Paddington is an area of the
City of
Westminster
, in Central London,
England
. Formerly a metropolitan borough,
it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London
in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are
Paddington
station
, designed by the celebrated engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and opened
in 1847; St Mary's Hospital
and Paddington Green police station
(the most important high-security police station in
the United
Kingdom
).
History
The
earliest extant reference to Padington, historically a part of Middlesex
, was made in the year 1056.
By 1773, a
contemporary historian determined that "London may now be said to
include two cities, one borough and forty six antient villages",
Paddington and adjoining Marybone (Marylebone
) being named as two of those villages.
Roman roads formed the parish's north-eastern and southern
boundaries from Marble Arch: Watling Street (later Edgware Road)
and the Uxbridge road, known in the 1860s as Bayswater Road. They
were
toll roads in the
1700s, before and after the dismantling of the permanent
Tyburn gallows "tree" at their
junction in 1759.
By 1800, the area was also traversed by the
Harrow
Road
and an arm of the Grand Union Canal
.
Historic personages and places
The great
Victorian poet Robert Browning
moved from No. 1 Chichester Road to Beauchamp Lodge, 19 Warwick
Crescent from 1862 until 1887. He is reputed to have named that
precinct, on the junction of two canals, "
Little Venice", a legend which was
disputed by Lord Kinross in 1966 and by London Canals. Both assert
that
Lord Byron
humorously coined the name, which is now applied more loosely to a
longer reach of the canal system.
Robert Baden-Powell, the founder
of the
scouting movement and hero
of the
Siege of Mafeking during
the
Second Boer War, was born in
Paddington on 22 February 1857.
St Mary's Hospital in Praed Street
is the site of several great medical
accomplishments. In 1874,
C R Alder Wright synthesised
heroin (diacetylmorphine). Also there, in
1928, Sir
Alexander Fleming first
isolated
penicillin, earning the award of
a
Nobel Prize. The hospital has an
Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum where visitors can see
Fleming's laboratory, restored to its 1928 condition, and explore
the story of Fleming and the discovery and development of
penicillin through displays and video.
The royal princes
William
(21 June 1982) and
Henry (15
September 1984) were both born at St Mary's Hospital.
The courageous
Edward Wilson,
physician,
naturalist and
ornithologist who died in 1912 on
Captain Robert Scott's ill-fated
British Antarctic expedition
had earlier practised as a doctor in Paddington. The former Senior
Street primary school was renamed the
Edward Wilson School after him in
1952.
Paddington station
Mainline station.
Mainline
Paddington
station is the terminus for commuter services to the west
of England (e.g., Slough
, Maidenhead
, Reading
, Swindon
) and
mainline services to Oxford
, Bristol
, Bath
, Taunton
, Exeter
, Plymouth
, Cornwall
and south Wales
(including
Cardiff
and Swansea
).
The
Heathrow Express services Heathrow
Airport
.
In the station are statues of its designer
Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the
children's fiction character
Paddington Bear.
Education
Gallery
Image:PaddBasin.jpg|Paddington Basin, Grand Union
CanalImage:EdgwRd.JPG|Edgware RoadImage:SussGdns.jpg|Sussex
GardensImage:VictPubPadd.jpg|Victoria pub, Gloucester Square
See also
References
- Noorthouck J A New History of London 1773 (Book 2, Ch. 1:
Situation and general view of London) Date accessed: 6 July
2009.
- Elrington C R (Editor), Baker T F T, Bolton D K , Croot P E C
(1989) A History of the County of Middlesex Paddington
pages in Volume 9, pp 173-272
- Letter to The Daily Telegraph, 1966
- The history of the place name known as 'Little
Venice'
- Fleming Museum
- Elrington C R (Editor), Baker T F T, Bolton D K , Croot P E C
(1989) Paddington-Introduction in A History of the County
of Middlesex: Volume 9 pp 173–272 (Links to following
sections, or see Table of contents)
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Misc
Search