Aragon House, Parsons Green, SW6 (5306977458)

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 boro ...

. 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 The A308 is a road in England in two parts. The first part runs from Central London to Putney Bridge. The second part runs from just beyond Putney Heath to Bisham, Berkshire. It traces four, roughly straight lines, to stay no more than fr ...

and Parsons Green Lane. The wider neighbourhood is bounded by the Harwood and Wandsworth Bridge Roads, A217 road to the East and Munster Road to the West, while the Fulham Road, A3219 road 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 c ...

. The name stems from the original

village green A village green is a common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for gathering cattle t ...

, 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, that extends from the borough boundary in the east to Fulham High Street 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 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 st ...

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 Wandswo ...

and Chelsea.

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 de ...

and not infrequently by members of the Court and their 'associations'. The area acquired a somewhat louche reputation at that time. Fulham F.C. 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 architectu ...

, ''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 counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The U ...

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 mecha ...

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 The Port of Dover is a cross-channel ferry, cruise terminal, maritime cargo and marina facility situated in Dover, Kent, south-east England. It is the nearest English port to France, at just away, and is one of the world's busiest maritime pa ...

. He was subsequently sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), 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 te ...

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 that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

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, 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 w ...

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, S ...

, 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 Car ...

Houses of note

* Holly Bush House – later 'East End', tenancy of

Maria Fitzherbert Maria Anne Fitzherbert (''née'' Smythe, previously Weld; 26 July 1756 – 27 March 1837) was a longtime companion of George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV of the United Kingdom). In 1785, they secretly contracted a marriage that was ...

, demolished 1884 * Belfield House – home of Mrs Jordan, 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- ...

, demolished 1889 * Aragon House *

Gosford Lodge Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extr ...

* Pitts Place 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 disagr ...

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 *

Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough and 1st Earl of Monmouth, (1658 – 25 October 1735) was an English nobleman and military leader. He was the son of John Mordaunt, 1st Viscount Mordaunt, and his wife Elizabeth, the daughter and sole he ...

at Peterborough House * 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 ...

* 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 servic ...

(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 ...

(1689–1761) moved here from North End, Fulham * T. Crofton Croker (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 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