A Walk from London to Fulham Part 8

"Squint!" replied Nicholson, "no more than you do."

"Really! well, you know best of course; but I declare I fancied there was a _queer look_ about it!"

The opening of the Water-Colour Exhibition, in 1805, may be dated as the commencement of Mr. Nicholson's fame and success in London. In conjunction with Glover, Varley, Prout, and others, an advance in the art of watercolour painting was made, such as to astonish and call forth the admiration of the public.

In a ma.n.u.script autobiography which Mr. Nicholson left behind him, and which is full of curious anecdotes, he gives the following account of the formation of that exhibition.

"Messrs. Hills and Pyne asked me to join in the attempt to establish such a society, which I readily agreed to. It was a long time before a number of members sufficient to produce so many works as would be required to cover the walls of the exhibition room in Brook Street could be brought to join it. Artists were afraid they might suffer loss by renting and fitting up the room, the expense being certain and the success very doubtful. After a great while the society was formed, and, in the first and second exhibition, the sale of drawings was so considerable, and the visitors so numerous, that crowds of those who had refused to join were eager to be admitted into the society."

[Picture: Nicholson's Grave] Since the annexed sketch of Mr. Nicholson's grave was taken, the stone bears the two additional melancholy inscriptions of Thomas Crofton Croker, son-in-law of Francis Nicholson, who died 8th August, 1854, and Marianne, widow of Thomas Crofton Croker, who died 6th October, 1854; and an iron railing has been erected on either side of the grave.

[Picture: St. Mark's Chapel] Opposite to the Cemetery gates is Veitch's Royal Exotic Nursery.

St. Mark's Chapel, within the grounds of the college, stands opposite to St. Mark's Terrace, a row of modern houses immediately beyond the cemetery. The grounds extend to the King's Road, and contain about eleven acres, surrounded by a brick wall; and the entrance to the National Society's training college is from that road. Stanley House, or Stanley Grove House, which was purchased in 1840 for upwards of 9000 by the society, stood upon the site of a house which Sir Arthur Gorges, the friend of Spenser, allegorically named by him Alcyon, {131} built for his own residence; and upon the death of whose first wife, a daughter of Viscount Bindon, in 1590, the poet wrote a beautiful elegy, ent.i.tled 'Daphnaida.' In the Sydney papers mention is made, under date 15th November, 1599, that, "as the queen pa.s.sed by the faire new building, Sir Arthur Gorges presented her with a faire jewell." He died in 1625; and by his widow, the daughter of the Earl of Lincoln, the house and adjacent land, then called the "Brickhills," was sold, in 1637, to their only daughter, Elizabeth, the widow of Sir Robert Stanley; which sale was confirmed by her mother's will, dated 18th July, 1643. The Stanley family continued to reside here until 1691, when by the death of William Stanley, Esq., that branch of this family became extinct in the male line.

The present house, a square mansion, was built soon afterwards; and the old wall, propped by several b.u.t.tresses, inclosing the west side of the grounds, existed on the bank of the Kensington Ca.n.a.l until it was washed down by a very high tide. This new or square mansion remained unfinished and unoccupied for several years. In 1724 it belonged to Henry Arundel, Esq. and on the 24th May, 1743, Admiral Sir Charles Wager, a distinguished naval officer, died here, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. After pa.s.sing through several hands, Stanley Grove became the property of Miss Southwell, afterwards the wife of Sir James Eyre, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who sold it in 1777 to the Countess of Strathmore.

Here her ladys.h.i.+p indulged her love for botany by building extensive hot-houses and conservatories, and collecting and introducing into England rare exotics.

"She had purchased," says her biographer, "a fine old mansion, with extensive grounds well walled in, and there she had brought exotics from the Cape, and was in a way of raising continually an increase to her collection, when, by her fatal marriage, the cruel spoiler came and threw them, like loathsome weeds, away."

Mr. Lochee, before mentioned, purchased Stanley Grove from the Countess of Strathmore and her husband, Mr. Bowes. It was afterwards occupied by Dr. Richard Warren, the eminent physician, who died in 1797, and who is said to have acquired by the honourable practice of his profession no less a sum than 150,000. In January 1808, Mr. Leonard Morse, of the War Office, died at his residence, Stanley House, and about 1815 it was purchased by the late Mr. William Richard Hamilton, who ranks as one of the first scholars and antiquaries of his day. Between that year and 1840 Mr. Hamilton resided here at various periods, having occasionally let it. He made a considerable addition to the house by building a s.p.a.cious room as a wing on the east side, in the walls of which casts from the frieze and metopes of the Elgin marbles were let in.

