Long-time London resident and avid museum and theatre-goer. I started this blog in 2014, and got serious about it in 2020 when I realised how much I missed arts and culture during lockdowns. I go to a lot more events than anyone would think is sensible, and love sharing my thoughts in the forms of reviews, the occasional thought piece, and travel recommendations when I leave my London HQ.
An illustrated walk around Paddington, once a distinct village, and now very much part of the behemoth that is London. Nothing remains of Paddington prior to the late 18th Century, but the faintest traces of a lost village atmosphere are still in the air.
Ooh, is that a new book I spy, by our favourite London walks author John Wittich? Yes it is, good spotting! Today we are following one of these Discovering London Villages walks.
Paddington – Not What I Would Call A Village
Well these days you would be right. Paddington is a London neighbourhood, a train station, a well-mannered bear, but not really a village. If you go back a few centuries, however, Paddington was “a village situated on the Edgware Road, about a mile from London.” And if you go much further back to Saxon times, this was the homestead (-‘ton’ suffix) of the Paeda family. So there is a long history here. According to our guidebook, however, which is John Wittich‘s Discovering London Villages, the oldest building in Paddington now dates to 1791. That shows you the level of change – repurposing, industrialisation, population growth – in this area in just over 200 years.
Paddington is not a part of London I know well, apart from getting the odd train from its station. Wandering its sidestreets and trying to imagine the village beneath the smart houses and busy roads is a good way to get to know it a little better. Join me as we explore Paddington!
Around Paddington Green
We begin today at Paddington Green, seen here from a busy road as we head for St Mary’s Church. Paddington Green was initially a large area of common land. It reduced in size in the 17th and 18th Centuries due to the encroachment of housing, and was fenced off to try to protect it. Today a couple of sections remain, with a lane separating them. There is this colourful part here, and a more open section of former churchyard which we will see shortly.Here is St Mary’s Church, Paddington Green. It is the third church on this site, and was built to plans by John Plaw between 1788 and 1791. According to Wittich, this makes it the oldest building still standing in Paddington. He also says that it takes the form of a Greek cross, with an inscription in Greek over the doorway. I didn’t see any such inscription, but the square-ish shape is quite nice. Barry Edward O’Meara is one of those buried in the crypt. He was a doctor-surgeon to Napoleon, but his grave is no longer visible due to works done when the church doubled as a WWI shelter.This is the other, more open part of Paddington Green. It was formerly part of the churchyard, and a few headstones remain. That of actress Sarah Siddons is under full wrought-iron protection. She was famous for Shakespearean roles, and over 5,000 people attended her 1831 funeral. Benjamin Robert Haydon‘s grave is in the last image. An artist, he fell out with his patrons and painted almost unsellable works before taking his own life in 1846.A neat row of very worn headstones lines up along the wall of the park.
Paddington Green (Continued) To Grand Union Canal
We are back now at that first section of Paddington Green, which we saw from the road. Our book today is from 1976, so when it talks about Paddington Technical College, I’m guessing that’s City of Westminster College. Before it was any kind of college, Greville House stood on this spot. Emma Hart was once a servant here; she is better known as Lady Emma Hamilton as she met and married Sir William Hamilton, uncle of the Hon. Charles Greville and Ambassador to Naples. It is no secret that she had affairs with a number of notable men including Lord Nelson (one of her children was Horatia), but our book is too polite to mention this.And to finish off the Paddington Green section of our walk, let’s take a closer look at this statue. This is Sarah Siddons, the actress whose grave we saw at the other side of the Green. The pose derives from a painting of Siddons by Joshua Reynolds, now in the Dulwich Picture Gallery. This was the first London statue of a woman not part of the royal family.We now have to make our way across a huge expanse of building sites and new tower blocks, none of which were here when Wittich was writing in 1976. Definitely no traces here of Paddington as a village!The Grand Union Canal bisects today’s walk, but strangely Wittich doesn’t even mention it. Perhaps because it opened in 1801, when Paddington as a village did not have much time left? Today it is a nice contrast to all the busy roads nearby. I saw a lot of paddle boarders and moorings for canal boats. This is near where the Grand Union and Regent’s canals meet, but is a dead end arm so doesn’t get too much traffic.
