76-784: Gunnersbury Cemetery , also known as Kensington or New Kensington Cemetery , is a cemetery opened in 1929. Although it is owned and managed by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea , it is geographically located within the London Borough of Hounslow , at 143 Gunnersbury Avenue in Acton. A triangle of land between the Gunnersbury Avenue and the Great West Road, part of the Gunnersbury Park ,
152-495: A Chelsea-Hackney line , with a station in the King's Road near Chelsea Town Hall , and possibly another at Sloane Square. As of June 2019, the plans for Crossrail 2 materialising show the proposed route tunnelling through Chelsea and featuring the planned King's Road Chelsea station on the site of Dovehouse Green. The future of this station, being the only fully new station on the proposed line, remains ambiguous; initial reports of
228-582: A "rural idyll" to a thriving part of the modern metropolis. Chelsea had originally been countryside upon which Thomas More built Beaufort House . He came to Chelsea in 1520 and built the house, which in his day had two courtyards laid out between the house and the river, and in the north of the site acres of gardens and orchards were planted. It was from here in 1535 that More was taken to the Tower and beheaded later that year. This area of Cheyne Walk continued its historic significance; nearby Crosby Hall sits on
304-614: A beefed-up operation in the local area. Anna Stec who gave evidence as an expert witness to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry has urged the authorities to test rescue workers, nearby residents and survivors for carcinogenic chemicals following the fire. Religion in Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (2018) The following shows the religious identity of residents residing in Kensington and Chelsea according to
380-553: A fitting royal residence. With the King came many court officials, servants and followers. Kensington Square, until then a failing venture, became a popular residential area. The Palace was regularly used by reigning monarchs until 1760 and since then by members of the Royal family. Kensington's royal borough status was inherited by the new borough. In the 19th century the last emperor of the Sikh Empire , Maharaja Duleep Singh who
456-539: A number of garden squares, Chelsea has several open spaces including Albert Bridge Gardens, Battersea Bridge Gardens, Chelsea Embankment Gardens, the Royal Hospital Chelsea (the grounds of which are used by the annual Chelsea Flower Show ) and Chelsea Physic Garden . In the 18th century, Chelsea Cricket Club was prominent for a time and played its home matches on what was then Chelsea Common , an area that virtually disappeared under building work in
532-485: A population of 3,000. Even so, Chelsea remained rural and served London to the east as a market garden , a trade that continued until the 19th-century development boom which caused the final absorption of the district into the metropolis. The street crossing that was known as Little Chelsea , Park Walk, linked Fulham Road to King's Road and continued to the Thames and local ferry down Lover's Lane, renamed "Milmans Street" in
608-655: A shrine and literary museum by the Carlyle Memorial Trust, a group formed by Leslie Stephen , father of Virginia Woolf . Virginia Woolf set her 1919 novel Night and Day in Chelsea, where Mrs. Hilbery has a Cheyne Walk home. In a book, Bohemia in London by Arthur Ransome which is a partly fictional account of his early years in London, published in 1907 when he was 23, there are some fascinating, rather over-romanticised accounts of bohemian goings-on in
684-519: Is a major landmark on the Chelsea side of the confluence of Chelsea Creek and the Thames. {{{annotations}}} Chelsea also gives its name to nearby locations, such as Chelsea Harbour in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham , and Chelsea Barracks in the City of Westminster . Chelsea includes large parts of the SW3 and SW10 postal districts, and a small section of SW1. This former fashionable village
760-477: Is a major provider of social housing in the borough owning 9,459 properties. Of these over 73 percent are tenanted, with the remainder being leasehold . The management of this housing was devolved to the Kensington and Chelsea TMO (KCTMO), a tenant management organisation . Properties included Trellick Tower . The 2017 Grenfell Tower fire , in which one public-housing tower of the estate Grenfell Tower
836-654: Is an affluent area in West London , England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles (4 km). It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area . Chelsea historically formed a manor and parish in the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex , which became the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea in 1900. It merged with