When Mr. Hamilton proceeded as envoy to the court of Naples in 1821, Stanley Grove House became the residence of Mrs. Gregor, and is thus described by Miss Burney, who was an inmate at this time, in the following playful letter {133} to a friend, dated 24th September, 1821:-

"Whilst you have been traversing sea and land, scrambling up rocks and shuddering beside precipices, I have been stationary, with no other variety than such as turning to the right instead of the left when walking in the garden, or sometimes driving into town through Westminster, and, at other times, through Piccadilly. Poor Miss Gregor continues to be a complete invalid, and, for her sake, we give up all society at home and all engagements abroad. Luckily, the house, rented by Mrs. Gregor from William Hamilton, Esq. (who accompanied Lord Elgin into Greece) abounds with interesting specimens in almost every branch of the fine arts. Here are statues, casts from the frieze of the Parthenon, pictures, prints, books, and minerals; _four_ pianofortes of different sizes, and an excellent harp. All this to study does Desdemona (that's me) seriously incline; and the more I study the more I want to know and to see. In short, I am crazy to travel in Greece! The danger is that some good-for-nothing bashaw should seize upon me to poke me into his harem, there to bury my charms for life, and condemn me for ever to blush unseen. However, I could easily strangle or stab him, set fire to his castle, and run away by the light of it, accompanied by some handsome pirate, with whom I might henceforward live at my ease in a cavern on the sea-sh.o.r.e, dressing his dinners one moment, and my own sweet person the next in pearls and rubies, stolen by him, during some of his plundering expeditions, from the fair throat and arms of a shrieking Circa.s.sian beauty, whose lord he had knocked on the head.

Till these genteel adventures of mine begin, I beg you to believe me, dear Miss ---,

"Yours most truly, "S. H. BURNEY."

Theodore Hook notes, in one of his ma.n.u.script journals, "5th July, 1826.

W. Hamilton's party. Stanley Grove."

About 1828, Stanley Grove was occupied by the Marquess of Queensberry; and, in 183031, by Colonel Grant, at the rent, it was said, of 1000 per annum.

On the west side of the house the National Society added a quadrangle, built in the Italian style after the design of Mr. Blore; and, in the grounds near the chapel, an octagonal building as a Practising School, for teaching the poor children of the neighbourhood.

[Picture: Practising School]

Crossing the Kensington Ca.n.a.l over Sandford Bridge, [Picture: Sandford Bridge] sometimes written "Stanford" and "Stamford," we enter the parish of Fulham. The road turning off on the west side of the ca.n.a.l is called "Bull Lane;" and a little further on a footway existed not long since, known as Bull Alley; both of which pa.s.sages led into the King's Road, and took their names from the Bull public-house, which stood between them in that road. [Picture: Bull Alley] Bull Alley is now converted into a good-sized street, called Stamford Road, which has a public-house (the Rising Sun) on one side, and a bookseller's shop on the other. Here, for a few years, was a turnpike, which has been recently removed and placed lower down the road, adjoining the Swan Tavern and Brewery, Walham Green, established 1765. [Picture: No. 4, No. 3 Stamford Villas] Houses are being built in all directions opposite several "single and married houses," with small gardens in front and the rear, known as STAMFORD VILLAS, where, at No. 2, resided, in 1836 and 1837, Mr. H. K. Browne, better known, perhaps, by his _sobriquet_ of "Phiz," as an ill.u.s.trator of popular periodical works.

No. 3 and No. 4 are shown in the annexed cut, and No. 3 may be noticed as having been the residence of Mr. Kempe, the author of 'A History of St.

Martin-le-Grand,' the editor of the 'Losely Papers,' and a constant contributor, under the signature of A. J. K., to the antiquarian lore of the 'Gentleman's Magazine.' Mr. Kempe died here on 21st August, 1846.

The three last houses of the Stamford Villas are not "wedded to each other," and in the garden of the one nearest London, Mr. Hampton, who made an ascent in a balloon from Cremorne, on the 13th June, 1839, with every reasonable prospect of breaking his neck for the amus.e.m.e.nt of the public, came down by a parachute descent, without injury to himself, although he carried away a brick or two from the chimney of the house, much to the annoyance of the person in charge, who rushed out upon the aeronaut, and told him that he had no business to come in contact with the chimney. His reply exhibited an extraordinary coolness, for he a.s.sured the man it was quite unintentional upon his part.

The milestone is opposite the entrance to No. 20 Stamford Villas, which informs the pedestrian that it is one mile to Fulham; and pa.s.sing Salem Chapel, which is on the right hand side of the main road, we reach the village of Walham Green.

CHAPTER IV.

WALHAM GREEN TO FULHAM.

