Bayswater Road

“ She herself, loving exercise, and taking an inexhaustible delight in the life and movement of the streets, spent more time than ever out of doors. Her walks almost invariably ended in Hyde Park, where she would sit and rest for half an hour under the grateful shade of the elms and limes; and then, coming out into the Bayswater Road, she would stand irresolute, or walk on for a little distance into Oxford Street, with downcast eyes and with slower and slower steps. ”

“ The railways are gorged, and as the time of the race approaches, every street leading to the course is thronged by carriages and pedestrians. Even so far away as the end of Westbourne Terrace, the throng on the Bayswater Road and its steady westward progress would attract the notice of the most casual observer. ”

“ The procession was denuded of all dignity, and directions were given that it should turn up Church Street, Kensington, into the Bayswater Road. But this the crowd, which numbered some thousands, would not permit. ”

“ IV THE MAUSOLEUM There are houses whose souls have passed into the limbo of Time, leaving their bodies in the limbo of London. Such was not quite the condition of "Timothy's" on the Bayswater Road, for Timothy's soul still had one foot in Timothy Forsyte's body, and Smither kept the atmosphere unchanging, of camphor and port wine and house whose windows are only opened to air it twice a day. ”

“ The first gate in the Bayswater Road, starting from Kensington Gardens, is called the Victoria Gate, and it is opposite Sussex Place—there is an entrance by the drinking fountain—but there is no other gate till Cumberland Gate, or the Marble{255} Arch, as it is more generally called. Turning down Park Lane we have first Grosvenor Gate, and then Stanhope Gate; whilst on the Knightsbridge side is the principal entrance, or Hyde Park Corner. Next comes Albert Gate, the roadway of which was finished and opened to the public on April 6th, 1842. ”

“ ESTABLISHMENT, 16, Garway Road, Westbourne Grove,
Bayswater, W.
BOND & CROOKS,
Who have been engaged for several years in one of the first Establishments in Bayswater, and acquired great experience, beg to inform the inhabitants of Bayswater, and the surrounding neighbourhood, that they are in a position to execute every description of work in the best possible manner, with promptitude, and at reasonable charges. ”

“ Streets.—The principal continuous thoroughfares within the metropolis, though each bears a succession of names, are coincident with the main roads converging upon the capital from all parts of England. On the north of the Thames two great thoroughfares from the west meet in the heart of the City. The northern enters the county in Hammersmith as Uxbridge Road, crosses Kensington and borders the north side of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park as Bayswater Road. ”

“ Open fields and gardens were lying behind the roads; at the north end of Kennington Common—then a dreary expanse uncared for and down-trodden—lay open ponds and fields; there were fields between Vauxhall Gardens and the Oval. If we look at the north of London, there were no houses round Primrose Hill; fields stretched north and east; to the west one or two roads were already pushing out, such as the Abbey Road and Avenue Road; through the pleasant fields of Kilburn, where still stood the picturesque fragments of Kilburn Priory, the Bayswater rivulet ran pleasantly ”

“ They pass through Bayswater or South Kensington on the way to Mayfair, Belgravia, and Marylebone; they are already well-to-do, and intend to be better-to-do; in those places they associate with the people who, once upon a time, were very well-to-do and are now less so; those districts are social junctions. But everywhere the boarding-house is gaining ground, and nowhere does one see this so well as in Cromwell Road. Cromwell Road is a remarkable street; its length has, on a warm and hazy day, a quality of eternity. It seems to have no beginning, no end ”

“ Now this was the state of things when one morning, early in the month of March last year, we were rung up from a public telephone call in Bayswater, and the covered Napier was ordered for a house in the Richmond Road, Bayswater—a locality with which I was unfamiliar, but which Moss declared must be all right, since the gentleman who lived there knew that we had a Napier car and therefore was in a manner introduced to us. ”

“ Bayswater road.
2 Evans William, surgeon
3 Hewitt Edwin
6 Coleman Mrs
7 Arney Hector William
p. 88St. Alban’s road,
Victoria road, Kensington.
1 Elmore Alfred B.A. artist
Barlow Thomas Oldham, Auburn lodge
Campbell Frederick, St. Albans villa
3 Gilbertson Edward
4 Brownlow George John
6 Hampshire W.
7 Evans Mrs William Frederick
8 Guturrez Henry
9 Rouse Charles
10 Chester George, artist
11 Robson George
12 Spencer John, dairy
13 King Thomas, grocer
14 Broomhead Henry, baker
16 Dixson G., chimney sweep
Ansdell Richard, Lytham house
St. Ann’s road,
Darnley road, Notting hill. ”

