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Having lived in this area for 20 years I have become increasingly interested in the history of the region. I have always had a love of maps. I recently combined the two interests by buying six maps from 1894 covering the area from Hampton Court almost to Richmond, from Alan Godfrey Maps. I have no connection with this company but I can strongly recommend their products.
The accompanying diagram (to follow) shows the area covered by the six maps. In days, weeks, or maybe even months I will examine each of the six maps in turn and highlight some of the major changes from 1894 until the present date, 2006.
The Thames Valley Railway, as the branch from Shacklegate Junction to Shepperton was called, was present in 1894, passing through Hampton Hill and Fulwell Station as it was then known. The station footbridge did not appear until later maps dated 1915. Our own house dates from 1910 it, so is not shown on the 1894 maps. Even a cursory inspection of the maps shows that much of this area was covered by gravel pits, nurseries, and greenhouses, as well as many many open fields.
Map 131 covers Teddington and Hampton Hill - in the north-west corner it shows just north of the junction of Burtons Lane and Uxbridge Road, although the latter was named Hounslow Road at the time. The north-eastern extremity is just north-east of the former public house, the Waldegrave Arms. In the south-west corner we have the junction of Broad Lane and Hanworth Road and to the south-east the junction of Queen's Road and Park Road. From East to West the map covers slightly more than a mile, and north to south slightly more than half a mile. At the time of writing each map costs just £2.20.
This map covers Hampton Hill, what is now Fulwell Golf Club, the Fulwell end of Teddington, north of Bushy Park, and as far east as the railway from Shacklegate Junction to Teddington station. There are houses on the north side of Fulwell Road, however there is very little between there and what is now Fulwell Station. There is a vague sign of what is now Clonmel Road. However no houses are shown there. King's Road and Princes Road both sported apostrophes in 1894, these seem to have subsequently disappeared! Coburg Road was subsequently named Connaught Road probably to remove the Germanic reference.
The area to the south-west of the junction of Princes Road and King's Road was largely covered by greenhouses and nurseries. Nearby the southern end of Alpha Road shows the Roebuck public house. Most of the land to the east of Alpha Road was, again greenhouses. The area to the south of the bend in Stanley Road, just south of the Red Lion public house shows mostly open fields. The northern side of Princes Road has just a single building at its junction with King's Road.
Strangely, the road we now know as York Road was named Florence Road in 1894. Elmtree Road was known as Little Florence Road! Now I wonder why they were changed? In 1894 Stanley Gardens Road was just known as Stanley Gardens. At the time of this map there were very few houses on the south side of Victor Road and none at all in Stanley Gardens, which then continued north to meet the former Little Florence Road at its junction with Victor Road. Between the western end of Shacklegate Lane and the then Florence Road there was a small orchard. Can we have it back please?
At the bottom of Stanley Road we can see the Methodist chapel, destroyed by a bomb during the Second World War. To the west of Church Road there were roads which have subsequently disappeared, again probably due to bombing during the Second World War, now replaced by a primary school. The north-west corner of Bushy Park is strangely devoid of any paths. To the immediate east of the path from Blandford Road into Bushy Park we see an old gravel pit. The area to the west of the middle of Queen's Road, now occupied by the National Physical Laboratory, was allotment gardens and greenhouses 110 years ago. The area opposite the southern end of Gloucester Road, near the main entrance to the National Physical Laboratory was largely covered by the grounds of Teddington Hall. On the south-west corner of Luther Road there used to be a police station. Can we have that back as well please?
The road south-east of Barclays Bank, The Causeway, which Alice and I used to look down on from our flat, was originally called Wolsey Road, possibly changed to avoid confusion with the same-named road in Hampton Hill. Near the site of what is now Teddington police station the 1894 map shows a substantial building, Teddington Lodge. Across the road the Park Hotel was still called the Clarence Hotel, although this was only changed in the last decade. Teddington cemetery in Shacklegate Lane shows a mortuary in the south-west corner. It is unclear how far north of the chapel the cemetery stretched at that time. At the top end of Stanley Road on the right, just over the railway there is another large gravel pit. The eastern side of Waldegrave Road, from its junction with Shacklegate Lane, or Shacklegate Road as it was known at the time, down as far as Linden Grove, has no houses on the eastern side, and a few hundred yards further to the east is the largest collection of greenhouses in the area.
I've tried to describe the differences in this area from 1894 to the present day in a structured manner but due to the irregular nature of the roads this has not always been possible. There is much that I have not mentioned in this area but it is time to move on to another map...
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