SECTION 10
#1732781018465912-880: Is based at Kensington Town Hall on Horton Street. Since 2000, for elections to the London Assembly , the borough forms part of the West Central constituency. The borough is divided between two constituencies represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom : Kensington and Bayswater , held by Joe Powell for the Labour Party , and Chelsea and Fulham (partly in Hammersmith & Fulham ), held by Ben Coleman for
988-475: Is home to the Notting Hill Carnival , Europe's largest, and contains many of the most expensive residential properties in the world, as well as Kensington Palace , a British royal residence. The local authority is Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council . Its motto, adapted from the opening words of Psalm 133 , is Quam bonum in unum habitare , which translates roughly as 'How good it
1064-462: Is on the Fulham Road, Chelsea, and is now a private residence. Dring the mid-1800s, Cremorne Gardens, London , was a popular pleasure gardens area established in 1845. It continued to operate until 1877. The area lay between Chelsea Harbour and the end of the King's Road. Chelsea's modern reputation as a centre of innovation and influence originated in a period during the 19th century, when
1140-657: Is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the United Kingdom. It includes affluent areas such as Notting Hill , Kensington , South Kensington , Chelsea , and Knightsbridge . The borough is immediately west of the City of Westminster and east of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham . It contains major museums and universities in Albertopolis , department stores such as Harrods , Peter Jones and Harvey Nichols , and embassies in Belgravia , Knightsbridge and Kensington Gardens . The borough
1216-399: Is quickly catching up with Bond Street as one of London's premier shopping destinations, housing a variety of high-end fashion or jewellery boutiques such as Cartier , Tiffany & Co , Dolce & Gabbana , Prada , Gucci , Harrods , Dior , Louis Vuitton , Jimmy Choo , Giorgio Armani , Yves Saint Laurent , Chanel , Valentino , Bvlgari , Gianni Versace and Graff . As well as
1292-668: Is served by many Transport for London bus services. Chelsea has no Underground station, but there are two stations close to its boundary; Sloane Square to the east and Gloucester Road to the north (both of these on the District and Circle lines ). In addition, to the west is the London Overground station Imperial Wharf , on the West London Line . A Chelsea railway station (later renamed Chelsea and Fulham ) previously existed on this line, located between
1368-498: Is the least populated of the 32 London boroughs . Due to its high French population it has long held the unofficial title of the 21st arrondissement of Paris. In 2005, the borough had more of its land covered by domestic buildings than anywhere else in England at 19%, over half the national average. It also had the fifth highest proportion of land covered by non-domestic buildings at 12 percent. As of 2010 statistics released by
1444-622: Is to dwell in unity'. Chelsea and Kensington were both ancient parishes in the historic county of Middlesex . From 1856 the two parishes were in the area governed by the Metropolitan Board of Works , which was established to provide services across the metropolis of London. In 1889 the Metropolitan Board of Works' area was made the County of London . From 1856 until 1900 the lower tier of local government within
1520-709: The Domesday Book and records the fact that Thurstan, governor of the King's Palace during the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042–1066), gave the land to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster. From at least this time, up to 1900, the Manor and Parish of Chelsea included a 144-acre (0.58 km ) exclave which is now known as Kensal Town . The exclave, which was once heavily wooded, was sometimes also known as Chelsea-in-the-Wilderness . Abbot Gervace subsequently assigned
1596-723: The First World War , St Mark's College was requisitioned by the War Office to create the 2nd London General Hospital, a facility for the Royal Army Medical Corps to treat military casualties. It merged with St John's College, Battersea, in 1923, establishing a single institution in Chelsea as the College of St Mark & St John. In 1973 it moved to Plymouth, having outgrown the Chelsea campus. The former chapel of St Mark's College, designed by Edward Blore
SECTION 20
#17327810184651672-539: The Household Division . Situated on the Westminster side of Chelsea Bridge Road, it was bought for re-development by a property group from Qatar . St Mark's College, Chelsea , was founded in 1841, based on the beliefs of The Reverend Derwent Coleridge , son of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge , its first principal: that its primary purpose was to widen the educational horizons of its students. During