The village of Walham Green, which is distant from Hyde Park Corner between two and a half and three miles, appears to have been first so called soon after the revolution of 1688. Before this, it was known as Wansdon Green, written also Wandon and Wandham; all of which names, according to Lysons, originated from the manor of Wendon, so was the local name written in 1449, which in 1565 was spelled Wandowne. As the name of a low and marshy piece of land on the opposite side of the Thames to Wandsworth, through which _wandered_ the drainage from the higher grounds, or through which the traveller had to _Wendon_ (pendan) his way to Fulham; it would not be difficult to enter into speculations as to the Anglo-Saxon origin of the word, but I refrain from placing before the reader my antiquarian ruminations while pa.s.sing Wansdown House, for few things are more fascinating and deceptive than verbal a.s.sociations.

Indeed, if indulged in to any extent, they might lead an enthusiast to connect in thought the piers of Fulham (bridge) with the _Piers_ of Fulham, who, in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, "compyled many praty conceytis in love under covert terms of ffyssyng and ffowlyng;" and which curious poem may be found printed in a collection of _Ancient Metrical Tales_, edited by the Rev. Charles Henry Hartshorne. {138}

Two of "some ancient houses, erected in 1595, as appeared by a date on the truss in the front of one of them," were pulled down at Walham Green in 1812; after which the important proceedings in the progress of this village in suburban advancement consisted in the establishment of numerous public-houses; the filling up of a filthy pond, upon the ground gained by which act a chapel-of-ease to Fulham, dedicated to St. John, has been built, after the design of Mr. Taylor, at the estimated expense of 9683 17s. 9d. The first stone was laid on the 1st of January, 1827; and it was consecrated by the Bishop of London on the 14th of August, 1828. This was followed by the building of a charity-school upon an angular patch of green, or common land, where donkeys had been wont to graze, and the village children to play at cricket. Then the parish pound was removed from a corner of the high road, near a basket-maker's, to a back lane, thereby destroying the travelling joke of "Did you ever see the baskets sold by the pound?" And, finally, Walham Green has a.s.sumed a new aspect, from the construction of the Butchers' Almshouses, the first stone of which was laid by the late Lord Ravensworth, on the 1st of July, 1840. Since that time, fancy-fairs and bazaars, with horticultural exhibitions, have been fas.h.i.+onably patronised at Walham Green by omnibus companies, for the support and enlargement of this inst.i.tution.

"Hail, happy isle! and happier Walham Green!

Where all that's fair and beautiful are seen!

Where wanton zephyrs court the ambient air, And sweets ambrosial banish every care; Where thought nor trouble social joy molest, Nor vain solicitude can banish rest.

Peaceful and happy here I reign serene, Perplexity defy, and smile at spleen; Belles, beaux, and statesmen, all around me s.h.i.+ne; All own me their supreme, me const.i.tute divine; All wait my pleasure, own my awful nod, And change the humble gardener to the G.o.d."

Thus, in the 'London Magazine' for June 1749, did Mr. Bartholomew Rocque prophetically apostrophise Walham Green,-the "belles, beaux, and statesmen," by which he was surrounded being new varieties of flowers, dignified by distinguished names. In 1755, he printed a 'Treatise on the Cultivation of the Hyacinth, translated from the Dutch;' and in 1761 an 'Essay on Lucerne Gra.s.s,', of which an enlarged edition was published in 1764. Mr. Rocque {139} resided in the house occupied by the late Mr.

King, opposite to the Red Lion, where Mr. Oliver Pitts now carries on business as builder and carpenter.

Immediately after leaving Walham Green, on the south, or left-hand side, of the main Fulham road, behind a pair of carriage gates, connected by a brick wall, stands the mansion of Lord Ravensworth; in outward appearance small and unostentatious, without the slightest attempt at architectural decoration, but sufficiently s.p.a.cious and attractive to have received the highest honour that can be conferred on the residence of a subject, by her Majesty and Prince Albert having visited the late lord here on the 26th of June, 1840. The grounds at the back of the house, though not extensive, were planted with peculiar skill, care, and taste, by the late Mr. Ord; and on that occasion recalled to memory the words of our old poet, the author of 'Britannia's Pastorals,' William Browne:-

"There stood the elme, whose shade so mildely dym Doth nourish all that groweth under him: Cipresse that like piramides runne topping, And hurt the least of any by the dropping; The alder, whose fat shadow nourisheth Each plant set neere to him long flourisheth; The heavie-headed plane-tree, by whose shade The gra.s.se grows thickest, men are fresher made; The oak that best endures the thunder-shocks, The everlasting, ebene, cedar, boxe.

The olive, that in wainscot never cleaves, The amourous vine which in the elme still weaves; The lotus, juniper, where wormes ne'er enter; The pyne, with whom men through the ocean venture; The warlike yewgh, by which (more than the lance) The strong-arm'd English spirits conquer'd France; Amongst the rest, the tamarisks there stood, For housewives' besomes only knowne most good; The cold-place-loving birch, and servis-tree; The Walnut-loving vales and mulberry; The maple, ashe, that doe delight in fountains, Which have their currents by the side of mountains; The laurell, mirtle, ivy, date, which hold Their leaves all winter, be it ne'er so cold; The firre, that oftentimes doth rosin drop; The beech, that scales the welkin with his top: _All these and thousand more within this grove_, _By all the industry of nature strove_ _To frame an arbour that might keepe within it_ _The best of beauties that the world hath in it_."

