Paddington

“ Mary’s double accordingly hurried me through my breakfast and led the way to Paddington. I urged myself to realize that I was going upon holiday; but, it cannot be withheld, the thought of this particular pleasure had a serious tinge. Paddington itself, to such an islander as I am, had some of the credit of this. To me, that large terminus is, as a jumping-off position, less human than, for example, Victoria. From Paddington, with its Western propaganda, it may well seem that humanity is travelling out into the round world’s imagined corners ”

“ Both the manor, and rectory, of Paddington were held by the citizen’s family “for a long term,” although their first lease was but for twenty-one years; for I find no mention of any other lessees till the reign of Charles the first. I think it probable, however, that Sir Rowland St. John, to whom it was leased in that reign, held it in the reign of James the first; for in the eighteenth year of this reign I find him charged on the subsidy roll twenty pounds for Land in Paddington. ”

“ There is still preserved in the Record Office, Carlton Ride, [47a] a manuscript record which shews that Henry Rede held the manor of Paddington in the ninth year of Elizabeth’s reign. The reserved rent being as before, forty-one pounds, six shillings and eightpence. But the wood was not included even in this second lease to Rede, supposing he had one; for we are informed by this document that the rent was increased twenty shillings, “for the farm of one wood called Paddington Wood, thus demised this year.” ”

“ Paddington has its story. We are told even to this day, [1a] that King Edgar gave lands here to the Monks of Westminster. And considering what Kings did give to Monks, and also the kind of services rendered by Dunstan and his friends to this usurper of his brother’s crown, it would not have been very surprising to have found this tale true. The same account is given by other authorities. The Rev. Daniel Lysons—the historian of “The Environs of London,”—says “King Edgar gave the Manor of Paddington to Westminster Abbey.” ”

“ Twenty years ago, the bishop’s building Acts were beginning to tell in real earnest; and from 1831 to 1841, the increase in the population of the parish of Paddington, averaged above p. 147one thousand per annum. Yet the errors of the past were unnoticed by those who never wish to see errors in high places; for it was not till the fifth of December, 1837, that the local governors of Paddington saw the necessity, created by this annual addition of a thousand souls to the parish, for increased means of religious instruction, and public worship ”

“ In about ten minutes Paddington came along, walking as if he was in quite a hurry. He went into the tobacconist’s, but he came out quicker than he had entered, and his face was a study––purple with rage one minute, and white with fear the next. I don’t believe he knows yet who’s tailing him, sir, but he looks as if he realized we had him coming and going. He went straight over to the little restaurant, with murder in his eye, but he only stayed a minute or two. ”

“ George’s-row; a row of gardens, and a large bowling-green, by the side of the Edgeware-road, between Tybourn turnpike, and Paddington, were called into existence. These changes, in conjunction with the grand canal of Paddington, [190] obliterated in a few years the work of centuries; and succeeded not only in altering the whole aspect of the place, but in infusing another element of social life into the people. Lysons, writing in 1794, says “this parish being chiefly church-land, there has been but little increase of buildings till about four years ago ”

“ He shews that the forest, meadow, and pasture-land was common property; and that it was attached to the hyde as of common-right. But, for a complete exposition of this subject, I must also refer my readers to the fourth chapter of the first book of Mr. Kemble’s history.
The fact of Paddington in Surrey, or “Padendene” as it was called, being mentioned in the Conqueror’s survey, [114a] while Paddington in Middlesex was not noticed, inclines me to believe the dene, or den, in Surrey, was the original mark of the Pædings ”

“ But although such attractions as these exist, the youths who live on the celebrated Paddington Estate, have not to thank the lords of the soil for setting apart any portion of it for their physical improvement; and yet for the efficient development both of mind and body, it is necessary that the physical condition of the young should be cared for. In Paddington, however, there is no public gymnasium; there is now no village-green, worthy of the name; [176] the young are not trained to use their motive powers to the best advantage; there are no public baths. ”