1748-585: The Katyn massacre . It was designed by Louis Fitzgibbon and Count Stefan Zamoyski . This monument was unveiled on 18 September 1976 amid considerable controversy. During the period of the Cold War, successive British governments objected to plans by the UK's Polish community to build a major monument to commemorate the massacre. The Soviet Union did not want Katyn to be remembered, and put pressure on Britain to prevent
1824-674: The Kensington Central Library , Chelsea Library, Kensal Library, Brompton Library, North Kensington Library and the Notting Hill Gate Library. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is formally twinned with: The following people and military units have received the Freedom of Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. 51°30′N 0°11′W / 51.50°N 0.19°W / 51.50; -0.19 Chelsea, London Chelsea
1900-631: The King's Road and the Fulham Road in neighbouring Fulham, but this was closed in 1940 following World War II bomb damage and later demolished. There is a proposal to construct a Chelsea Underground station on the King's Road as part of the Crossrail 2 project (also known as the Chelsea-Hackney line ). The project, run by Transport for London , has not yet been approved or funded but
1976-439: The Metropolitan Borough of Kensington , forming the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea upon the creation of Greater London in 1965. The exclusivity of Chelsea as a result of its high property prices historically resulted in the coining of the term " Sloane Ranger " in the 1970s to describe some of its residents, and some of those of nearby areas. Chelsea is home to one of the largest communities of Americans living outside
2052-483: The Office for National Statistics showed that life expectancy at birth for females was 89.8 years in 2008–2010, the highest in the United Kingdom. Male life expectancy at birth for the same period was 85.1 years. The figures in 1991–1993 were significantly lower: 73.0 years for males (ranking 301st in the nation) and 80.0 for females (ranking 129th). Further investigation indicates a 12-year gap in life expectancy between
2128-518: The Ossulstone Hundred of the county of Middlesex . The area covered by the civil parish became the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea in 1900, part of a new County of London . At that time, the exclave of Kensal Town , which had been part of Chelsea since at least the time of the 11th-century Saxon King Edward the Confessor , was removed from Chelsea and divided between the new boroughs of Kensington and Paddington (each of which
2204-474: The Royal Hospital and Holland House . Areas in the borough include: Most parks and open spaces in this borough are quite small, the majority being squares built to service houses around them. The area does contain larger parks, containing Kensington Park and parts of Hyde Park , as well as parts of the "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries. The local authority is Kensington and Chelsea Council, which
2280-606: The 18th century and was patronised by the Georgian royalty. At Easter, great crowds would assemble on the open spaces of the Five Fields – subsequently developed as Belgravia . The Bun House would then do a great trade in hot cross buns and sold about quarter of a million on its final Good Friday in 1839. The area was also famous for its "Chelsea China" ware, though the works, the Chelsea porcelain factory – thought to be
2356-403: The 18th century. King's Road , named for Charles II, recalls the King's private road from St James's Palace to Fulham , which was maintained until the reign of George IV . One of the more important buildings in King's Road, the former Chelsea Town Hall , popularly known as "Chelsea Old Town hall" – a fine neo-classical building – contains important frescoes . Part of the building contains
Gunnersbury Cemetery - Misplaced Pages Continue
2432-436: The 1960s Swinging London period and the early 1970s. The Swinging Sixties was defined on King's Road, which runs the length of the area. The Western end of Chelsea featured boutiques Granny Takes a Trip and The Sweet Shop, the latter of which sold medieval silk velvet caftans, tabards and floor cushions, with many of the cultural cognoscenti of the time being customers, including Twiggy and many others. The "Chelsea girl"
2508-408: The 19th century. Records have survived of five matches between 1731 and 1789 which involved the Chelsea club and/or were played on the common. Chelsea Football Club is located at Stamford Bridge in neighbouring Fulham , adjacent to the border with Chelsea. As a result of Chelsea's expensive location and wealthy residents, Chelsea F.C. has the wealthiest local supporters in England. Chelsea
