Julius Caesar may have forded the Thames at Kew in 54 BC during the Gallic Wars.[3] Successive Tudor, Stuart and Georgian monarchs maintained links with Kew. During the French Revolution, many refugees established themselves there and it was the home of several artists in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Today, Kew is an expensive residential area because of its prosperous suburban attributes. Among these are sports-and-leisure open spaces, schools, transport links, architecture, restaurants, no high-rise buildings, modest road sizes, trees and gardens. Most of Kew developed in the late 19th century, following the arrival of the District line of the London Underground. Further development took place in the 1920s and 1930s when new houses were built on the market gardens of North Sheen and in the first decade of the 21st century when considerably more river-fronting flats and houses were constructed by the Thames on land formerly owned by Thames Water.
Etymology
The sculpture Cayho by Mark Folds, on the towpath next to Kew Pier, is a play on words, with Kew's 14th-century name rendered as "keyhole".
The name Kew, recorded in 1327 as Cayho, is a combination of two words: the Old Frenchkai (landing place; "quay" derives from this) and Old Englishhoh (spur of land). The land spur is formed by the bend in the Thames.[6]
The Caxton Name Plate Manufacturing Company's former premises can still be identified from Kew Bridge, with its name on the building.1954 Dodge Kew lorry
A former industry in Kew was that of nameplate manufacturing, by the Caxton Name Plate Manufacturing Company, based on Kew Green. The company was founded in 1964 and folded in 1997.[9]
It was in Kew that viscose was first developed into rayon, in a laboratory near Kew Gardens station run by Cowey Engineering. Rayon was produced in a factory on South Avenue, off Sandycombe Road, before Courtaulds acquired the patents for rayon in 1904.[10]
Also on a site near Kew Gardens station, the engineering company F C Blake, now commemorated in the Kew street name Blake Mews,[11] produced petrol-powered traction engines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[12]
Chrysler and Dodge
Kew Retail Park stands on the site of a former aircraft factory established in 1918 by Harry Whitworth, who owned Glendower Aircraft Ltd. The factory built Airco DH.4s and Sopwith Salamanders for the British government in the First World War.[13]
In 1923 the now-redundant aircraft factory was sold and it became a factory for road vehicles.[13] From the 1920s until 1967, Dodge made lorries at this factory, with the model name Kew. Cars were also manufactured there.[14] Dodge Brothers became a Chrysler subsidiary in 1928 and lorry production moved to Chrysler's car plant at Kew. In 1933 it began to manufacture a British chassis, at its works in Kew, using American engines and gearboxes.[15] After Chrysler bought the Maxwell Motor Company and their Kew works, the cars of the lighter Chrysler range – Chryslers, De Sotos and Plymouths – were assembled at this Kew site until the Second World War. The various models of De Sotos were named Richmond, Mortlake and Croydon; Plymouths were Kew Six and Wimbledon.[16]
During the Second World War this Chrysler factory was part of the London Aircraft Production Group and built Handley Page Halifax aircraft assemblies. When wartime aircraft production ceased, the plant did not resume assembly of North American cars.
Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester (c.1460–1526) was granted lands at Kew in 1517. When he died in 1526 he left his Kew estates to his third wife, Eleanor, with the remainder to his son George. In 1538 Sir George Somerset sold the house for £200 to Thomas Cromwell (c.1485–1540), who resold it for the same amount to Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk (c. 1484–1545). Brandon had probably already inhabited Kew during the life of his wife Mary Tudor, the daughter of Henry VII and widow of the French king Louis XII. According to John Leland's Cygnea Cantio ("Swan Song"), she stayed in Kew (which he refers to as "Cheva")[17] for a time after her return to England.[18]
One of Henry VIII's closest friends, Henry Norris (c.1482–1536), lived at Kew Farm,[19] which was later owned by Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (1532–1588).[20] This large palatial house on the Thames riverbank predated the royal palaces of Kew Palace and the White House. Excavations at Kew Gardens in 2009 revealed a wall that may have belonged to the property.[21]
In Elizabeth's reign, and under the Stuarts, houses were developed along Kew Green.[22]West Hall, which survives in West Hall Road, dates from at least the 14th century and the present house was built at the end of the 17th century.[23]
Elizabeth Stuart (1596–1662), daughter of James I, later known as the "Winter Queen", was given a household at Kew in 1608.[18]
The Hanoverians maintained the strongest links with Kew, in particular Princess Augusta who founded the botanic gardens[25] and her husband Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707–1751) who lived at the White House in Kew. Augusta, as Dowager Princess of Wales, continued to live there until her death in 1772.[26] Frederick commissioned the building of the first substantial greenhouse at Kew Gardens.[27]
King William IV spent most of his early life at Richmond and at Kew Palace, where he was educated by private tutors.[28]
Georgian expansion
During the French Revolution, many refugees established themselves in Kew, having built many of the houses of this period. In the 1760s and 1770s the presence of royalty attracted artists such as Thomas Gainsborough and Johann Zoffany.[18][29]
Artists associated with Kew
Diana Armfield (born 1920) lives in Kew.[30][31] She is known for landscapes, and has also painted portraits, literary subjects and still lifes. She has a particular interest in flower paintings, and is considered to owe much to the tradition of Walter Sickert.[32][33]
Margaret Backhouse (1818–1896) was a successful British portrait and genre painter during the 19th century who lived at Lichfield Villas.[34]
Franz (later Francis) Bauer (1758–1840) was an Austrian microscopist and botanical artist who became the first botanical illustrator at Kew Gardens. By 1790 he had settled at Kew, where as well as making detailed paintings and drawings of flower dissections, often at microscopic level, he tutored Queen Charlotte, her daughter Princess Elizabeth and William Hooker in the art of illustration, and often entertained friends and botanists at his home. He is buried at St Anne's,[35] next to Thomas Gainsborough.
The American-born English artist Walter Deverell (1827–1854), who was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, lived at 352 Kew Road, then called Heathfield House. He had a studio at the end of the garden where there are now garages. In this setting he painted "The Pet".[36]
Bernard Dunstan (1920–2017) lived in Kew. He was an artist, teacher and author, best known for his studies of figures in interiors and landscapes. At the time of his death, he was the longest serving Royal Academician.[31]
Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788), who is considered one of the most important British artists of the second half of the 18th century,[39] visited Kew many times, staying with his friend Joshua Kirby and, after Kirby's death, in a house probably rented by his daughter close to St Anne's Church, where he is buried.[29]
Sir Peter Lely (1618–1680), portrait painter, had a house on the north side of Kew Green.[54] On almost exactly the same site, Jeremiah Meyer (1735–1789), miniaturist to Queen Charlotte and George III, built a house a century later. Meyer is buried at St Anne's.[29]
Charles Mozley (1914–1991), artist and art teacher, lived and died at 358 Kew Road, Kew.[55][56]
Victorian artist Marianne North (1830–1890) did not live in Kew, but she left to Kew Gardens her collection of botanic art, painted on her extensive overseas travels, and funded a gallery – the Marianne North Gallery – to house them.[57]
French Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) stayed in 1892 at 10 Kew Green, on the corner of Gloucester Road, now marked by a blue plaque.[58] During his stay he painted Kew Gardens – Path to the Great Glasshouse (1892)[1], Kew Greens (1892)[2] and Church at Kew (1892)[3]. His third son, Félix Pissarro (1874–1897), painter, etcher and caricaturist, died in a sanatorium at 262 Kew Road in 1897.[59]
Charles Shannon (1863–1937), artist best known for his portraits, died in Kew[60] at 21 Kew Gardens Road.