“ I have deemed it to be my duty to speak freely of the management of those lands in Paddington, which were claimed for the performance of certain specific purposes; and the nature and the amount of that income from those lands, received by the present Bishop of London and his lay lessees, have been spoken of with a freedom, which some may not admire. But I need not fear condemnation, for a former occupant of the See of London, thus addressed the over-paid bishops of his day; “Come off, ye Bishops; away with your superfluities; yield up your thousands; be content with hundreds.” ”

“ The last named are favourites, selected with no obvious reason by Fortune, and greatly envied by their contemporaries; it is usual for them to claim the entire credit to themselves. Apart from these, at the terminal stations where no barriers exist, are folk who make but little affectation of being passengers, and use the station as a playground, with engine and train for toys.
To Paddington at a quarter to ten in the morning came hurriedly, although there was no cause for hurry, Gertie Higham, escorted by Mr. Trew, both exceptionally costumed as befitting a notable occasion. ”

“ That those dignitaries of the church, who have taken upon themselves the disposal of the church-lands in Paddington, should have made such sorry provisions for the promulgation and protection of their own creed in this place, is much more surprising, than that they should have looked with no favourable eye on the diffusion of doctrines which differed, in any respect, from their own. ”

“ CHAPTER IX. CLARENCE MILLS, invited to be present at the birthday evening, wrote in frolicsome terms, from which the young hostess judged that with him the progress of love was satisfactory. "My dear young relation, near Paddington Station, of course I will come to your show. If forced to leave early, you won't think me surly; I have to meet some one you know!" To this Gertie sent a card begging Miss Loriner to include herself in the invitation, and that young woman forwarded a telegram from Ewelme with the word "Delighted." ”

“ From the Taxatio Ecclesiastica, made under the authority of Pope Nicholas the fourth, and published by the Record Commissioners, we learn that a century after the death of Walter, the whole of the temporalities of Paddington were devoted to the purposes of charity; that they arose from the rent of land, and the young of animals, and were valued at eight pounds, sixteen shillings and four-pence. ”

“ The block of small alms-houses at present existing in the Harrow-road, said to have been built in 1714, on a portion of what had been Paddington Green, is the oldest charitable building in Paddington; but the endowment, if there ever was one, has merged into other estates; for no endowment now exists. Sixteen poor old women belonging to the parish, are still supported there out of the poor rates; but the inmates think themselves not so far degraded as they would be, if obliged to become tenants of the great parish poor-house ”

“ It is true that waste land, and a common field existed in Paddington down to a recent date; and it is equally true, that some kind of right over this land was acknowledged to be vested p. 55in the inhabitants of this parish; for as we shall presently see, when this right was found to interfere with the designs of the lords and their lessees, a portion of it was bargained for and sold.
The common field appears to have existed on each side of the Westbourn, extending, with the poor allotment, from that which is now called the Uxbridge-road to a considerable distance north and east ”

“ And yet in Paddington we see some of the most miraculous signs of the times. A city of palaces has sprung up on a bishop’s estate within twenty years; a road of iron, with steeds of steam, brings into the centre of this city, and takes from it in one year, a greater number of living beings than could be found in all England a few years ago. The electric telegraph is at work by the side of this iron road. And by means of conveyances, open to all who have any small change, from sixpence to a penny, the whole of London can be traversed p. ”

“ For a sketch of a people, whether forming a parish or a nation, it is better to go to their laws, and observe the effects those laws have produced; than to rely on any description of individuals, dead or living. With the exception of the ancient customs of the place, the common law of the land was the light which guided the people of Paddington, down to the middle of the last century. ”

“ Vast quantities of the former have been removed; and although the Paddington soil was sufficiently “factitious” at the time Lysons wrote, it has become much more so since that time. Those only who have carefully watched the modes which have been adopted to raise the ground for making new roads, and for elevating the basement of houses in certain parts of this parish, can form any idea of the immense quantity of “rubbish” which has been “shot here.” ”

