31-790: The Princess Louise Hospital was a health facility in Kensington , London . It was managed by the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust . The hospital has its origins in the Kensington Dispensary in Holland Street which opened in 1815 and moved to Church Street in 1849. The foundation stone for a new purpose-built hospital focussing on the treatment of children was laid by Princess Louise in St Quintin Avenue in 1926 and
62-420: A charity school . The school buildings were designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1711, but demolished in the 1870s to make way for a town hall. The present buildings date from 1875 and are notable for the painted stone statues by Thomas Eustace of a boy and girl, dating from about 1715, now on the north face of the school; its playgrounds intersperse with the churchyard, and the school maintains close links with
93-549: A community hub. The tower holds a ring of ten bells hung for change ringing . Five of these bells – the fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth of the current ring – date from 1772 and were cast by Thomas Janaway. The other five – the treble, second, third, seventh and tenor – were cast in 1879 by John Warner & Sons . The five bells were funded through a donation by Phyllis Cunliffe (1890–1974), mother to coin designer Christopher Ironside . The church has an associated primary school in its churchyard, founded in 1707 as
124-632: Is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea , around 2.9 miles (4.6 km) west of Central London . The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street , running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Gardens , containing the Albert Memorial , the Serpentine Gallery and Speke 's monument. South Kensington and Gloucester Road are home to Imperial College London ,
155-525: Is another definable area of Kensington. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea forms part of the most densely populated local government district in the United Kingdom. This high density has come about through the subdivision of large mid-rise Georgian and Victorian terraced houses (generally of four to six floors) into flats. The less-affluent northern extremity of Kensington has high-rise residential buildings, while this type of building in
186-472: Is deemed to derive from its link with the ancient Abingdon Abbey rather than that subsequently with the diocese of the Bishop of London . However, this led to a dispute with the bishop and legal action followed in the diocesan consistory court . This resulted in the patronage of the church passing to the bishop in perpetuity but rights over the surrounding land remaining with the abbey. The succession of vicars
217-522: Is recorded in a direct line back to this foundation in 1262. In 1370 the Norman church was rebuilt. When William III relocated the Royal Court to Kensington Palace in 1689 the area became fashionable rendering the medieval church too small, thus it was demolished at the end of the 17th century and replaced by a Late Renaissance-style building. This in turn proved too small as London urbanised in
248-497: Is the latest in a series on the site since the beginning of the 12th century. The church, and its railings, are listed at Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England . Sir Aubrey de Vere was a Norman knight who was rewarded with the manor of Kensington , among other estates, after the successful Norman Conquest . Around 1100, his eldest son, Godfrey (great-uncle of Aubrey, 1st Earl of Oxford ),
279-516: Is well served by public transport . Most of Kensington is served by three stations in the Travelcard Zone 1 : High Street Kensington , Gloucester Road and South Kensington . All three are served by the Circle line which connects them to London's railway terminals. The District line also serves all three stations, albeit on different branches; it links the latter two to Westminster and
310-591: The City . The Piccadilly line also links South Kensington and Gloucester Road to the West End in about 10 minutes, and in the other direction to Chiswick , Ealing , Hounslow and Heathrow Airport in around 20–40 minutes, depending on the area of choice. In addition Kensington (Olympia) in Travelcard Zone 2 serves the western part of Kensington, with District line trains to Earl's Court and High Street Kensington. Nearby West Kensington station takes its name from
341-502: The City of London . The building also houses Lebedev's TV channel London Live , with its news studio situated in part of the former department store, using St Mary Abbots church and Kensington Church Street as live backdrop. Kensington is crossed east–west by three main roads, the most important of which is the A4 Cromwell Road which connects it to Central London on the east and to Hounslow and Heathrow Airport on
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#1732793757337372-612: The Combined Counties Football League . St Mary Abbots St Mary Abbots is a church located on Kensington High Street and the corner of Kensington Church Street in London W8 . The present church structure was built in 1872 to the designs of Sir George Gilbert Scott , who combined neo-Gothic and early-English styles . This edifice remains noted for having the tallest spire in London and
403-615: The Domesday Book . The bishop's heir, Robert de Mowbray , rebelled against King William II and his vast feudal barony was forfeited to the Crown. Aubrey de Vere I thus became a tenant-in-chief , holding directly from the king after 1095, which increased his status in feudal England. He granted the church and an estate within the manor to Abingdon Abbey in Oxfordshire , at the deathbed request of his eldest son Geoffrey. As
434-663: The Royal College of Art , and Kensington and Chelsea College . The Olympia Exhibition Hall is just over the western border in West Kensington . Kensington is administered within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and lies within the Kensington parliamentary constituency. The head office of newspaper group DMGT is located in Northcliffe House off Kensington High Street in part of
465-562: The Royal College of Music , the Royal Albert Hall , Natural History Museum , Victoria and Albert Museum , and Science Museum . The area is also home to many embassies and consulates. The manor of Chenesitone is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086, which in the Anglo-Saxon language means "Chenesi's ton " (homestead/settlement). One early spelling is Kesyngton , as written in 1396. The manor of Kensington, in
496-518: The Westfield shopping centre in nearby White City. Kensington's second group of commercial buildings is at South Kensington , where several streets of small to medium-sized shops and service businesses are situated close to South Kensington tube station . This is also the southern end of Exhibition Road , the thoroughfare which serves the area's museums and educational institutions. The boundaries of Kensington are not well-defined; in particular,