“ Follow me in a hansom, and when you get to the house, wait inside my brougham until I come. But before you do that, run round to Marlborough Street police-station and ask them if we can have ten or a dozen men ready to mark a house in Bayswater some time between this and six o'clock to-morrow morning."
"You're going to follow her home then?"
"Exactly, and if my wits can find a way I'm going to be her guest for ten minutes after she quits Lady Faber's. They're sure to let you have the men either at Marlborough Street or at the Harrow Road station. ”

“ Scottt J. 46 Kensington park gardens, Notting hill
Stilcock J. 30 Royal crescent, Notting hill
Stanham G. 20 Upper Phillimore gardens, Kensington
Ward W. 8 Lyon terrace, Maida hill
Webber J. H. 17 Cornwall road, Hammersmith
Wilkins P. 74 Connaught terrace, Paddington
Wright J. 104 Hereford road, Bayswater
Artificial Florists.
Dennis A. & M. 63 Westbourne grove, Bayswater
Gurney Miss, 12 Upper Berkeley street west, Hyde park
Hare W. 86 Queen’s road, Bayswater
Osborn J. 55 & 56 Edgware road, Paddington
Ross Mrs, 20 Queen’s road, Bayswater
Artists. ”

“ And, often as she sat there under the stately trees, Alison loved to ponder over the days when the old Court suburb was remote from London, for in 1750, where now we find busy Westbourne Grove, stood a solitary house, called Western Green, three miles distant from Hyde Park; and so lately as 1830, on the Bayswater side of the Gardens, were Kensington Gravel Pits, facing the Broad Walk, stretching away to what is now called Bayswater, which was formerly renowned for the springs and conduits for which the city was then indebted for pure water. ”

“ Vincent Mrs, 80 Westbourne park villas, Westbourne park
Vincent J. W. 42 Elgin road, Notting hill
Viner E. H. M.D. 6 Chepstow villas west, Bayswater
Vingo J. 60 Westbourne park villas, Westbourne park
Vike Mrs, 5 Westmoreland road, Bayswater
Vipe C. 32 Queen’s gardens, Bayswater
Virtue Rev. M. 9 Cornwall road, Hammersmith
Virtue C. 2 Victoria gardens, Notting hill
Vitler G. 1a Park cottages, Hammersmith
Vivian Mrs, E. 14 Devonshire terrace, Craven hill, Bayswater
Vivian Lord, 17 Queen’s gate terrace, South Kensington
Vobbmeyer F. W. 2 Windsor terrace, Maida hill
Voelcker Dr. ”

“ Powell E. 19 Westmoreland place, Bayswater
Power Sir W. T. 42 Cleveland square, Bayswater
Power Mrs, 38 Inverness terrace, Kensington gardens
Power D. E. 6 Pembridge place, Bayswater
Powis C. 8 Malvern road, Kilburn
Powis G. 4 Alfred cottages, North end, Hammersmith
Powley R. 12 Park cottages, Hammersmith
Powter W. 21 Devonshire terrace, Notting hill
Prater C. 2 Stanley terrace, Notting hill
Pratt E. 22 Delamere terrace, Upper Westbourne terrace
Pratt W. 49 Gloucester place, Hyde park gardens
Pratt S. L. 25 Prince’s square, Bayswater
Pratt Mrs, 9 St. ”

“ We turn our backs upon this and strike into a broad, finely-gravelled street which, like the poplar-lined road, is equipped with a cycle-path, but is still void of houses. This leads to the right, between low-lying allotments of wooded land, towards the declivity which bounds our river-banks—Bashan’s field of action towards the east.
We cross another street of an equally futuristic nature, which runs openly between the woods and the meadows, and which, farther up in the direction of the city and the tram-stop, is lined with a compact mass of flats. ”

“ Car door? But he could see the panel truck. Nobody was moving there. The two men were still inside, busy about whatever they had to be busy about, or else just waiting for daybreak and their first direct broadcast. A door in one of the buildings?
Maybe. Luther Bayswater wished he had been listening more attentively. A door slamming in a building—that might be just the wind, of course. But if it wasn't the wind, it was one of the hazy mythological figures called looters that he was supposed to be on the lookout for.
He swore a tepid oath, ground out his cigarette and opened the door. ”

