Queen's Road is a street in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

in the

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in south-west Greater London, London, England, forms part of Outer London and is the only London boroughs, London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller ...

, running southwestwards from Sheen Road up Richmond Hill until it meets the street of that name by the former Star and Garter Home. It forms a section of the B353 road and runs roughly parallel to the edge of

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, Cha ...

. Pesthouse Common, now an area of open space but previously the site of a

plague house A pest house, plague house, pesthouse or fever shed was a type of building used for persons afflicted with communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera, smallpox or typhus. Often used for forcible quarantine, many towns and cities had one ...

, is located near the northern end of the street. The street includes three schools – Christ's School which is a secondary school, and two primary schools, Marshgate Primary School and St Elizabeth's RC Primary School. The former Richmond Theological College was the site of the Richmond American University from 1972 to 2022 until it relocated to Chiswick Park. The street dates back until at least the eighteenth century, when it was a carriageway across

common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

in what was then largely rural

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. Historically named Black Horse Lane after a

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

at the junction with Sheen Road, it gained its current name in the 1840s when, according to the

Richmond Local History Society Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commis ...

, it was "almost certainly" renamed in honour of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. The street was improved from 1825 at the behest of Joseph Ellis, the owner of the Star and Garter Hotel, despite concerns from

tradesman that his might mean that visitors would bypass the town when travelling to Richmond Hill.Walford p.381 Some of the street's older buildings, including the

Grade II-listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Richmond Gate Hotel, are at its southern end. The more modern

social housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

of the Queen's Road Estate was developed between 1971 and 1983 by the Richmond Parish Lands Charity and designed by the architects Darbourne & Darke. The first phase of the estate was Grade II listed by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

in 2012. The history of the street was the subject of a

Museum of Richmond The Museum of Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is located in Richmond's Old Town Hall, close to Richmond Bridge. It was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 October 1988. An independent museum and a register ...

exhibition in 2020/21. A digital version of the exhibition is still available to view online.

References

Bibliography

* Nairn, Ian & Pevsner, Nikolaus. ''The Buildings of England: Surrey''.

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

, 1962. * Members of the Richmond Local History Society. ''The Streets of Richmond and Kew''.

, fourth edition, 2022. . *

. ''Queen's Road: 500 Years of History'', exhibition booklet, 28pp, 2020. * Walford, Edward. ''Greater London: A Narrative of Its History, Its People and Its Places, Volume 2''. Cassell, 1898. 1840s establishments in England Streets in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Richmond, London Richmond Hill, London {{coord missing, London