Hello and welcome to this episode of walking London. Today we're going to be walking
from Chelsea to Fulham
We're starting our tour here at Sloane Square
Sloane Square was originally Hans Town and laid out in 1771. It was named after
Sir Hans Sloane, a hugely successful physician originally from Scotland who
used to own these lands. He was once the physician to the new governor of Jamaica
and while he was out there he noticed that the locals were drinking a very
curious drink made from cocoa or cacao he found it quite a nauseous concoction
but when milk was added to it it was much more palatable. He brought this
drink back to England and sold it as a medicine and eventually it was bought by
the Cadbury brothers. When Sloane returned to England he lived in
Bloomsbury but he bought a manor house here at Chelsea in order to house his
collection of antiques. When he died this collection was bought by the nation and
they built the British Museum to display it. We're going to meet Sir Hans Sloane
periodically again throughout this walk so at least now you know who he is but
let's go to our next stop
Traditionally England has been pretty good at caring for its invalid veterans
since medieval times but that charity began to dry up during the Reformation
Caring for veterans was still very much a problem though and so the solution
came in the form of the Royal Hospital at Chelsea. The hospital was designed by
my favorite architect Sir Christopher Wren on the site of the old Chelsea
College. The first stone was laid by King Charles II in 1681
and ten years later the first tenants moved in. One of the more interesting
characters to live here was Dr Messenger Monsey. Before his death in
1788 rather than a traditional funeral ceremony he asked for his body to be
dissected and then thrown in the Thames. In the graveyard here lie two women
soldiers although no monuments to them have been found. The first one, Christina
Davis, joined the army in order to search for her husband. She died in 1739
The second, Hannah Snell, also joined to search for her husband. She joined the army and also
the Navy and when she died in 1792 the records state that she sadly died insane
Rather than just a hospital there are actually people who live here known as
the Chelsea pensioners. They've all served as ordinary soldiers in the Armed
Forces and if you nip into the shop or the museum there is usually one of them
working there and you can engage them a little conversation about what life is
like living here
Walking past the National Army Museum and just nipping down Tite Street you
come to number 34 which was once the home of Oscar Wilde between 1884 and
1895. He is of course the famous playwright and writer and he wrote most
of his famous works in this house. Wilde had to sell this house in order to cover
the legal costs he incurred when he was accused of sodomy by the father of his lover
Lord Alfred Douglas
The Chelsea Physic Gardens are the second oldest
botanical gardens in England after Oxford and were established in 1673
Sir Hans Sloane was an apprentice here as he was learning to become a physician and
eventually came into possession of it in 1712 when he bought the four acres. He
then leased the land to the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries for five pounds
in perpetuity as long as they used it for research into medical plants. This is
the sum that the gardens actually quite sweetly still pay to Sloane's
descendants today. There is a statue of Sir Hans Sloan in the middle of the
botanic gardens. It's not the 1733 original however because that was
damaged by pollution and is currently in the British Museum
Albert Bridge was completed in 1873 and was never particularly a strong bridge
It's been reinforced several times over the years. There is even a sign on the
old toll booth which instructs soldiers from the neighboring Chelsea barracks to
break their step as they march across. That's because synchronized marching
causes vibrations that can very easily actually
bring down a bridge and has done several times around the world. It's no wonder
then that this bridge has been given the nickname of the Trembling Lady. It's also
pink blue and green in colour and this is to make it more visible to ship so
that they don't collide with it as they go through always a good thing
This amazing statue couldn't be in a less photogenic place. This is The Boy And A
Dolphin made by self-taught David Wynn in 1975. He also in 1973 made Girl With A
Dolphin, which is over a Tower Bridge. This sculpture which seems to defy
gravity is made possible by a double cantilever in the boys arm and the tail
of the dolphin. Of the statue Wynn said "the boy is being shown that if you trust
the world, the thrills and great happiness are yours if one meets a
dolphin in the sea he is the general host you the honored guest". Wynn modelled
the boy on his own son Roland David Amadeus Wynn who was 11 years old at the time
If you'd like to see what a well-preserved Chelsea house looks like
head up Cheyne Row and find Thomas Carlyle's house. It's now a National
Trust Museum. Thomas Carlyle isn't really a well-known name anymore but he was
much revered in the 17th century and a friend of Charles Dickens. He is famous
for writing the History of the French Revolution and what is most impressive
is that it was published despite the fact that the sole original manuscript
was accidentally burned by a maid and he had to write everything again from
scratch because he had already gotten rid of his writing notes
Chelsea Old Church is at the epicentre of where Chelsea really began as an
isolated fishing village. It was as such until about the Tudor times when it
became more popular with wealthy Londoners who would come here for their
country retreat.The church dates back to 1157 but as you can see it looks a
little bit more modern than that and that's because it was very heavily
damaged during the Blitz and had to be extensively rebuilt. It's very closely
associated with one of London's few saints, Sir Thomas More, who has a statue
somberly looking out over the Thames. Sir Hans Sloane is also buried here he was
buried here in 1753 sort of bringing that part of the Sloane saga to an end
This magnificent building is Crosby Hall and it wasn't always here in Chelsea
It was actually built over in Bishopsgate in the style of a medieval hall and
attached to Crosby Mansions. It was named after John Crosby who was a city alderman
and MP who was knighted in 1471. It was later inhabited by the Duke of