“ I think we must come to the conclusion, that neither Westbourn nor Paddington, in ancient times, were manors in either of these senses, unless indeed we consider Westbourn and Tybourn synonymous terms, for we find no account of any lordly residence in either of these places till many centuries after the Conqueror’s survey; neither is there any account, which can be relied on, to establish the fact of any King having granted these districts to the Abbot and Monks of Westminster ”

“ There is a younger Lion, “Black,” but still of some pretensions to antiquity, standing in the Uxbridge-road; there is also an ancient “Pack Horse,” in the Harrow-road; and at the corner of Old Church-street, in the Edgeware-road, there is a “Wheat Sheaf,” which has the credit of having frequently entertained honest and learned Ben Johnson; so that, if learning and science were not allowed to flourish in the churches and other public buildings of Paddington, the ale houses, in some degree, attempted to supply the defect. ”

“ The ale continued to affect his upper story till he passed the seventh mile stone, (and it must be known that the mile stones on this road were numbered from Harrow, and not as on every other road from London,) mistaking a white line of water, the Paddington Canal, for the road, at this point, he found, when it was too late, that a man was not destined by his Maker to walk on that element ”

“ Even a large subscription-list was got up to purchase it. The inhabitants, however, will not now give their consent even to a sale of the property. Having witnessed what the bishop and his lessees got by purchasing the waste, “in the Lanes and Road Ways dispersed in, about, and within the said Parish of Paddington;” perhaps the inhabitants fancied that, by having purchased the very kernel of this estate, they might have also become possessed of some of those tegumentary portions of which their predecessors had been so considerately relieved. ”

“ The Reformation and the Revolution added to the numbers and importance of the people; and the execrable act of that vain braggart, who wildly called himself the State, not only increased the population of Paddington, but brought out to useful purpose the christian virtues of the residents of this village. ”

“ Is it not of as much concern to the poor rate-payer, as to the rich, that the parish funds shall be well expended? And who can shew that the wisdom of a man can be measured by the size of his house; or by the amount he contributes to the poor-rate?
On the fourth of April, 1820, the Rev. Dr. Crane, the Lord p. 186Bishop of Exeter, and other influential inhabitants managed to establish “a select vestry” in Paddington; in which they and their friends had all the talk as well as all the work to themselves. But if this select body prevented the people talking, they prevented their eating also. ”

“ And the land in and around the village of Westminster which belonged to the Abbey amounted in all to thirteen hides and a half; valued at eight pounds per annum. The whole in King Edward’s time twelve pounds. [5c]
The manor of Kensington answered for ten hides; and was held by Aubrey de Ver. Lilestone answered for five hides; Tybourn for five hides; Willesden for fifteen, with pannage for five hundred hogs; and Chelsea [5d] and Hampstead are duly accounted for. But Paddington in Middlesex is not p. 6named. ”

“ In speaking of the ancient manor of Chelsea, I refer to the one spoken of in the Dom Boc; and not to that which “it is possible might have been included by the monks amongst their possessions in Westminster.”
Vide Lysons and Faulkner.
[10c] Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici, Tom. vi. p. 17. chart 1223. T. M. Kemble. This charter is dated April 1st. (eight years later than the above) ; a favourite date in documents concerning Paddington ”

“ But this was through his having had the manor of Chelsea as a portion of his share of Sir Reginald’s lands assigned to him.
Neither this “honest country lord,” this “merry gamester,” whom Shakspeare has immortalized, nor the “Gent.” whose choice is still a proverb, held land in Paddington long. Both Lord Sands, and Thomas Hobson, exchanged their lands and manors of Chelsea, and Marylebone, with Henry the eighth, for other manors and lands; and the manor of Chelsea with those lands in Paddington which had belonged to Lord Sands were p. ”