2584-659: The 2001, 2011 and the 2021 censuses. The borough has a number of notable churches, including: It is home to a small Spanish and Portuguese synagogue , several mosques and the Sikh Central Gurudwara in Holland Park . There are two Armenian churches – Saint Sarkis Armenian Church and Church of Saint Yeghiche . Westminster Synagogue is also partially located in the borough. The borough's notable districts are home to numerous international diplomatic missions: High Commissions Embassies Within
2660-473: The Chelsea Flower show is held annually. The former Duke of York's Barracks (built 1801–3) off King's Road is now part of Duke of York Square, a redevelopment including shops and cafes and the site of a weekly "farmers' market". The Saatchi Gallery opened in the main building in 2008. Chelsea Barracks , at the end of Lower Sloane Street, was also in use until recently, primarily by ceremonial troops of
2736-493: The Chelsea Public Library. Almost opposite stands the former Odeon Cinema , now Habitat , with its iconic façade which carries high upon it a large sculptured medallion of the now almost-forgotten William Friese-Greene , who claimed to have invented celluloid film and cameras in the 1880s before any subsequent patents. The memorials in the churchyard of Chelsea Old Church , near the river, illustrate much of
2812-631: The King's Road), and saw the birth of the British punk movement. On 27 November 1974, the London unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army exploded twin bombs on Tite Street , injuring 20 people. Chelsea Manor was served by the ancient parish of Chelsea. (Such parish units were typically in place by the end of the twelfth century with their boundaries, based on those of the constituent manor or manors, rarely if ever changing. ) The manor and parish formed part of
2888-610: The Labour Party. At the 2005 General Election , the borough was divided differently: Rifkind held the Kensington seat until the 2015 General Election when he stood down after becoming embroiled in a scandal, uncovered by a television investigation, over accepting money in return for access to influential British diplomats and politicians. At the 2011 census, the borough had a population of 158,649 who were 71 percent White, 10 percent Asian, 5 percent of multiple ethnic groups, 4 percent Black African and 3 percent Black Caribbean. It
2964-505: The Manor House; Princess Elizabeth – the future Queen Elizabeth I – resided there; and Thomas More lived more or less next door at Beaufort House . In 1609 James I established a theological college, "King James's College at Chelsey" on the site of the future Royal Hospital Chelsea , which Charles II founded in 1682. By 1694, Chelsea – always a popular location for the wealthy, and once described as "a village of palaces" – had
3040-687: The United States, with 6.53% of Chelsea residents having been born in the U.S. The word Chelsea (also formerly Chelceth , Chelchith , or Chelsey , ) originates from the Old English term for "landing place [on the river] for chalk or limestone" ( Cealc-hyð : chalk - wharf , in Anglo-Saxon ). Chelsea hosted the Synod of Chelsea in 787 AD. The first record of the Manor of Chelsea precedes
3116-402: The affluent wards of Chelsea (Royal Hospital, Hans Town) and the most northerly wards of North Kensington (Golborne, Dalgarno), which have high levels of social housing and poverty. The borough has a higher proportion (16.6 percent) of high earners (over £60,000 per year) than any other local government district in the country. It has the highest proportion of workers in the financial sector and
Gunnersbury Cemetery - Misplaced Pages Continue
3192-475: The age of 22, and he remained there until his retirement in 1939; he was appointed Chief Librarian in 1929. In 1980, the building was purchased by Chelsea College of Art and Design . The Chelsea Society , formed in 1927, remains an active amenity society concerned with preserving and advising on changes in Chelsea's built environment. Chelsea Village and Chelsea Harbour are new developments outside of Chelsea itself. Chelsea shone again, brightly but briefly, in
3268-405: The area became a Victorian artists' colony ( see Borough of artists below ). It became prominent once again as one of the centres of the " Swinging London " of the 1960s, when house prices were lower than in the staid Royal Borough of Kensington . Chelsea once had a reputation as London's bohemian quarter, the haunt of artists, radicals, painters and poets. Little of this seems to survive now –
