Campden Hill is a hill in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the 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 Garden ...

, West

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, bounded by

Holland Park Avenue Holland Park Avenue is a street located in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London. The street runs from Notting Hill Gate in the east to the Holland Park Roundabout in the west, forms a part of the old west road c ...

on the north,

Kensington High Street Kensington High Street is the main shopping street in Kensington, London, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Kensington High Street is the continuation of Kensington Road and part ...

on the south, Kensington Palace Gardens on the east and Abbotsbury Road on the west. The name derives from the former ''Campden House'', built by Baptist Hicks, 1st Viscount Campden whose country seat was ''Campden House'' in the Gloucestershire town of

Chipping Campden Chipping Campden is a market town in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century. ("Chipping" is from Old English ''cēping'', 'market', 'market- ...

. The hill contains

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that contains a street and public park of the same name. It has no official boundaries but is roughly bounded by Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road to ...

, the former deer-park of Holland House, the remains of which important mansion house stand on the south-west corner of the hill. To the east of Holland House, the south-west side of the hill is characterized by large Victorian houses which are part of the Phillimore estate.

Aubrey House Aubrey House is a large 18th-century detached house with two acres of gardens in the Campden Hill area of Holland Park in west London, W8. It is a private residence. Known for a long time as Notting Hill House, by the 1860s it had been named ...

is situated on top of Campden Hill. Campden Hill Square on the north-west side is formed of large Regency houses. The small street called Campden Hill runs from

Campden Hill Road Campden Hill Road is a street in Kensington, London W8. It runs north to south from Notting Hill Gate to Kensington High Street. History Campden Hill Road was originally called Plough Lane. By 1879, William Abbott, a stockbroker, "held the lea ...

westward into Holland Park. It was built on part of the grounds of the former Bute House. Bute House was built c.1812, and was named after the second

Marquess of Bute Marquess of the County of Bute, shortened in general usage to Marquess of Bute, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute. Family history John Stuart was the member of a family that ...

who lived there from 1830 until 1842. The next occupant was Hon. William Sebright Lascelles, the brother of the third Earl of Harewood; his widow Lady Lascelles lived there until 1856. The sixth

Duke of Rutland Duke of Rutland is a title in the Peerage of England, named after Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. Earldoms named after Rutland have been created three times; the ninth earl of the third creation was made duke in 1703, in whos ...

lived there from 1865 until his death in 1888. The last owner was Blundell Charles Weld, a Lancashire landowner, who renamed the house Blundell House. After he left the house in 1912 or 1913 it was demolished. 1 Campden Hill was built in 1915 by Colonel Edmond Hills, President of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NG ...

and his wife Juliet, to the designs of Edward P. Warren. A street named Observatory Gardens is situated nearby. From the 1950s to 2001, it was the residence of the Ambassador of

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and has since been marketed by the Phillimore Estate as a private home. Campden Hill Gate, a mansion block of flats, was used for the filming of the ITV dramatization of the Agatha Christie short story, "The Adventure of the Cheap Flat" (1990) in their ''

Agatha Christie's Poirot ''Poirot'' (also known as ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'') is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2013. David Suchet starred as the eponymous detective, Agatha Christie's fictional Her ...

'' series. Earlier Campden Hill had been the setting for a popular mystery story by

Victor Bridges Victor Bridges (real name Victor George de Freyne, 14 March 1878 – 29 November 1972) was a prolific English author of detective and fantasy fiction, and also a playwright and occasional poet. Life Born on 14 March 1878 at Clifton, Bristol, Vic ...

: ''The Red Lodge: A Mystery of Campden Hill'' (1924). 50 Campden Hill Square, was the home, from 1907 to 1939, of

Evelyn Underhill Evelyn Underhill (6 December 1875 – 15 June 1941) was an English Anglo-Catholic writer and pacifist known for her numerous works on religion and spiritual practice, in particular Christian mysticism. Her best-known is ''Mysticism'', published ...

the Christian philosopher, teacher and pacifist. It is marked with a blue plaque. The

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

building at 114 Campden Hill Road, dating from 1826. The top of the hill was the site of water-tower reservoirs established in the 19th century by the Grand Junction Waterworks Company and the

West Middlesex Waterworks Company The West Middlesex Waterworks Company was a utility company supplying water to parts of west London in England. The company was established in 1806 with works at Hammersmith and became part of the publicly owned Metropolitan Water Board in 190 ...

. Notable birthplace of: writer, poet, philosopher G. K. Chesterton who wrote in his ''

Autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

''autobiography that he was born on Campden Hill, Kensington and mentioned the water-tower as well.

References

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