![Aragon House, Parsons Green, SW6 (5306977458)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Aragon_House%2C_Parsons_Green%2C_SW6_%285306977458%29.jpg)
Parsons Green is a mainly residential district in the
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The borou ...
. The
Green itself, which is roughly triangular, is bounded on two of its three sides by the New King's Road section of the
King's Road
King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...
,
A308 road and Parsons Green Lane. The wider neighbourhood is bounded by the Harwood and Wandsworth Bridge Roads,
A217 road
The A217 is a road in London and Surrey in England. It runs north–south. It runs from Kings Road in Fulham, London, crosses the Thames at Wandsworth Bridge, then passes through Wandsworth, Earlsfield, Summerstown, Tooting, Mitcham, Rosehi ...
to the East and Munster Road to the West, while the Fulham Road,
A3219 road
A3, A03 or A.III may refer to:
* A3 paper, a paper size defined by ISO 216
Biology
* A3 regulatory sequence, a sequence for the insulin gene
* Adenosine A3 receptor, a human gene
* Annexin A3, a human gene
* ATC code A03 ''Drugs for functi ...
may be said to define its northern boundary. Its southern boundary is less clearly defined as it merges quickly and imperceptibly with the Peterborough estate and Hurlingham.
At its historic centre lie two open spaces, the
Green itself and
Eel Brook Common
Eel Brook Common is common land in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, close to Fulham Broadway, with its south-eastern boundary along New King's Road. According to the Fulham Society, the name actually is a derivative of 'hill brook ...
. The name stems from the original
village green
A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...
, after the former residence of the rectors of Fulham Parish. It is one of the
Conservation area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
s in
Hammersmith and Fulham
The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The bor ...
, that extends from the borough boundary in the east to
Fulham High Street
Fulham High Street is a street in Fulham, London.
It runs north–south, from the junction with the western end of Fulham Road in the north, where it continues to Hammersmith as Fulham Palace Road, past the junction with the western end of ...
in the west.
History
Timber rights attached to the
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...
are mentioned in court rolls dating from 1391. In 1625 there were only six rated residents for the area. By 1706,
John Bowack
John Bowack (fl. 1737) was a British topographer, for many years a writing-master at Westminster School.
In 1705–6, when living in Church Lane, Chelsea, he began to publish, in folio numbers, 'The Antiquities of Middlesex, being a collection ...
opined in his ''Antiquities of Middlesex'' that it "was inhabited mostly by gentry and persons of quality".
Two
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
matches were held on
Parsons Green in 1731 and 1733, both between sides from
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
and
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
.
H. T. Waghorn
Henry Thomas Waghorn (11 April 1842 – 30 January 1930), was a cricket statistician and historian. He is best known for his two classic researches into cricket's early history: ''The Dawn of Cricket'' and Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730 - 1773 ...
(1906) ''The Dawn of Cricket'', p.9. Electric Press.
In the 18th century, changes continued with the building of grand houses with grounds. These were bought by merchants and bankers from the
City
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
and not infrequently by members of the Court and their 'associations'. The area acquired a somewhat louche reputation at that time.
Fulham F.C.
Fulham Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, London, which compete in the . They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spent at Loftus Road whilst Craven Cottage unde ...
had their ground in the park for two years from 1889. Early in the 20th century, a few test flights were carried out there with flying machines.
Parsons Green is referred to in an early poem by
Sir John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...
, ''The Varsity Students Rag'', as a place where the poem's protagonist is said to have a "run-in" with a policeman.
On 15 September 2017,
an explosion occurred on a
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
train at Parsons Green, injuring 29 people. The
improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechan ...
was placed in a bucket but did not fully detonate, with injuries being largely burn related. No fatalities were reported. An 18-year-old Iraqi refugee was arrested the next day at the
Port of Dover. He was subsequently sentenced to
life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
with a minimum jail term of 34 years, having found to have been in contact with members of
Islamic State
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
.
Demographics
In 2018, the ward of Parsons Green & Walham had a population of 11,041 people.
Parsons Green & Walham has the highest income of any ward in
Hammersmith and Fulham
The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The bor ...
, with an average gross household income of £63,700.
The ward is 56.8 per cent
White British
White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population wa ...
and 25.4 per cent
Other White
The term Other White is a classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom and has been used in documents such as the 2011 UK Census to describe people who self-identify as white (chiefly European) persons who are not of the English, Welsh, ...