527-454: The 19th century. Around 1860 the vicar, [John Sinclair], launched a campaign for the building of a striking new church. The architect George Gilbert Scott was engaged and recommended the demolition of the existing church to take advantage of the site at the road junction. St Mary Abbot's design is almost certainly influenced by Scott's earlier work on Dunblane Cathedral - its west front's tall window and carved tympanum are similar to those in
558-458: The Cathedral. The 278 ft (85 m) high spire is clearly influenced by that of St Mary Redcliffe , Bristol. The present church retains many fittings from the earlier churches, especially funeral monuments from the mid-17th century onwards. In June 2015, the church launched a major fundraising appeal, looking to raise around £7.2m, to be spent on restoring the church and improving it as
589-526: The charging hours Monday-Friday to pay a daily fee of £8). In 2020 a temporary cycle lane on Kensington High Street caused a nationwide media stir. The temporary cycle lane was installed by the local council in September 2020 with £700,000 in funding from central government grants, but it was removed in December 2020. Kensington has one football team, Kensington Borough F.C. , which currently plays in
620-531: The county of Middlesex , was one of several hundred granted by King William the Conqueror (1066–1089) to Geoffrey de Montbray (or Mowbray), Bishop of Coutances in Normandy, one of his inner circle of advisors and one of the wealthiest men in post- Conquest England . He granted the tenancy of Kensington to his follower Aubrey de Vere I , who was holding the manor from him as overlord in 1086, according to
651-466: The de Veres became Earls of Oxford , their principal manor at Kensington came to be known as Earl's Court, as they were not resident in the manor, and their manorial business was not conducted in the great hall of a manor house but in a courthouse. In order to differentiate it, the new sub-manor granted to Abingdon Abbey became known as Abbot's Kensington and the church St Mary Abbots . The original Kensington Barracks , built at Kensington Gate in
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#1732793757337682-523: The former boundaries with Hammersmith and is not in the Borough. A number of local bus services link Kensington into the surrounding districts, and key hubs are Kensington High Street and South Kensington station. These bus services were improved in frequency and spread from 2007 until 2010 when the western extension of the London congestion charge area existed (which required drivers of cars and vans during
713-699: The large Barkers department store building. In addition to housing the offices for the DMGT newspapers Daily Mail , Mail on Sunday and Metro , Northcliffe House also accommodates the offices of the newspapers owned by Evgeny Lebedev : The Independent , The Independent on Sunday , and the Evening Standard . The i newspaper, sold to Johnston Press in 2016, is still produced from offices in Northcliffe House. Most of these titles were for many decades produced and printed in Fleet Street in
744-540: The late 18th century, were demolished in 1858 and new barracks were built in Kensington Church Street. The focus of the area is Kensington High Street , a busy commercial centre with many shops, typically upmarket. The street was declared London's second best shopping street in February 2005 due to its wide range and number of shops. However, since October 2008 the street has faced competition from
775-670: The new facility was officially opened by King George V and Queen Mary as the Princess Louise Hospital for Children in 1928. It joined the National Health Service in 1948 and was converted for geriatric use in 1970. After services transferred to St Charles' Hospital , the Princess Louise Hospital closed in 2006. The site was sold to the Clarendon Group and it was subsequently redeveloped for residential use. Kensington Kensington
806-614: The north east is situated the large public Royal Park of Kensington Gardens (contiguous with its eastern neighbour, Hyde Park ). The other main green area in Kensington is Holland Park , on the north side of the eastern end of Kensington High Street. Many residential roads have small communal garden squares , for the exclusive use of the residents. The sub districts of Kensington: South Kensington and Earl's Court also consist largely of private housing. North Kensington and West Kensington are largely devoid of features to attract
837-900: The southern part is only represented by the Holiday Inn 's London Kensington Forum Hotel in Cromwell Road , a 27-storey building. Notable attractions and institutions in Kensington include Kensington Palace in Kensington Gardens, the Royal Albert Hall opposite the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, the Royal College of Music , the Natural History Museum , the Science Museum , the Victoria and Albert Museum , Heythrop College , Imperial College ,
868-619: The southern part of Kensington has conflicting and complex borders with Chelsea (another ancient manor) whether electoral or postal definitions are used, and has similar architecture. To the west, a border is clearly defined by the line of the Counter Creek marked by the West London railway line . To the north, the only obvious border line is Holland Park Avenue, to the north of which is the district of Notting Hill (another ancient manor), usually classed as within "North Kensington". In
899-574: The visitor. Kensington is, in general, an extremely affluent area, a trait that it shares with Chelsea, its neighbour to the south. The area has some of London's most expensive streets and garden squares, and at about the turn of the 21st century the Holland Park neighbourhood became particularly high-status. In early 2007 houses sold in Upper Phillimore Gardens, immediately east of Holland Park , for over £20 million. Brompton
930-399: The west. Parallel to the north is Kensington Road (of which Kensington High Street forms the eastern part), linking central London and Hammersmith and Hounslow to the area. To the south is Fulham Road, which connects South Kensington with Fulham to the south-west. North-south connections are not as well-developed and there is no obvious single north–south route through the area. Kensington
961-497: Was taken seriously ill and cared for by Faritius , abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of St Mary at Abingdon . After a period of remission, Godfrey de Vere died in 1106 aged about 19. The de Vere family 's gratitude to the abbey for their son's care was recognised by its bequest of land 270 acres (1.1 km ). In 1262 the abbey founded a church and parish in Kensington, dedicated to St Mary . The epithet of Abbots