3344-525: The area. Paddington and Victoria are the nearest major railway termini; National Rail stations in the borough are Kensington (Olympia) and West Brompton (and partly Kensal Green ), both served by London Overground and Southern . Many London bus routes pass through the borough, most of them along King's Road , Fulham Road , Kensington High Street and Ladbroke Grove . Kensington and Chelsea council has been criticised for its lack of support for cycle lanes and active travel in general. In 2019
3420-478: The borough there are several of London's tourist attractions and landmarks: The council's education department finances state schools. London's Poverty Profile - a 2017 study by Trust for London and the New Policy Institute - found that 75% of 19-year-olds in Kensington and Chelsea have at least a C in their GCSE English and Maths. This is the highest success rate in London. Libraries include
3496-547: The comfortable squares off King's Road are homes to, amongst others, investment bankers and film stars. The Chelsea Arts Club continues in situ ; however, the Chelsea College of Art and Design , founded in 1895 as the Chelsea School of Art, moved from Manresa Road to Pimlico in 2005. The Chelsea Book Club, at no. 65 Cheyne Walk (Lombard Terrace), a bookshop that also presented exhibitions and lectures, held
3572-575: The council vetoed a flagship programme by Transport for London for safer walking and cycling in the borough. In 2020 it scrapped a cycle lane along Kensington High Street just seven weeks after it was installed. In March 2011 the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: underground, metro, light rail, tram, 23.6 percent of all residents aged 16–74; driving a car or van, 8.2 percent; on foot, 8.2 percent; bus, minibus or coach, 8.0 percent; work mainly at or from home, 7.0 percent; bicycle, 3.1 percent; train, 2.1 percent. The RBKC
3648-497: The creation of the monument. As a result, the construction of the Katyn monument was delayed for many years. After the local community had finally secured the right to build the monument, no official government representative was present at the opening ceremony (although some members of parliament did attend the event unofficially). Gunnersbury cemetery also contains the graves of 49 Commonwealth service personnel of World War II. There
3724-599: The first exhibition of African art in London (sculpture from Ivory Coast and Congo) in 1920, and was the first bookshop to stock Joyce's Ulysses in 1922. Sold in 1928 owing to financial problems, it became the Lombard Restaurant. Its reputation stems from a period in the 19th century when it became a sort of Victorian artists' colony: painters such as James Webb , Dante Gabriel Rossetti , J. M. W. Turner , James McNeill Whistler , William Holman Hunt , and John Singer Sargent all lived and worked here. There
3800-406: The first workshop to make porcelain in England – were sold in 1769, and moved to Derby . Examples of the original Chelsea ware fetch high values. The best-known building is Chelsea Royal Hospital for old soldiers, set up by Charles II (supposedly on the suggestion of Nell Gwynne ), and opened in 1694. The beautifully proportioned building by Christopher Wren stands in extensive grounds, where
3876-548: The greatest income inequality of any London Borough. Private rent for low earners was also found to be the least affordable in London. However, the borough's poverty rate of 28% is roughly in line with the London-wide average. The borough has 12 tube stations, on five of the 11 London Underground lines: the Central line , Circle line , District line , Hammersmith & City line and Piccadilly line . The borough contains
SECTION 50
#17327810184653952-469: The history of Chelsea. These include Lord and Lady Dacre (1594/1595); Lady Jane Cheyne (1698); Francis Thomas , "director of the china porcelain manufactory"; Sir Hans Sloane (1753); Thomas Shadwell , Poet Laureate (1692). The intended tomb Sir Thomas More erected for himself and his wives can also be found there, though More is not in fact buried here. In 1718, the Raw Silk Company
4028-493: The lowest proportion working in the retail sector. In December 2006 Sport England published a survey which showed that the borough's residents were the fourth most active in England in sports and other fitness activities. 27.9 percent of the population participate at least three times a week for 30 minutes. A 2017 study by Trust for London and the New Policy Institute found that Kensington & Chelsea has
4104-524: The manor to his mother, and it passed into private ownership. By 1086 the Domesday Book records that Chelsea was in the hundred of Ossulstone in Middlesex , with Edward of Salisbury as tenant-in-chief. King Henry VIII acquired the manor of Chelsea from Lord Sandys in 1536; Chelsea Manor Street is still extant. Two of King Henry's wives , Catherine Parr and Anne of Cleves , lived in