, mainly consisting of
EU citizens
European Union citizenship is afforded to all citizens of member states of the European Union (EU). It was formally created with the adoption of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, at the same time as the creation of the EU. EU citizenship is additio ...
, Australasians and
North Americans
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...
.
Houses of note
* Holly Bush House – later 'East End', tenancy of
Maria Fitzherbert, demolished 1884
* Belfield House – home of
Mrs Jordan
Dorothea Jordan, née Bland (21 November 17615 July 1816), was an Anglo-Irish actress, as well as a courtesan. She was the long-time mistress of Prince William, Duke of Clarence, later William IV, and the mother of ten illegitimate children by ...
, later part of
Lady Margaret School
* Elm House – also became part of Lady Margaret School
* Henniker, later Park House, designed by
Thomas Cubitt
Thomas Cubitt (25 February 1788 – 20 December 1855) was a British master builder, notable for his employment in developing many of the historic streets and squares of London, especially in Belgravia, Pimlico and Bloomsbury. His great-great-g ...
, demolished 1889
*
Aragon House
*
Gosford Lodge
Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council (New South Wales), Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast region, about north of Sydney central ...
*
Pitts Place
Pitts may refer to:
People
* Allen Pitts, American born Canadian football player
* Antony Pitts (1969), British composer
* Boozer Pitts, American college football coach
* Byron Pitts, American reporter for CBS
* Chester Pitts, American football p ...
terrace, including, Albyn, Belgrave, Cradley, Rosslyn and Sefton
Notable residents of the Green
*
Sir William Butts (c.1486–1545) physician to
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
*
John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough
John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough (died 1642) was an English peer.
Life
He was the eldest son of Henry Mordaunt, 4th Baron Mordaunt, a Roman Catholic kept for a year in the Tower of London on suspicion of complicity in the Gunpowder Plot ...
at
Peterborough House
Peterborough House (''alias'' Millbank House, later Grosvenor House), on the south-west side of Parsons Green, near Eel Brook Common, was a London townhouse owned by the Mordaunt family, Earls of Peterborough and later by the Grosvenor family. ...
*
Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough at
Peterborough House
Peterborough House (''alias'' Millbank House, later Grosvenor House), on the south-west side of Parsons Green, near Eel Brook Common, was a London townhouse owned by the Mordaunt family, Earls of Peterborough and later by the Grosvenor family. ...
* Sir
John Powell (1645–1713) Baron of the Exchequer
The Barons of the Exchequer, or ''barones scaccarii'', were the judges of the English court known as the Exchequer of Pleas. The Barons consisted of a Chief Baron of the Exchequer and several puisne (''inferior'') barons. When Robert Shute was a ...
* Admiral Sir
Charles Wager
Admiral Sir Charles Wager (24 February 1666 – 24 May 1743) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who served as First Lord of the Admiralty from 1733 to 1742. Despite heroic active service and steadfast administration and diplomatic service, ...
(1666–1743)
*
Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson (baptised 19 August 1689 – 4 July 1761) was an English writer and printer known for three epistolary novels: ''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' (1740), '' Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady'' (1748) and ''The History of ...
(1689–1761) moved here from
North End, Fulham
North End was, until the last quarter of the 19th-century, a scattered hamlet among the fields and market gardens, between Counter's Creek and Walham Green in the Parish of Fulham in the County of Middlesex.
In connection with the development o ...
* T.
Crofton Croker
Thomas Crofton Croker (15 January 1798 – 8 August 1854) was an Irish antiquary, best known for his ''Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland'' (1825–1828), and who also showed considerable interest in Irish song and music. ...
(1798–1854) Irish antiquary and writer on Fulham
Transport
Bus route 22 includes New King's Road and the area is also served by
Parsons Green tube station
Parsons Green is an above-ground London Underground station on the branch of the District line that opened in 1880. It is between and stations and is in Zone 2. There are entrances on Parsons Green Lane and in Beaconsfield Walk. The statio ...
on the
District line
The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One branch runs to in south-west London and a short branch, with a limited serv ...
.
References
External links
Eel Brook Common.London Gardens Online.
{{Authority control
Areas of London
Cricket grounds in Middlesex
Defunct cricket grounds in England
Defunct sports venues in London
English cricket venues in the 18th century
Fulham F.C. home grounds
Fulham
Middlesex
Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Sport in London
Sports venues completed in 1731
Sports venues in London