The Kensington Hippodrome was a

racecourse A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also use ...

built in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road Ma ...

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 ...

, in 1837, by entrepreneur John Whyte. Whyte leased of land from James Weller Ladbroke, owner of the

Ladbroke Estate The Ladbroke Estate was a substantial estate of land owned by the Ladbroke family in Notting Hill, London, England, in the early 19th century that was gradually developed and turned into housing during the middle years of the century, as London ...

,Wormell, 1 and proceeded to enclose "the slopes of Notting Hill and the meadows west of

Westbourne Grove Westbourne Grove is a retail road running across Notting Hill, an area of west London. Its western end is in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and its eastern end is in the City of Westminster; it runs from Kensington Park Road in th ...

" with a high wooden paling. The race course was not a financial success and it closed in 1842, the land being developed soon afterwards, as Ladbroke began building crescents of houses on Whyte's former race course.

History

Beginnings

Whyte's race course was an ambitious venture, his intention being to build a rival to the well established race courses of

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

and Ascot. On its opening, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' described it as a "disgusting ... petty botheration" and cried "shame upon the people of Kensington" for permitting it. ''Sporting'' magazine was however more charitable, its correspondent describing the venture as "the most perfect race-course I have ever seen", and as "an emporium even more extensive and attractive than Ascot or Epsom."

Pottery Lane

The stables and paddocks were situated alongside

Pottery Lane Pottery Lane is a street in Notting Hill, west London. Today it forms part of one of London's most fashionable and expensive neighbourhoods, but in the mid-19th century it lay at the heart of a wretched and notorious slum known as the "Potteri ...

. The Notting Hill grassy knoll (now surmounted by St John's church) was railed in as a "natural grandstand", from which spectators could watch the races.Wormell, 2 Unfortunately, because the racetrack bordered on the "Potteries and Piggeries" of Pottery Lane, (then a notorious slum known as "cut-throat lane") the race meetings were easily accessed by some of the poorer inhabitants of the neighbourhood. These were not the sort of customers that Whyte had in mind, and ''The Times'' correspondent complained of "the dirty and dissolute vagabonds of London, a more filthy and disgusting crew ... we have seldom had the misfortune to encounter." A public footpath traversing the land enclosed by Whyte's fences made it difficult to eject these unappealing visitors, whose "villainous activities" were a continual source of trouble. Another serious problem was the heavy clay soil characteristic of the neighbourhood (high quality clay was dug for brick making at nearby Pottery Lane), making for poor drainage, as a consequence of which the training ground became waterlogged and was unusable for long periods. From 1837 to 1842 just 13 meetings were held, with many jockeys refusing to take part, saying that the heavy clay ground made riding too dangerous.Wormall, 2

Decline and closure

Two stewards of the Hippodrome, Lord Chesterfield and Count D'Orsay, attempted to improve the deteriorating image of the racecourse by changing its name to "Victoria Park, Bayswater", but to no avail. The Kensington Vestry was unimpressed, and petitioned Parliament for the closure of the racecourse.Denny, p76 Whyte eventually moved the entry of the racecourse to comply with the right of way, and promised free entry to the public on Sundays and "special holidays". However, his financial position continued to deteriorate and in 1842 he gave up the struggle, and relinquished his lease back to James Weller Ladbroke, who shortly thereafter resumed the development of the

, building crescents of houses on Whyte's circular race track.

Legacy

Little trace of the racecourse remains today. Only Hippodrome Mews and Hippodrome Place, small streets off Portland Road (near

), serve as a memorial to Whyte's bold venture.

Notes

References

* Barbara Denny, ''Notting Hill and Holland Park Past'', Historical Publications, 1993. * ''The Hippodrome Race-course fiasco'', published in ''News from Ladbroke'', newsletter of the Ladbroke Association, Summer 1995, Mary-Jo Wormell. * ''A History of London'', Robert Gray, Hutchinson, 1978,

External links

*{{webarchive , date=2012-12-18 , url=https://archive.today/20121218021414/http://www.historytalk.org/Notting%20Hill%20Sport/sport1web%20racing.pdf , title=History of the Kensington Hippodrome Retrieved Feb 5 2010
map of Notting Hill in 1841 showing the location of the Kensington Hippodrome
Retrieved Feb 5 2010
''The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales: Volume 2''
Retrieved Feb 5 2010
British History Online
Retrieved August 2011 Defunct horse racing venues in England History of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Defunct sports venues in London Sports venues completed in 1837 Buildings and structures in Notting Hill