Praed Street To A Non-Existent Milestone
We have made it around Paddington Station and several back streets and picked up our walk again at Praed Street. This nice brick building is Saint Mary’s Hospital. After a close inspection, we have found the plaque our book mentions; Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin here by accident when a mould spore blew in through the window!Not officially part of our walk, but I have developed a secondary hobby of peering down Mews and looking for ghost signs on buildings. These are both nice examples.Wittich says that this end of Norfolk Square has a gate to prevent cars driving in. I guess that is achieved with bollards today. Norfolk Square is nice and quiet. It is lined with tourist hotels which are currently under-occupied, so there were plenty of empty seats for me to enjoy the gardens. Prior to these lovely gardens, this site contained a reservoir, later supplanted by a church.Oh go on then, just another quick peek down a mews. If this other example is anything to go by, the Boatmen’s Institution was an outreach programme by the London City Mission. They provided education (including religious) to the children of canal boatmen, as well as women’s and other services.Ok, so these two are photos of something that was not there. Our book tells us that there should be a Lloyds Bank at the corner of Star Street and Edgware Road. Behind the window of this bank, you could see an ancient milestone telling you Tyburn was 1/2 mile away. Well there is no Lloyds on that corner, but I took a photo of the most likely contender for where it used to be – that building has the look of a former bank. I had a look around, but couldn’t find any ‘ancient marker’, even in the Lloyds just down the street a bit. Oh well, a casualty of ever-changing London I guess.
Paddington’s Squares And Crescents
On the way to our next stop, we catch up with a couple of historic Paddington residents we have met already. The terrace in the top image was once home to Barry O’Meara, doctor to Napoleon. And the street in the bottom image was home to artist Benjamin Robert Haydon, although the building itself no longer stands.Cambridge Square (there’s an Oxford Square nearby) is lovely, leafy and… private. Like quite a few of the gardens around here and in other wealthy London neighbourhoods. Two progressive public figures have called Cambridge Square home: Thomas Armitage and William Ewart. Armitage advocated for the use of braille as a standard in printed texts for blind people. He also founded what is now the Royal National Institute for the Blind. Ewart was an MP who fought against capital punishment. His work in the 1830s enabled the abolishment of some of the worst excesses like hanging in chains or execution for cattle-stealing, but capital punishment continued until 1965. He also came up with the idea of blue plaques to commemorate notable public figures, which we have benefited from on many walks!This is the Parish Church of St John the Evangelist with St Michael and All Angels. Quite a mouthful – the church took on the parish of St Michael after it was bombed in WWII. The architect apparently took his inspiration from New College, Oxford.
Paddington’s Pubs and Convents
The Victoria is a recommended refreshment stop on our walk – alas I went before 17 May so no such luck. Charles Dickens, of course, frequented this pub in 1870 (as far as I can tell he drank at literally every pub in London). And our guidebook says that the upstairs Gaiety Bar has furnishings from the Gaiety Theatre. I am not 100% sure if that’s still the case, but from these photos it looks like it might be.A word of warning – some residents spotted me peering down this dog-leg alleyway, so you do have to be careful. Anyway, under these flats was once a burial ground. Body snatchers stole the body of Laurence Sterne (author of Tristram Shandy) from here in 1768; they sold it to the professor of anatomy at Cambridge who was a friend of Sterne, and thankfully arranged his return and reburial. This was also the burial place of artist Paul Sandby, founding member of the Royal Academy. To combat grave robbing, this burial ground later had two walls, six feet apart (hard to heave a body over something like that).Around the corner and facing Hyde Park is the Tyburn Convent. A convent, you say? Right in central London? Well yes! This order of Catholic nuns left France circa 1901 due to persecution, and set up near the site of the Tyburn Tree, a place of public execution for centuries. More pertinently, over 100 Catholics were martyred here during the Reformation. The nuns maintain a 24/7 vigil praying for their souls. It is normally possible to visit so I may pop back at some stage.Did you spot it? I didn’t at first, so I had to google what I was meant to be looking for. This is London’s smallest house, at one side of the Tyburn Convent. This is a fairly modern version – you can see an older one here. Its purpose was apparently to block off a passage which the owner wanted to make private.And finally, on our way to Marble Arch, we spot the site of the Tyburn Tree on this unassuming traffic island. The Tyburn Tree was not an actual tree by the way, it was a triple gallows for maximum hanging efficiency. I’m off now to Marble Arch and then home. You can stop and read some more historic information in the Underground tunnels if you wish! I hope you enjoyed this exploration of Paddington’s history as a village and an interesting and historic part of London.
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