Since the royal visit, Lord Ravensworth's residence has been called _Percy Cross_, but no reason has been a.s.signed for the alteration of name from Purser's Cross, which is mentioned as a point "on the Fulham road between Parson's Green and Walham Green," so far back as 1602, and at which we shall presently arrive. [Picture: View of Percy Cross] No connection whatever that I am aware of exists between the locality and the Percy family, and it only affords another, very recent local example of what has been as happily as quaintly termed "the curiosity of change."

The most favourable aspect of the house is, perhaps, the view gained of it from a neighbouring garden across a piece of water called Eel Brook, which ornaments an adjacent meadow.

John Ord, Esq., the creator of Lord Ravensworth's London residence, is better known as "Master Ord." He was the only son of Robert Ord, Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer in Scotland. In 1746 Mr. Ord entered Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1762, vacated a lay fellows.h.i.+p by marriage with Eleanor, the second daughter of John Simpson, Esq., of Bradley, in the county of Durham. After being called to the bar, Mr. Ord practised in the Court of Chancery; and, in 1774, was returned to parliament as member for Midhurst. In 1778 he was appointed Master of Chancery; and the next session, when returned member for Hastings, was chosen chairman of "Ways and Means," in which situation his conduct gave much satisfaction. Mr. Ord retired from parliament in 1790, and in 1809 resigned his office of Master in Chancery, and that of Attorney-General for Lancaster the following year, when "he retired to a small place at Purser's Cross, in the parish of Fulham, where he had early in life amused himself in horticultural pursuits, and where there are several foreign trees of his own raising remarkable both for their beauty and size."

Lysons, in 1795, says-

"While I am speaking upon this subject" (the trees planted by Bishop Compton in the gardens of Fulham Palace), "it would he unpardonable to omit the mention of a very curious garden near Walham Green in this parish, planted, since the year 1756, by its present proprietor, John Ord, Esq., Master in Chancery. It is not a little extraordinary that this garden should, within the s.p.a.ce of forty years (such have been the effects of good management and a fertile soil), have produced trees which are now the finest of their respective kinds in the kingdom. As a proof of this may be mentioned the _sophora j.a.ponica_, planted anno 1756, then about two feet high, now eight feet in girth, and about forty in height; a standard _Ginko_ tree, planted about the year 1767, two feet three inches in girth; and an Illinois walnut, two feet two inches in girth, growing where it was sown about the year 1760. Among other trees, very remarkable also for their growth, though not to be spoken of as the largest of their kind, are a black walnut-tree (sown anno 1757), about forty feet high, and five feet four inches in girth; a cedar of Liba.n.u.s (planted in 1756), eight feet eight inches in girth; a willow-leaved oak (sown anno 1757), four feet in girth; the Rhus Vernix, or varnish sumach, four feet in girth; and a stone pine of very singular growth. Its girth at one foot from the ground is six feet four inches; at that height it immediately begins to branch out, and spreads, at least, twenty-one feet on each side, forming a large bush of about fourteen yards in diameter."

The second edition of Lysons' 'Environs of London' appeared in 1810, when the measurement of these trees, in June 1808 and December 1809, was placed in apposition. Faulkner's 'History of Fulham,' published in 1813, carries on the history of their growth for three years more; but as, from the marginal pencil note signed J. M., and dated January 1835 in Lysons', I am led to conclude that some of these interesting trees exist no longer, the following tabular view compiled from these sources may not be unacceptable to the naturalist, who is well aware that

"Not small the praise the skilful planter claims, From his befriended country."

About the time of Mr. Ord's death, 6th June, 1814, his garden contained much that is remarkable in horticulture:-

"There was," we are told, "a good collection of American plants; amongst others, a fine _Andromeda Arborea_, planted about eight inches high in March 1804; and now (1812) eleven feet eight inches high.

"The _Glas...o...b..ry Thorn_ flowered here on Christmas day, 1793.

"In the kitchen garden is (1812) a moss-rose, which has been much admired. Many years ago Mr. Ord ordered his gardener to lay a moss-rose, which, when done, he thought looked so well, he would not allow the layers to be taken off, but laid them down year after year, till it covered the ground it does at present, viz. a diameter of forty-seven feet; want of room has confined it to its present size for several years."

Girth at 3 feet Girth in June Girth in Girth in 1812 Girth in Jan from the ground 1808 December 1809 (Faulkner) 1835 J.M.

in 1793

f. i. f. i. f. i. f. i. f. i.