Unsurprisingly, many botanists have lived in Kew, near the botanic gardens:
Grave of John Smith and his family in the churchyard at St Anne's
William Aiton (1731–1793), botanist, was appointed director in 1759 of the newly established botanical garden at Kew, where he remained until his death. He effected many improvements at the gardens, and in 1789 he published Hortus Kewensis, a catalogue of the plants cultivated there.[nb 1] When he died, he was succeeded as director at Kew Gardens by his son William Townsend Aiton (1766–1849), who was also a botanist, and was born in Kew.[64] William Townsend Aiton was one of the founders of the Royal Horticultural Society.[64] He retired in 1841 but remained living at Kew, although passing much of his time with his brother at Kensington where he died in 1849.[64] Both father and son lived at Descanso House on Kew Green and are buried in St Anne's churchyard[64] where the substantial family tomb is a prominent feature. Inside the church there is also a memorial to them.[65]
Sir William Hooker (1785–1865) and his son Sir Joseph Hooker (1817–1911), botanists and directors of Kew Gardens, lived at 49 Kew Green, Kew. The site is marked by a blue plaque.[66][67]
John Smith (1798–1888), botanist, the first curator at Kew Gardens, lived on Kew Green.[72] He died at Park House, Kew Road, and is buried in St Anne's churchyard.[73]
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (1713–1792), botanist and honorary director of Kew Gardens 1754–72, adviser to Princess Augusta and tutor to George III and, later, Prime Minister of Great Britain 1762–63, lived at King's Cottage, 33 Kew Green.[75]
Ferruccio Bonavia (1877–1950), violinist, composer and music critic, lived at 352 Kew Road, Kew from 1914 until 1919.[78]
Sir Arthur Herbert Church (1834–1915), chemist, who was an expert on pottery, stones and the chemistry of paintings, lived and died at Shelsley, a detached house at 21 Ennerdale Road, Kew[79] which has since been demolished; the site is now occupied by Voltaire, a Modernist block of flats designed by Vivien Pilley (A V Pilichowski).[80][81]
Richard Cook (1957–2007), jazz writer, magazine editor and former record company executive, was born in Kew.[82]
Elinor May Jenkins (1893–1920), war poet, and her brother Arthur Lewis Jenkins (1892–1917), soldier, pilot and war poet, who are buried next to each other in Richmond Cemetery, lived at the family home at Sussex House, 220 Kew Road. The house has been demolished and its name has been given to a block of flats that has been built on the site.[87][88]
Phil Lynott (1949–1986), Irish rock guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and leader of Thin Lizzy, lived in Kew.[91]
Andrew Millar (1705–1768), Scottish bookseller and publisher, owned a country home on Kew Green[92][93] and died there in 1768.[nb 2]
Samuel Molyneux (1689–1728), Member of Parliament and an amateur astronomer, who was married to Lady Elizabeth Diana Capel, the eldest daughter of Algernon Capell, 2nd Earl of Essex, inherited Kew House on the death of Lady Capel of Tewkesbury.[94] Molyneux set up an observatory at the house and collaborated there with James Bradley in innovative designs for reflecting telescopes.[94] Kew House which later, as the White House, became the home of Prince Frederick and Princess Augusta, was pulled down in 1802 when George II's short-lived gothic "castellated palace" was built.[95]
Desmond Morton (1891–1971), soldier, intelligence officer and personal assistant to Winston Churchill 1940–45, lived at 22 Kew Green 1952–71.[96]
Clementina Jacobina Sobieski Schnell (1760–1842), lived for 53 years at the Little Red House on Kew Green. She was related to Flora MacDonald. Her husband, Francis Schnell, was tutor to Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. She died in 1842 when her headdress caught fire.[100][101]
In the ten years from the time of the 2001 census, the population rose from 9,445[125] to 11,436,[1] the sharpest ten-year increase in Kew since the early 20th century. This was partly accounted for by the conversion of former Thames Water land to residential use, and increases in property sizes. The figures are based on those for Kew ward,[125] the boundaries of the enlarged parish having been adjusted to allow for all wards in the borough to be equally sized.
In the 2011 census, 66.2% of Kew's population were White British. Other White was the second largest category at 16%, with 8.1% being Asian.[126]
Transport
In the past, a main mode of transport between Kew and London, for rich and poor alike, was by water along the Thames, which separated Middlesex (on the north bank) from Surrey: Kew was also connected to Brentford, Middlesex by ferry, first replaced by a bridge in 1759. The current Kew Bridge, which carries the South Circular Road (the A205), was opened by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1903.[26]
Kew Road (A307) passes through Kew as a single carriageway, and provides the main road link to Richmond. The M4 motorway starts a short distance north of Kew, providing access to Heathrow Airport and the west. The A316 road starts in Chiswick and continues over Chiswick Bridge and a complex junction with the South Circular Road at Chalker's Corner at the south-eastern end of the district.
