53. RICHMOND AND KEW.
RAILWAYS TO RICHMOND. A. From Waterloo (Southern Railway), electric trains about every 10 minutes (9+ miles in 22 minutes; 1/3, 9d.). B. From Broad Street (North London Railway), electric trains every + hour, via Hampstead Heath, Willesden Junction, and Kew Gardens (16+ miles in + hour; 1/4+, 10+d.). C. From Mansion House (District Railway) about every + hour, via Earl's Court, Hammersmith, Ravenscourt Park, Turnham Green, Gunnersbury, and Kew Gardens (11+ miles in 40-50 minutes; 1/4+, 10+d.).
RAILWAYS TO KEW. A. From Waterloo, electric trains half-hourly to Kew Bridge, via Barnes. B. From Broad Street to Kew Gardens; trains also from Broad St. to Kew Bridge. C. From Mansion House to Kew Gardens.
STEAMBOAT to Kew and Richmond, see Walk 51.
OMNIBUSES to Richmond (Nos. 27, 33, 37, 65, 73, 127) and to Kew (Nos. 27, 65, 127).
BY RAILWAY FROM WATERLOO TO RICHMOND.
From Waterloo Station to (4 miles) Clapham Junction, where we diverge to the right from the main line. 4+ miles Wandsworth Town. A branch-line diverges here on the left to join the District Railway to Wimbledon.
6 miles. Putney (Star and Garter, Ranelagh, by the bridge; Railway Hotel, by the station), the terminus of many omnibus routes, is connected with Fulham by a fine stone bridge built by Bazalgette in 1886. The Parish Church , on the south side of the bridge, was rebuilt in 1836, except for the 14th century tower, which is adorned with a sundial. On the north side of the chancel is a beautiful late Perpendicular chantry, built by Bishop West in 1533, with an elaborate fan-vaulted roof and an old brass. Verger at 23 Stratford Grove, Lacy Road (gratuity; guide 3d.). Thomas Cromwell, Wolsey's successor, was the son of a Putney blacksmith; and Gibbon, the historian, was born at Putney in 1737. Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909), the poet, died at 'The Pines,' No. 11 Putney Hill, where he had resided for many years with Theodore Watts-Dunton (died 1914).
Putney Hill (omnibus No. 51A) ascends to the south to Putney Heath, a large open space immediately adjoining (on the north) Wimbledon Common and formerly the resort of highwaymen and duellists. William Pitt and George Tierney fought here in 1798; Lord Castlereagh and George Canning in 1809. At Bowling Green House, to the right of the Portsmouth Road, which crosses the heath, William Pitt died in 1806. To the west of Putney Heath lies the old-world village of Roehampton (King's Head; omnibus No. 85 from Putney Bridge), with Manresa House (a Jesuit college) and many large country-houses. In Roehampton Lane, leading north to Barnes, is Queen Mary's (Roehampton) Hospital, originally established to provide maimed soldiers with artificial limbs, and to train them in useful trades, but since enlarged (1925) and available also for civil patients. Clarence Lane, opposite the hospital, leads to the Roehampton gate of Richmond Park.
7 miles. Barnes is the junction for Kew Bridge, Brentford, Isleworth, etc. The railway station lies in the middle of Barnes Common (120 acres); to the south west, at the beginning of Roehampton Lane, is the Roehampton Club, while to the north east, in Barn Elms Park, is the Ranelagh Club.
The former mansion of Barn Elms was once occupied by Sir Francis Walsingham, who entertained Queen Elizabeth here on several occasions (1585-89); later it was the residence of Abraham Cowley, the poet (1663-65). Another house in the park was occupied by Jacob Tonson, the publisher (died 1736), who built a room for the meetings of the Kit-Cat Club, a literary and political coterie that included Addison, Steele, Lord Orford, and Sir Godfrey Kneller. The room was hung with the portraits of the members, painted 'Kit-Cat size' (i. e. 28 or 29 inches by 30), by Kneller. Kit (or Christopher) Cat was the man who supplied mutton pies to the club.
8+ miles. Mortlake, an ancient manor, belonged to the archbishops of Canterbury till the reign of Henry VIII. The parish church, near the river, with an ivy-clad tower, contains a monument, in the north aisle, to Henry Addington, prime minister (died 1814), and another, in the vestry, to Sir Philip Francis, the reputed author of the 'Letters of Junius' (died 1818). In the south aisle is a painting by Seghers ('The Entombment'). Dr. Dee, the astrologer (died 1608), who was often consulted by Queen Elizabeth, and John Partridge, another famous astrologer (died 1715), are buried in the churchyard. Opposite the church, at the end of a passage leading to the river, on the right, is a tablet commemorating the famous Mortlake tapestry-works, established about 1619, which expired from want of patronage after the death of Charles I. Sir Richard Burton (died at Trieste in 1890) and his wife are buried in the graveyard of the Roman Catholic church of St. Mary Magdalen, in North Worple Way, 300 yards east of the station. To the south of Mortlake lies East Sheen, with an entrance to Richmond Park, + miles from the station. 9+ miles. Richmond.
