The ‘Needs to Know’
Distance: 3.2 miles (5.15km)
Time to walk: There’s no time limit on this one as you could easily spend a whole day in Holland Park, plus there’s churches & museums to explore
Difficulty: Easy & all on hard surfaces
Parking: n/a
Public toilets: Cafes, pubs etc en route
Map of the route:
This is another walk taken from the wonderful ‘London’s Hidden Walks’ series of books. The route is the same, with additions for things we found, plus our own take on various bits we feel will be of interest
Kensington is an area in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, around 2.9 miles west of Central London
The district’s commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Gardens, containing the Albert Memorial, the Serpentine Gallery & Speke’s monument. South Kensington & Gloucester Road are home to Imperial College London, the Royal College of Music, the Royal Albert Hall, Natural History Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, & Science Museum. The area is also home to many embassies & consulates
As we’ll see on this walk, Kensington is, in general, an extremely affluent area, a trait that it shares with Chelsea, its neighbour to the south. The area has some of London’s most expensive streets & garden squares – this walk will visit a famous house that was on the market for £60m
There’s lots to explore so…
Let’s Walk!
1. This walk begins on High Street Kensington outside the Underground Station which is served by the District & Circle lines…
With your back to the entrance turn right & walk along the street crossing at the pelican & continuing in the same direction
2. If you continued in this direction you’d pass Kensington Gardens & the Royal Albert Hall
Look at the huge building over the road which is the former Barkers Department Store that closed in 2006…
Today it remains a premier shopping experience, containing many upmarket brand outlets, plus the ‘Whole Foods Market’ that’s well worth a visit & you could easily spend an hour in there
3. To the left is our first stop. You simply cannot miss the spire of St Mary Abbots church which dominates the whole area
Sir Aubrey de Vere, a Norman knight, was rewarded with the manor of Kensington, among other estates, after the successful Norman Conquest. Around 1100, his eldest son, Godfrey, was taken seriously ill & cared for by Faritius, Abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of St Mary at Abingdon. After a period of remission, Godfrey de Vere died in 1106 aged about 19
The de Vere family’s gratitude to the abbey for their son’s care was recognised by its bequest of land 270 acres. In 1262 the abbey founded a church here dedicated to St Mary. The Norman church was rebuilt in 1370, but the one that stands here today was commissioned in 1860 & is thought to have been fashioned on Dunblane Cathedral. The architect, George Gilbert Scott also designed the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens & the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancreas station
4. Venture inside & prepare to be impressed by the striking interior, especially the stain glass windows…
When the current church was rebuilt many of the parts of the previous ones were incorporated. Before leaving the church have a look at the glass case containing a model of the building. A closure inspection shows this is made totally from matches
5. Come out of the main church door, but turn immediately right into one of the graveyards. Ahead you’ll see a building with some figures on it…
St Mary Abbots School was first endowed by Roger Pimble in 1645. In the early 1700s it moved to a new building on Kensington High Street, just to the east of Church Walk. This had a tower with these charity children figures on either side. In 1860 the school moved here, together with the two figures &, in about 1904, the buildings were remodelled
6. Exit the churchyard through the gates in the picture below…
…& turn right along beautiful Church Walk where most of the properties in the next part of this walk carry a £1m price tag
7. We really recommend you take your time walking up here as there’s so many small, independent & quite unique shops to explore. Also have a look at some of the small squares on either side of the walk…
This square on the left has a blue plaque (there are many on this walk) telling you that a poet, Ezra Pound once lived here. Pound was an American poet & critic, & a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, & a collaborator in Fascist Italy & the Salò Republic during World War II
Working in London as foreign editor of several American literary magazines, he helped to discover & shape the work of contemporaries such as H.D., Robert Frost, T. S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, & James Joyce. He was responsible for the 1914 serialisation of Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the 1915 publication of Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, & the serialisation from 1918 of Joyce’s Ulysses. Hemingway wrote in 1932 that, for poets born in the late 19th or early 20th century, not to be influenced by Pound would be “like passing through a great blizzard & not feeling its cold”
Angered by World War I, Pound moved to Italy in 1924 & wrote for publications owned by the British fascist Oswald Mosley, embraced Benito Mussolini’s fascism, & expressed support for Adolf Hitler. During World War II, Pound recorded hundreds of paid radio propaganda broadcasts for the fascist Italian government & its later incarnation as a German puppet state, in which he attacked the United States government
In 1945, Pound was captured by the Italian Resistance & handed over to the U.S. Army’s Counterintelligence Corps, who held him for months in a U.S. military detention camp near Pisa, including three weeks in an outdoor steel cage. Ruled mentally unfit to stand trial, Pound was incarcerated for over 12 years at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C.
