georgian monarchs maintained links with Kew. One of Henry VIII's closest friends, Henry Norris, lived at Kew Farm,[5] which was later owned by Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.[6] In Elizabeth's reign, and under the Stuarts, houses were developed along Kew Green.[7] West Hall, which survives in West Hall Road, dates from at least the 14th century and the present house was built at the end of the 17th century.[8] Queen Anne subscribed to the building of the parish church on Kew Green, which was dedicated to St Anne in 1714, three months before the queen's death.[9]

The Hanoverians maintained the strongest links with Kew, in particular Princess Augusta who founded the botanic gardens [10] and her husbandFrederick, Prince of Wales who resided at the White House in Kew and commissioned the building of the first substantial greenhouse at Kew [11]. Frederick also famously received the gift of a dog from Alexander Pope with a collar inscribed:

I am His Highness' dog at Kew;
Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?

Epigram, engraved on the Collar of a Dog which I gave to his Royal Highness (Frederick, Prince of Wales) — Alexander Pope, 1688-1744

George III and Queen Charlotte established their main summer court at Kew in the 1760s and 1770s and patronised artists such as Thomas Gainsborough and John Zoffany [12].

[edit] Notable Inhabitants

Frederick, Prince of Wales, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Capability Brown, John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Thomas Gainsborough, Arthur Hughes, James Thomson, Jo Grimond

[edit] Transport and locale

The traditional mode of transport between Kew and London, for rich and poor alike, was by water along the Thames which, historically, separated Middlesex (on the north bank) from Surrey (which then included Kew, on the south bank). Kew was connected to Middlesex by ferry. The first bridge crossing the Thames at Kew was built in 1759. The current Kew Bridge, which today carries the South Circular Road (the A205), was opened by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1903.

The A205 road passes through Kew, with Kew Road providing the main road link to Richmond. The M4 motorway starts a short distance north of Kew, providing access to Heathrow Airport and the west. The A316 road starts in Chiswick and continues over Chiswick Bridge and junctions with the South Circular Road at Chalker's Corner.

Since 1869 rail services have been available from Kew Gardens station. London Underground (District Line) services run to Richmond and to central London. London Overground trains run to Richmond and (via Willesden Junction) to Stratford.

Nearest places
Shops adjoining Kew Gardens station
Nearest railway stations
Bridges

[edit] Parks and open spaces

  • Kew Green includes an old horse pond and is used for cricket matches in the summer.[13]
  • Kew Pond, northwest of Kew Green, has a reed bed habitat and a resident population of water birds.[14]
  • North Sheen Recreation Ground in Dancer Road, known locally as "The Rec", was originally part of an orchard belonging to the Popham Estate, owned by the Leyborne Pophams whose family seat was at Littlecote House, Wiltshire. Opened in June 1909 and extended in 1923, it now contains football pitches, a running track, a children's paddling pool, two extensive playgrounds, a large dog-free grassed area and a pavilion set amongst trees and shrubs.[15]
  • Pensford Field,[16]previously playing fields of the former Gainsborough School, is now a nature reserve and also the home of Pensford Tennis Club.
  • St Luke's Open Space was derived from a former Victorian school, and is now a quiet sitting area with toddlers' play equipment.[17]
  • Westerley Ware Recreation Ground, a small garden and recreation ground at the foot of Kew Bridge. It has a memorial garden bordered by hedges, a grass area, three hard tennis courts and a children's playground. Originally created as a memorial garden to the fallen in the First World War, the name refers to the practice of netting weird or "wares" to catch fish.[18]

[edit] Sport and leisure

Kew has several sports clubs and gyms including Kew Cricket Club [1], North Sheen Bowling Club [2], Pensford Tennis Club [3], Putney Town Rowing Club [4] and Richmond Gymnastics Association [5].

Kew is also home to local football club, Kew Park Rangers [6]. The club began in 1997 in Westerly Ware.[18] Word quickly spread at the local school that there was a kick about on Saturday mornings and more children arrived until there were regularly about 10-12 children.