4180-415: The metropolis comprised various parish vestries and district boards , with both Chelsea and Kensington being governed by their respective vestries . In 1900 the lower tier was reorganised into metropolitan boroughs , two of which were called Chelsea and Kensington , corresponding to the two parishes. The borough of Kensington was given the honorific title of royal borough in 1901. The modern borough
4256-515: The place for the interment of cremated remains. There is also a Book of Remembrance for memorial inscriptions. Gunnersbury Cemetery is the location of the main office for both the Borough's cemeteries (the other being the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Cemetery, Hanwell ). A notable landmark at the cemetery is a monument, in the form of a black obelisk , dedicated to the Polish victims of
4332-603: The quarter. The American artist Pamela Colman Smith , the designer of A. E. Waite 's Tarot card pack and a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn , features as "Gypsy" in the chapter "A Chelsea Evening". A central part of Chelsea's artistic and cultural life was Chelsea Public Library, originally situated in Manresa Road. Its longest-serving member of staff was Armitage Denton, who joined in 1896 at
4408-456: The river near the Church of Thomas More, and what was once Thomas Carlyle 's residence remains on Cheyne Row . Kensington's royal borough status was granted in 1901 as it included of Kensington Palace , where Queen Victoria was born in 1819 and lived until her accession in 1837. Commissioned by King William III , Christopher Wren enlarged and rebuilt the original house in 1689, turning it into
4484-625: The river's route now used by the West London Line . Chelsea Football Club's Stamford Bridge home, lies just west of the Counter's Creek in Fulham, and takes its name from a bridge which carried the Fulham Road over the river. The bridge was also known as Little Chelsea Bridge. The southern Thames frontages run west from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment past Albert Bridge and Battersea Bridge to Chelsea Creek. Lots Road
4560-524: The station idea having been scrapped seem to be contradicted by the station's placement on an official Transport for London map for the route. A Crossrail station on the original Crossrail route, from Paddington to Reading, has been proposed and endorsed by the council. This station would be located near the northern end of Ladbroke Grove , and would serve the areas of North Kensington and Kensal. The council supports this station concept as it would renew infrastructure and build regeneration benefits in
4636-441: The stations of South Kensington , Gloucester Road , High Street Kensington , Earl's Court , Sloane Square , West Brompton , Notting Hill Gate , Holland Park , Latimer Road , Knightsbridge , Westbourne Park and Ladbroke Grove . Chelsea (SW3, SW10 and partly SW1) has significantly less Underground access than Kensington, the only station within Chelsea being Sloane Square . There have for some time been long-term plans for
SECTION 60
#17327810184654712-403: The then Minister of Housing and Local Government, Sir Keith Joseph , announced on 2 January 1964 that the name of the new borough would be the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Of its history the council states: "Despite the boroughs being separate originally, Kensington and Chelsea still retain their unique characters. Even the amalgamation of the two boroughs, unpopular as it was at
4788-408: The time, has been accepted. Today conservation combined with the adoption of sympathetic new architecture is seen as a key objective. In every corner of the borough signs of its history can be seen: from Grade 1 listed buildings Kensington Palace and the Royal Hospital, Chelsea to others recalled in street names such as Pottery Lane and Hippodrome Mews." In 200 years the area has been transformed from
4864-415: Was a notable sculpture by Nereo Cescott in the cemetery, but it was destroyed by vandals prior to 1994. Notable interments include: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (often known by its acronym as RBKC ) is an Inner London borough with royal status . It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England ; it
4940-405: Was a particularly large concentration of artists in the area around Cheyne Walk and Cheyne Row , where the Pre-Raphaelite movement had its heart. The artist Prunella Clough was born in Chelsea in 1919. The architect John Samuel Phene lived at No. 2 Upper Cheyne Row between 1903 and his death in 1912. He installed numerous artefacts and objets d'art around the house and gardens and it
