Knightsbridge, Middlesex

Historical Description

Knightsbridge, a quondam hamlet, now a metropolitan suburb, in the parishes of St George Hanover Square, St Margaret Westminster, Kensington, and Chelsea, Middlesex. The suburb lies along the S side of Hyde Park, 3 miles WSW of St Paul's; extends from Hyde Park Corner to Kensington Gore; includes one main street on the line of the Great Western Road, with streets, squares, and places to the S. It was known as Knyghtbrigg or Knightbrigg as early as the time of Edward III.; is thought to have got that name from the manor of Neyte or Neate, and from a bridge variously called King's Bridge and Stone Bridge; figured, in the time of Edward III., as a " town at the W limits of the bounds within which oxen, hogs, and other animals were to be slaughtered for the uses of the city," and was noted toward the close of the 16th century, and down to a comparatively recent period, as dangerous for travellers. A valiant knight is recorded to have slain a robber who assaulted him at its bridge before the end of the 16th century, and two men were executed at Tyburn in 1774 for " robbing the Knightsbridge stage-coach." The town seems long to have been little else than one street of humble character, along the Great Western Road, but now it is one of the most fashionable portions of the west-end of the metropolis. It contains Lowndes Square, Trevor Square, Wilton Crescent, with a number of fine streets, and joins into Belgravia. Extensive cavalry barracks are on its N side, contiguous to Hyde Park. A lazar-house or hospital, belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, stood on a spot eastward of Albert Gate as early as 1595. A chapel, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, stood connected with the hospital, was rebuilt in 1699 and repaired in 1789, and has been displaced by Holy Trinity Church-an edifice in the Early Decorated English style, erected in 1861. The first stage of this edifice is pierced with the chief entrance, consisting of a very boldly-moulded archway, with traceried and carved head; the second stage has an arcading of twelve pointed arches, with enriched capitals on their supporting shafts; the third stage has a large four-light window, with circular tracery in its head; and the terminal stage is an irregular gable, flanked on the right by an octagonal turret with a spirelet. The manor belongs to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. Bishop Seth Ward and W. Penn were residents. See also LONDON.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Knightsbridge from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Knightsbridge)

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Middlesex is online.

Maps

Online maps of Knightsbridge are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)