As the crowd of children grew, alongside tournament and further development ambitions, the club decided to become official and registered for the Surrey County Football Association. Richmond Council eventually came up with a team pitch and a move to the North Sheen Recreational Ground[15] was secured. Kew Park Rangers Football Club was born in the summer of 1999, and continues to grow year on year. A new £1 million sports pavilion has been built.[19]and was opened in September 2011.[20]

[edit] Education

Main article: List of schools in Richmond upon Thames
Primary schools
  • Darell Primary School [7]
  • Kew Riverside Primary School [8]
  • The Queen's Church of England Primary School [9]
Independent preparatory schools

[edit] Quotes

Lilac in Kew Gardens

'Trams and dusty trees.
Highbury bore me. Richmond and Kew
Undid me.'

The Waste Land, 1922 (T.S.Eliot), 1888-1965

And the wildest dreams of Kew are the facts of Khatmandhu

In The Neolithic Age, 1892 (Rudyard Kipling)

Go down to Kew in lilac-time, in lilac-time, in lilac-time;
Go down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from London!)
And you shall wander hand in hand with love in summer's wonderland;
Go down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from London!)

The Barrel-Organ, (Alfred Noyes), 1880-1958


Lady Croom:- My hyacinth dell is become a haunt for
hobgoblins, my Chinese bridge, which I am assured is
superior to the one at Kew, and for all I know at Peking, is
usurped by a fallen obelisk overgrown with briars-

Arcadia (play),1993 (Tom Stoppard), 1937-

[edit] Gallery

  • The Parish Church of St Anne

  • Kew Green

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Blomfield, David: Kew Past, p131, Phillimore, 1994
  2. ^ Blomfield, David. The Story of Kew, second edition, p36, Leyborne Publications, 1996
  3. ^ Room, Adrian: Dictionary of Place-Names in the British Isles, Bloomsbury, 1988
  4. ^ Blomfield, David: Kew Past, p3, Phillimore, 1994
  5. ^ a b Blomfield, David: Kew Past, p5, Phillimore, 1994
  6. ^ Blomfield, David: Kew Past, p12, Phillimore, 1994
  7. ^ Blomfield, David: Kew Past, p16, Phillimore, 1994
  8. ^ Blomfield, David: Kew Past, p18, Phillimore, 1994
  9. ^ Blomfield, David: Kew Past, p23, Phillimore, 1994
  10. ^ http://www.kew.org/heritage/people/montage/accessible.html
  11. ^ Blomfield, David: Kew Past, p32, Phillimore, 1994
  12. ^ Blomfield, David: Kew Past, p42-45, Phillimore, 1994
  13. ^ "Kew Green". London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames. 24 November 2010. http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/leisure_and_culture/parks_and_open_spaces/park_details.htm?parkId=194. Retrieved 20 June 2011. 
  14. ^ "Kew Pond". London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames. 24 November 2010. http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/leisure_and_culture/parks_and_open_spaces/park_details.htm?parkId=195. Retrieved 20 June 2011. 
  15. ^ a b "North Sheen Recreation Ground". London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames. 24 November 2010. http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/leisure_and_culture/parks_and_open_spaces/park_details.htm?parkId=215. Retrieved 29 May 2011. 
  16. ^ "Pensford Field". Pensford Field Environmental Trust Ltd website. http://www.pensfordfield.co.uk/. Retrieved 20 June 2011. 
  17. ^ "St Luke's Open Space". London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames. 24 November 2010. http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/leisure_and_culture/parks_and_open_spaces/park_details.htm?parkId=247. Retrieved 20 June 2011. 
  18. ^ a b "Westerley Ware Recreation Ground". London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames. 24 November 2010. http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/leisure_and_culture/parks_and_open_spaces/park_details.htm?parkId=262. Retrieved 20 June 2011. 
  19. ^ Mason, Ian (26 September 2009). "Work kicks off on £1 million sports pavilion". Richmond and Twickenham Times. http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/local/richmondnews/4649399.Work_kicks_off_on___1m_sports_pavillion/?ref=rss. Retrieved 2 May 2011. 
  20. ^ Fleming, Christine (8 September 2011). "Delight as new pavilions in North Sheen and Palewell finally ready". Richmond and Twickenham Times. http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/local/richmondnews/9237119.print/. Retrieved 30 November 2011. 

[edit] External links

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