5016-408: Was a symbol, media critic John Crosby wrote, of what "men [found] utterly captivating", flaunting a " 'life is fabulous' philosophy". Chelsea at this time was home to the Beatles and to Rolling Stones members Brian Jones , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . In the 1970s, the World's End area of King's Road was home to Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood 's boutique " SEX " (at Number 430,
5092-459: Was absorbed into London during the eighteenth century. Many notable people of 18th-century London, such as the bookseller Andrew Millar , were both married and buried in the district. King's Road is one of the district's major thoroughfares, a street which despite its continuing reputation as a shopping mecca, is now home to many of the same shops found on other British high streets , such as Gap , and McDonald's . Sloane Street and its environs
5168-407: Was bought in 1925 from the Rothschild family by the Royal Borough . The cemetery was founded soon afterwards, in 1929, on the former parkland. The cemetery is situated adjacent to Gunnersbury Park and covers about 8.9 hectares. It has numerous floral displays and shrubberies, and a chapel. The cemetery's buildings, including the chapel, are simple brick structures. A Garden of Remembrance serves as
5244-427: Was bounded by rivers on three sides with Fulham Road forming part of its northern boundary with Kensington . The eastern boundary with Westminster was formed by the River Westbourne , but was adjusted to follow Chelsea Bridge Road after the river was culverted. The short western boundary with Fulham was formed by the former Counter's Creek , of which the mouth - Chelsea Creek - is the only surviving part, with
5320-431: Was brought to England as a child following the Second Anglo-Sikh War , along with the Koh-i-noor diamond, lived in the borough at 53 Holland Park, while his mother Maharani Jind Kaur (wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh ) lived at the nearby Abingdon House till her death in 1846. During the Second World War civilians suffered great hardship; there were some 800 deaths and 40,000 injuries. A huge army of civilian volunteers
5396-411: Was completely destroyed and 72 lives were lost, drew international attention to the borough. After widespread criticism of the borough council's response to the fire, responsibility for providing services to those affected by the fire was taken away from RBKC. Prime Minister Theresa May previously branded the response to the tragedy "not good enough", with Whitehall civil servants drafted in as part of
5472-583: Was created in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963 , which reorganised 86 boroughs and urban districts into 32 London boroughs and also created the Greater London Council . It was a merger of the old metropolitan boroughs of Chelsea and Kensington, and it inherited Kensington's royal borough status. The new borough was originally intended to be called only "Kensington", but after protests from thousands of Chelsea residents,
5548-476: Was established in Chelsea Park , with mulberry trees and a hothouse for raising silkworms. At its height in 1723, it supplied silk to Caroline of Ansbach , then Princess of Wales. Chelsea once had a reputation for the manufacture of Chelsea buns , made from a long strip of sweet dough tightly coiled, with currants trapped between the layers, and topped with sugar. The Chelsea Bun House sold these during
5624-535: Was known locally as the "Gingerbread Castle". It was demolished in 1924. Chelsea was also home to writers such as George Meredith , Algernon Charles Swinburne , Leigh Hunt and Thomas Carlyle . Jonathan Swift lived in Church Lane, Richard Steele and Tobias Smollett in Monmouth House. Carlyle lived for 47 years at No. 5 (now 24) Cheyne Row . After his death, the house was bought and turned into
5700-426: Was otherwise based on its corresponding ancient parish). The parliamentary constituency of Chelsea , which was identical to the parish, retained Kensal Town until 1918. In 1965 the area merged with the Metropolitan Borough of Kensington to form the modern London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea . The parish and borough of Chelsea, which now forms the southern part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea ,
5776-686: Was raised, including Auxiliary Fire Service, Red Cross, Air Raid Wardens and Rescue Services. During the Blitz much damage was caused by explosive and incendiary bombs, especially along Chelsea's riverside. But worse was to come in 1944 with the arrival of the V2 rockets , or flying bombs. Among the buildings either destroyed or seriously damaged, usually with terrible loss of life, were Chelsea Old Church , Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer , Our Lady of Victories , St Mary Abbots , St Stephens Hospital, St Mary Abbots Hospital , Sloane Square tube station , World's End ,
#464535