Kew Bridge, which carries the A205 South Circular Road. Beside the bridge is Kew Pier, which serves tourist ferries operating under licence from London River Services.
Kew Pond, near the northeast corner of Kew Green, believed to date from the tenth century,[129] is originally thought to have been a natural pond fed from a creek of the tidal Thames. During high (spring) tides, sluice gates are opened to allow river water to fill the pond via an underground channel. The pond is concreted, rectangular in shape and contains an important reed bed habitat which is vital for conservation and resident water birds.
North Sheen Recreation Ground in Dancer Road, known locally as "The Rec", was originally part of an orchard belonging to the Popham Estate, owned by the Leyborne Pophams whose family seat was at Littlecote House, Wiltshire. Opened in June 1909 and extended in 1923, it now contains football pitches, a running track, a children's paddling pool andtwo extensive playgrounds.[130] It is also the home of a local football club, Kew Park Rangers. A sports pavilion[131] was opened in September 2011.[132]
Pensford Field,[133] previously playing fields of the former Gainsborough School, is now a nature reserve and also the home of Pensford Tennis Club and of Dose of Nature, a mental health and well-being charity.[134]
St Luke's Open Space, a quiet sitting area and toddlers' play area, was previously a playground for a former Victorian primary school.[135][nb 3]
Westerley Ware is at the foot of Kew Bridge. It was created as a memorial garden to the fallen in the First World War, and also has a grass area, three hard tennis courts and a children's playground. Its name refers to the practice of netting weirs or "wares" to catch fish.[136][137]
The Kew Horticultural Society, founded in 1938, organises an annual show in late August/early September[144][145][146] as well as talks, events and outings throughout the year.
The Kew Society, founded in 1901 as the Kew Union,[142] is a civic society that seeks to enhance the beauty of Kew and preserve its heritage. It reviews all planning applications in Kew with special regard to the architectural integrity and heritage of the neighbourhood, and plays an active role in the improvement of local amenities. The Society, which is a member of Civic Voice,[147] organises community events including lectures and outings and produces a quarterly newsletter.
Darell Primary and Nursery School is on Darell Road and Niton Road. It opened in 1906, as the Darell Road Schools, at the southern end of what had been the Leyborne-Popham estate.[149] It was Richmond Borough Council's first primary school and was built in the Queen Anne Revival style, in brick with white stone facings. Although it has been extended several times, it is now the only Richmond borough primary school still in its historic original pre-1914 building.[150]
Kew Riverside Primary School, on Courtlands Avenue, opened in 2003.[151]
The King’s Church of England Primary School is in Cumberland Road, where it moved in 1969.[152] In her will of 1719, Dorothy, Lady Capel of Kew House left to four trustees Perry Court Farm in Kent, which she had inherited from her father. One twelfth of the rent from the farm was to be given to St Anne's Church to establish a school in Kew.[153] In 1810, a "Free School" was opened in the church for 50 children, financed by subscribers who gave one guinea a year, in addition to a contribution by King George III. In 1824 the school moved to a site near the pond on Kew Green. The foundation stone was laid on 12 August, the birthday of King George IV, who gave £300 on condition that it be called "The King's Free School". Queen Victoria gave permission for it to be called "The Queen's School" and decreed that its title should change with that of the monarch.[152]
Independent preparatory schools
Broomfield House School, on Broomfield Road, was founded in 1876.[154]
Kew College Prep, a co-educational school for 3- to 11-year-olds, was founded in 1927 by Mrs Ellen Upton in rooms over a shop in Kew. Mrs Upton's young daughter was one of the first pupils. The school later moved to Cumberland Road. In 1953, Mrs Upton retired and sold the school to Mrs Hamilton-Spry who, in 1985, handed over the buildings to a charitable trust to ensure the school's long term continuity.
Unicorn School, established in 1970, is a co-educational, parent-owned independent preparatory school on Kew Road, opposite Kew Gardens.[155]
Former schools
In the 19th century, Leopold Neumegen operated a school for Jews at Gloucester House in Kew after his earlier school in Highgate closed and when, for financial reasons, he needed to commence work again.[156]
From 1890 to 1906 local Roman Catholics met in a temporary chapel at a Catholic mission on Kew Gardens Road. Designed by the architects Scoles & Raymond, the new church was opened in 1906 and the side aisles, baptistery and chapels were added in 1968. The sanctuary was remodelled in 1977 and the church was refurbished and decorated in 1998. A parish hall is located next to the church. After a parishioner's bequest paid off the church's debts, the church was dedicated and consecrated in 1979.