“ The same horse-pond by the roadside, the same trees, only older and more decrepit, the same prehistoric dykes and tumuli on the unchanging downs; it must have been capable of absorbing the fun and jollity of a fair, and still presenting its characteristically dour and dreary aspect; but now that, sitting in the bay window of the parlour that commands the road in either direction, you may watch the highway by the half-hour and see no traveller, the emptiness is appalling.
To this solitary outpost of civilisation came William Hazlitt, critic and essayist, during several years, for quietude. ”

“ Mary protested.
Two days later she met Pierre by the banks of the Serpentine on a May noon that held the city in a web of silver. The tall houses of Bayswater, reflected in that shimmering expanse of water, appeared like the battlements of an enchanted palace above the trees that masked their prosaic beginnings. The white peacocks haunting the slopes toward Hyde Park made one feel that life was a dream and that the children and nurses, the meditative loiterers, even the old maids with their pet dogs, would all presently be turned into birds to fly above this cloud-cuckoo-town of London. ”

“ Returning to the highway, and coming to the place known to the old coachmen as Mapledurwell Hatch, where that fine old coaching inn, the ‘King’s Head,’ still stands, a road goes off to Old Basing, on the right, while the highway continues in a straight line, rising toward the town of Basingstoke.
The hasty traveller who knows nothing of the delights that await explorers in the byeways, misses a great deal here by keeping strictly to the highroad. ”

“ It was not until late in 1858, or 1859, that a bridge connected the north and south sides of James Bay, people having to walk around the bay eastwards. The population of James Bay District was very sparse. Trails instead of streets ran in all directions. Belleville Street, that is now so thronged with passengers to and from the C.P.R. steamers every day, was not then in existence, for the beach reached to the trees in the front of the Parliament Buildings. Where the new Pemberton block now stands, down to the corner of Government Street, was an orchard and vegetable garden. ”

“ At this point there is an immense amount of railway traffic, the iron roads running like the arms of an octopus in every direction; trains are constantly passing to and fro, but they are too far away for either the sight or the sounds to cause any actual inconvenience beyond slightly obstructing the view of the Bay Street hotels.{131} If these ugly but useful structures were swept away, or stationed a little farther down the river away from the town, the land and water view from the whole line of Bay Street would be lovely in the extreme. ”

“ By nine o'clock they were driving up Orange street by the Sherburne and Bay View Houses, on their way to Siasconset, or, 'Sconset, as it is familiarly called.
As they passed a large white building known as the Poor Farm, Tom was surprised that a town noted for its thrift and temperance should be obliged to have such an institution. Bessie was glad to learn that they were going over the old road instead of the new one, while Miss Ray would rather have gone over the new one, so as to have seen the milestones which Dr. Ewer, of New York, had put up by the wayside. ”

“ Born in a home almost by the wayside of the old Bay Path, I feel deeply the inexplicable charm which attaches itself to these old paths or trails. I have ridden hundreds of miles on these various Indian paths and I ever love to trace the roadway where it is now the broad travelled road, and where it turns aside in an overgrown and narrow lane which is today almost as neglected and wild as the old path. ”

“ Every morning I went out with a little hand-bag to buy my provisions in the front street; and every afternoon I took a walk in the better part of Bayswater and even into the Park (Hyde Park) , which was not far off, but never near Piccadilly, or so far east as Bloomsbury, lest I should meet Sister Mildred or be recognized by the old boarders. ”

“ Another point of difference: in London the new streets, laid out without rule or order, grew by degrees; they did not follow the old Roman streets, which were quite obliterated and utterly forgotten—one cannot imagine a more decisive proof of complete desertion and ruin. In Southwark, on the other hand, the streets remained the same—they were the two causeways and the embankment—because none others were then possible. High Street, Borough, is still, as it always has been, the ancient causeway connecting the new port of London with the Dover road. ”

“ The new roadster became famous in Bayport as the car that had lured the auto thieves to their downfall. Motorists in general were able to breathe easier when they learned that the gang had been rounded up. A little to their embarrassment and much to their delight, at a banquet of the Automobile Club, Frank and Joe were the guests of honor. ”