Gloucester who would become King Richard III. When the mansion was
demolished as part of a road widening scheme Crosby Hall was actually lifted
from its premises and moved here to Chelsea in the 20th century. It's now a
private residence so sadly we can't go inside
These are Cremorne Gardens and they were named after Thomas Dawson, Lord Cremorne
He had a house that was originally on this site. When visiting these gardens
you could have very lofty ambitions indeed, there were balloon rides that
would often ascend from this site up into the sky. One particularly ambitious
man and Mr De Groof came here in order to try aerial navigation by putting an
apparatus underneath the car of a balloon. He was then in that apparatus. It
ascended to a great height and was then released. Unfortunately there was
some kind of defect though and instead of doing what it was supposed to do it
crashed to the ground and the one sole occupant was killed. At this point you
have a decision to make I've given you two different routes because they are
two different lengths. If you're getting a bit tired and you'd
like to have a shorter route head up north on Ashburnham Road and east along
New Kings Road. There's lots of independent shops and restaurants and
it's very quintessentially London, it's very very nice indeed. Or you can take
the route that we're going to be taking, route two, which takes you along the
Thames Path to Wandsworth Bridge, and then we will meet up at Parsons Green
Imperial Wharf is one of our first stops moving out of Chelsea and into Fulham. As
you can see it's a very nice marina full of very expensive yachts bobbing up and
down. It's also home to the Belvedere Tower and at the top of it you might
notice the golden tide ball. This rises and lowers during the day to echo what's
happening with the tide just outside. Should you feel like having a little bit
of a more expensive drink or dinner here you might find yourself rubbing
shoulders with some footballers or some pop stars
The walk along the Thames Path
route is a really lovely one if you like to walk along the Riverside. You will
pass Imperial Park spread out over ten acres with three themed gardens
celebrating Aroma, Sight and Touch through nature. This area used to be just
green wide-open spaces with the odd grand house in between before London's
population began to push more and more people into the suburbs. If you'd like to
see what that used to look like and find a little about who used to live here
there's a really cool interactive panorama you can explore online I'll
leave a link to it in the description
Now that we're in Parsons Green hopefully people from route one and route
two have met and joined together if you split up that is. This is Fulham proper and
it used to be a place full of market gardens. It was not uncommon to see
omnibuses, butchers carts, wagons and carriages going along the unpaved roads
In fact it was regularly a massive complaint here
Fulham was also the site of three gallows trees which is where highwayman
when caught and convicted were strung up in chains
This is the well-preserved
remains of an old kiln which used to be where Fulham Pottery used to stand. It
was a business set up by John Dwight in 1671 and he became a household name in
making amazing porcelain and stoneware. You could actually see early examples of
this pottery at the British Museum
Behind me is All Saints Church, the first records of there being a church on this
site are from the 13th century though early remains of an even earlier church
have been found to the south of the current building. Some rather random
facts about this place are in 1611 pigs were not allowed into the churchyard, in
1738 people were stopped from drying or airing their clothes here, in the 1700s
it was described as one of the worst specimens of suburban churches, from the
early 19th century the churchyard was subject to body snatching a very
interesting topic if you care to look it up. It might seem a little strange but
this gravestone is my favorite thing about All Saints Church. It's to Isabella
Murr who was the wife of a local schoolmaster in the early 1800s
while this script is full of praise for her and she was clearly much well loved
the same could probably not be said for her husband where in fact all it says is
he's gone too
And so now we're here at our last stop on the tour and this is the picturesque
Fulham Palace which was granted to Bishop Erkenwald in 631 AD, though
since 1973 it's been run by the council as a museum. I would highly encourage you
at the end of this walk to take a tour of the museum itself or in fact come
here as a standalone item of a thing to do in London it's really really lovely
and the library is particularly nice. Obviously being as old as it is this
palace has a lot of rich history so to give it to you in one video would take a
very long time and at the end of this walk I'm kind of tired myself
but I would invite you to find this out for yourself by coming to visit or
looking it up online. My favourite story involves a Bishop Porteus who used to
live here but the actual story occurred in Essex in Elizabethan times a game
called Brag was very popular. Opponents had to try and out lie each other for a
prize. In fact it was so immensely popular that Lying Clubs were set up. Bishop
Porteus was traveling through Essex when he came across a very large crowd
and when he inquired what was happening he found out that a game of Brag was
underway. The prize was a whetstone. Bishop Porteus was astonished and affronted
by such a sin taking place in the town and ran forward to admonish them
all. Very loudly in front of the crowd he proclaimed "I have never told a lie in my
life", at which time the chief umpire had a conference with the people who were
there and they proceeded to award him the prize of a whetstone
So that is officially the end of our walking tour from Chelsea to Fulham and
I hope you found out some really interesting things along the way. I could
use to help again though just like the last video I'd like you to vote on what
I do next Would you like to see a tour of
Hampstead or a patisserie tour of the centre of London? Let me know by clicking
on the poll in the top right hand corner or let me know in the comments below and
if you'd like to see more videos from me make sure that you click that subscribe
button if you haven't already, also click the bell notification button if you'd
like to know when I next upload, and I guess I will see you very soon thanks so
much for watching, bye bye!
you