Built in 1714 on land given by Queen Anne, the church, now Grade II* listed, has been extended several times. The present parish hall was built in 1978. The churchyard has two Grade II* listed monuments – the tombs of the artists Johan Zoffany (d. 1816) and Thomas Gainsborough (d. 1788).
Founded in 1889, St Luke's now forms a joint parish with the Barn Church (below). The church, built in the Gothic Revival style by architects Goldie, Child and Goldie, was redesigned in 1983 to create a smaller space for Christian worship in the former chancel area and to enable the former nave, and a second hall constructed in a loft conversion, to be used for community purposes also: it now hosts the Kew Community Trust and acts as a community centre.
Founded in 1929, this was the first barn church to be consecrated in England. Local Anglicans previously worshipped at St Peter's, a hall erected in 1910 (and now demolished) on the corner of Marksbury Avenue and Chilton Road. The church building was constructed in 1929 from a 17th- (or possibly 16th-) century barn from Oxted in Surrey. The west end was converted in 2002 into a large parish room with a gallery above looking down the length of the building. The sanctuary was refurbished and remodelled in 1998.
Kew Baptist Church, a Grace Baptist church, was founded in 1861 in Richmond as Salem Baptist Church. It moved in 1973 to a new building on Windsor Road in Kew, adopting the name Kew Baptist Church in 1990, and closed in 2020.
the late 19th-century Cambridge Road Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, previously known as the Gloucester Road Wesleyan Methodist Chapel[157] and also known as Cambridge Road Methodist Church,[158] which was in use from 1891 to 1969.[158] It is now a private residence.
A late Victorian Salvation Army hall at 6 North Road, built in the style of a chapel, was converted into flats (1–5 Quiet Way) in the early 21st century.[159]
Go down to Kew in lilac-time, in lilac-time, in lilac-time;
Go down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from London!)
And you shall wander hand in hand with love in summer's wonderland;
Go down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from London!)
Lady Croom: My hyacinth dell is become a haunt for hobgoblins, my Chinese bridge, which I am assured is
superior to the one at Kew, and for all I know at Peking, is
usurped by a fallen obelisk overgrown with briars.
^Stevens-Stratten, S W (1983). British Lorries 1945–1983 (2nd, revised ed.). Littlehampton Book Services Ltd. ISBN978-0711013001.
^Kimes, Beverly (1996). Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805–1942. Krause Publications. pp. 306–334. ISBN0-87341-478-0.
^Leland, John (translated by Sutton, Dana F) (1545). "Cygnea Cantio". Cygnea Cantio (Swan Song). The Philological Museum. Retrieved 31 May 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ abcMalden, H E, ed. (1911). "Parishes: Kew". A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3. London. pp. 482–487. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
^John Joshua Kirby in the RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History). Retrieved 24 December 2018.
^ abcdLysons, Daniel (1792). "Kew". The Environs of London: volume 1: County of Surrey. Centre for Metropolitan History. pp. 202–211. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
^"Matilda Smith, A.L.S."Journal of the Kew Guild. Annual Report, 1925–1926. 1927: 527–528. 1927. Archived from the original on 3 March 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2021 – via ISSUU.
^Adams, Mike; Dunrossil, Diana. "The History of Kew Pond"(PDF). The Kew Society. Archived(PDF) from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
Cloake, John (1996). Palaces and Parks of Richmond and Kew vol. II: Richmond Lodge and the Kew Palaces. Chichester: Phillimore & Co Ltd. ISBN978-1860770234. OCLC36045530. OL 8627654M.
Cloake, John (2001). Cottages and Common Fields of Richmond and Kew. Chichester: Phillimore & Co Ltd. ISBN978-1860771958.
Members of the Richmond Local History Society (2022). The Streets of Richmond and Kew (4th, expanded edition). London: Richmond Local History Society. ISBN978-1912-314034.
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