Richmond.
HOTELS. Roebuck, on the terrace; Castle, King's Head, near the bridge; Greyhound, George St.; New Star & Garter, R. from 7/6, L. 4/6, D. 6/6; Pigeons, Petersham Road. RESIDENTIAL HOTELS. Richmond Hill Hotel, Metcalfe's Hydro, both by the terrace. Numerous RESTAURANTS and TEA GARDENS. 'Maids of Honour,' a sweet cheesecake said to have been introduced by Queen Caroline's ladies, are obtained at No. 3 Hill St., and other confectioners'.
Richmond (35, 651 inhabitants), long a favourite residential town and still containing many fine old mansions, is beautifully situated on the right bank of the Thames, on the slope of a hill at the top of which lies Richmond Park.
Richmond's ancient name of Sheen (perhaps from A. S. 'schene,' shining) is preserved in the adjoining Sheen Common and East Sheen. Since 1320 the manor has belonged to the Crown; and the old manor house, where Edward I. received the Scottish Commissioners in 1305, after the execution of Wallace, was converted into a palace by Edward III., who died there in 1377. Sheen Palace was destroyed by fire in 1499, but it was rebuilt on a grand scale by Henry VII., who died there in 1509 after changing the name of the manor to Richmond, in honour of his own title of Earl of Richmond, which he derived from Richmond in Yorkshire. Wolsey occupied the palace for a time, after he had given up Hampton Court to Henry VIII. Queen Elizabeth, who had been imprisoned here during Mary's reign, died at Richmond in 1603. After 1649, when the palace was sold, it gradually fell into decay, and most of it was pulled down. Queen Henrietta Maria, after the Restoration, and George II., when Prince of Wales, occupied what was left, but soon even this part was almost wholly demolished.