After a campaign by his fellow writers, he was released from St. Elizabeths in 1958 & returned to Italy, where he posed for the press giving the Fascist salute & called the United States “an insane asylum”. Pound remained in Italy until his death in 1972. His economic & political views have ensured that his life & literary legacy remain highly controversial
8. At the top of the road turn left & then right at the Elephant & Castle, continuing up the hill…
At the top it’s left & right again still going upwards
9. Turn left along Tor Gardens…
…& then cross the road down exclusive Campden Hill, one of the most prestigious parts of Kensington. Note the size of the property on the corner & yes…it is all just one house
10. Pass numerous exclusive properties &, on the right, Holland Park Comprehensive School which was London’s first comprehensive. It opened in 1958 & was considered a flagship for comprehensive education & nicknamed ‘the socialist Eton’. At one time had over 2,000 students
It appears to have had a chequered & somewhat of a non-comformist history. In 1969, Hilary Benn represented the school on TV’s ‘Top of the Form’. Besides Hilary Benn, other past pupils include Omid Djalili, Anjelica Huston, Polly Toynbee, & singer Yazz
Nelson Mandela visited in 2000
11. At the end cross Holland Walk & enter beautiful Holland Park where you could easily spend a whole day…
Holland Park covers about 56 acres), with a northern half of semi-wild woodland (where you’re in now), a central section of formal garden areas, & a southern-most section used for sport. We recommend just exploring but here’s a route we took
12. Initially on entering the park turn right & then left at the signpost…
Just along here is a statue of Lord Holland, a significant Whig politician, whose family’s nearby Holland House served as a venue of congregations among politicians & scholars of the time
Being unable to make the post of Foreign Secretary, Holland was happy to support subversive causes at Holland House, where Holland would be known as “perhaps the greatest host in English history”
The statue was erected in 1870, & Holland is depicted sitting back in a chair & holding a walking stick, characteristic of him as a long-time sufferer of gout. As you can see he had some company
13. Now follow the sign opposite down the narrow path towards Holland House…
Holland House is now a fragmentary ruin, having been devastated by incendiary bombing during World War II in 1940, but the ruins & grounds were bought by London County Council in 1952 from the last private owner, the 6th Earl of Ilchester. Today the remains of the house form a backdrop for the open air Holland Park Theatre, which is the home of Opera Holland Park
14. Turn right & then down the steps into the formal gardens which are splendid…
At the bottom turn right & follow the signs to the Japanese Kyoto Garden which was built in 1992 to celebrate the Japan Festival in London
The waterfall & pond are the key points of the garden…
15. Come back down to the Orangery which is a fabulous area…
…& don’t forget to walk along the murals which will tell you the story of how life used to be
16. The cafe is nearby & also an area which is used as the renowned Theatre
Exit the Park through the south gates & walk straight down the hill to reach Melbury Road…
17. At the junction turn right to see a couple of rather famous houses. Firstly look for the one called ‘Tower House’ it’s not hard to see why…
The house dates back to around 1881 &, over the years, has had some famous owners including Sir John Betjeman, actor Richard Harris who outbid Liberace. Today’s owner since 1972 is Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, who outbid David Bowie
18. Facing the building, to the right’s another very large property…
This is Woodland House, former home of the film director Michael Winner who lived here until his death in 2013. It was placed on the market for £60m & eventually sold to Robbie Williams for £50m. There have been several planning disputes between Mr Williams & Mr Page over the years
19. Walk back to the junction. Turn right & then right again into Holland Park Road…
On the right at No.12 is Leighton House named after the Victorian painter & sculptor Frederic, Lord Leighton…
The museum has been open to the public since 1929. It’s open daily except Tuesday. Terry Gilliam used the hallway for shots for his movie ‘Brazil’
20. You have to pay to see any exhibitions, but the immediate inside & garden is free to explore…so why not!
Come back out, turn left & then right back down to High Street Kensington once more. Turn left & walk to the pelican crossing…
21. Cross the road, turn right & them immediately left into Edwardes Square…
The communal gardens were laid out in 1820 by Frenchman Louis Leon Changeur who was working in London at the height of the Napoleonic Wars & there were rumours he was building the houses to house French officers under cover
The first house on your left (No.1) was owned by writer GK Chesterton who wrote the Father Brown books
22. Walk ahead to the Scarsdale Tavern…
…& turn left just after it down Earls Walk…
23. Amongst all the large houses here are many alley containing mews houses where horses were kept downstairs, whilst grooms stayed above. At the end of Earls Walk turn right & then left along Scarsdale Villas…
Take the first right Abington Road & then left into Stratford Road
24. Follow Stratford Road to its end & turn right into Marloes Road & then left along Lexham Gardens. Walk along the side of the park & bear right & then left through the narrow gap…
…& then left along Cornwall Gardens Mews
25. At the end turn right though the arch & head straight along the left side of the square passing where Iris Murdoch once lived. Look out for a narrow alley on the left & walk down it…
Continue along Stanford Road
26. Turn left at St Alban’s Grove…
…&, at the junction, right along Thackeray Street
27. At the top bear left to arrive at what was once the finest square in the area…Kensington Square. Look out for the blue plaque on the left showing that this was once the home of actress Joan Sims
Joan Sims was a prolific actress probably known best for her roles in the Carry On films
We recommend you take your time exploring the square with its many blue plaques. Straight ahead on the left in the south-west corner’s the Convent of the Assumption , a religious order of nuns that’s been based here since 1869 that has its origins in a French order founded in Paris in the 19th century
28. Come round back along the north-east side to Young Street where you’ll find No.16 which was once home to the American writer William Makepeace Thackeray who wrote most of his novel Vanity Fair whilst living here between 1843 -1856
Charlotte Bronte visited this house in May 1850 after dedicating ‘Jane Etre’ to Thackeray
29. Walk back along the Square passing more blue plaques to the northwest corner & exit it up Derry Street
…& turn left to reach Kensington High Street Station once more & the start of this walk
So that’s the end of another wonderful walk around one of the most expensive areas in London
Like we say…you could easily spend a whole day on this walk as there’s so much to explore
So….
Go Walk!