It was at this address he conceived the Bond novels with his first Casino Royale, written in 1953, the first of 12 novels based on the stories of the suave, debonair British spy, 007. It was a success with three print runs commissioned to cope with demand. More about CHELSEA, FLEMING and BOND

Carlyle Mansions, built in 1886, is named after the great historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who lived around the corner. It is known locally as ‘Writers Block’ as it has been the home to many authors such as Henry James, Somerset Maugham, Erskine Childers and T S Eliot.

Thomas Carlyle was born in Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire in 1795, attending Edinburgh University at the age of fourteen and becoming a mathematics teacher. In 1826 he married the intellectual Jane Baillie Welsh. They settled at Craigenputtock, a remote farm to the north. Despite its location Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American essayist who championed individualism, crossed the Atlantic to track down Thomas.

In 1834 the couple moved to London for Thomas to pursue his literary career, where they paid £35 a year rent for 5 (now 24) Cheyne Row, Chelsea, and where he would live for almost half a century. His list of important books includes The French Revolution (1837) which was a massive success. Amazingly his original manuscript, the first of three ultimate volumes, was given to John Stuart Mill for checking and his maid, mistaking it for rubbish, burned it.

As his star rose Thomas and Jane’s Chelsea home became the hub of literary life where they entertained a circle of famous A-list thinkers who were in tune with his innovative ideas, which had a profound effect on his own generation and the next. There was unstinting admiration and hero worship from friends like Mill, Dickens, Tennyson, the Brownings, Ruskin, Leigh Hunt and Darwin. Even Chopin played their piano. There was also a fan club of strong-minded women who left their mark on society, notably George Eliot and Harriet Martineau. More about THE SAGE OF CHELSEA, from THE LONDON MAGAZINE

Crosby Hall’s story is extraordinary. The most important surviving secular domestic Medieval building in London, Sir John Crosby’s great hall has on several occasions been snatched from the brink of demolition. After a 400-year gap, it is being incorporated back into a private house. Keep reading

Have a look at LONDON REMEMBERS… and realise what a selection of dwellers!

On the site of THOMAS MORE landing stage (for his residence). 1885. JOSEPH BAZALGETTE.

WHISTLER painted the old one…

Chelsea Reach is an important part of Chelsea’s character and heritage. The Chelsea Society has therefore been working for more than two years with the Cheyne Walk Trust and others to persuade RBKC to prevent the removal of traditional houseboats from Chelsea Reach, and their replacement by very  large floating structures, each containing two dwelling units.

A bit of history…

Built in 1674 by Robert Bertie 3rd Earl of Lindsey, incorporates a house which Sir Theodore Mayerne, court physician, built on the site of Sir Thomas More's farm. Reconstructed 1752 by Count Zinzendorf as the London headquarters of the Moravian Brethren.
Sub-divided 1774 as 1-7 Lindsey Row. Altered in the 19th century and again in 1952.

Civil engineer. Born Portsea, Hampshire. Constructions include: Great Western Railway and the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Died at home, 18 Duke Street

You are now on this (almost) final stretch of CHELSEA’S KING’S ROAD: shops, eateries, art galleries, interesting buildings…

Look at a bit of history…

The Fetter Lane Congregation of the Moravian Church was founded in 1742 by members of the Church who had come to London in search of passage to the British colonies in the Caribbean in order to take the Gospel to the slave communities. They realised that there was work to do here in this country and that there were people here, like James Hutton and the Wesley Brothers with whom to do it. After holding worship meetings in peoples' homes, a permanent place was created at Fetter Lane in the heart of the City of London. The congregation, which was served by ministers from Germany and Great Britain, also had links with the Moravian Chapel and burial ground (God’s Acre) in Chelsea based around Lindsey House.

Unfortunately the Fetter Lane Chapel was destroyed by enemy bombing in 1941 and the congregation became disparate, worshipping in chapels of various denominations, mostly south of the Thames.

Eventually, in the 1960s it was decided to re-establish the Fetter Lane Congregation at the Chelsea site. This is where the congregation has worshipped ever since, with the responsibility of looking after the God's Acre, which contains the graves of such as Peter Böhler, John Cennick and James Hutton.

The twelve-acre site was then developed by James Ellis into a proprietary place of entertainment and spectacle, being popular as such from 1845, when they opened, to 1877, when they were compelled to close down for being too rowdy. The Cremorne Gardens occupied a large site running between the Thames and the King's Road. They were noisy and colourful pleasure gardens featuring restaurants, entertainments, dancing, tightrope walking and balloon ascents, and could be entered from the north gate on Kings Road or another by the Cremorne Pier on the river.

The Power Station opened in 1905 to power the LONDON UNDERGROUND. 6.000 tones of coal were brought here each week. It was, then, the largest in the world.

The redevelopment was designed by architect Farrells, Formation Architects and BTPW. The engineering, by BURO HAPPOLD. 

Counter's Creek, ending in Chelsea Creek, the lowest part of which still exists, was a stream that flowed from Kensal Green, by North Kensington and flowed south into the River Thames on the Tideway at Sands End, Fulham. Its remaining open watercourse is the quay of Chelsea Creek. it was converted into an industrial canal, before becoming a railway route 

Sandford Manor House is a Grade II* listedhouse in Rewell Street. 

 It was probably built in the late 17th century, but with later alterations and additions.^[1] It has been converted to offices. The house is reputed to have been the residence of Nell Gwynne, the long-time mistress of King Charles II. 

The current Lord of the Manor of Sandford is Shawn Casini. This title was re-enacted in January 2024.

The Kops Brewery, founded by Henry Lowenfeld, originally from Poland, in 1890 was the first brewer of non-alcoholic beer in the United Kingdom. Ales and stouts produced on this eight-acre site were exported  throughout the British Empire.

He was a natural entrepreneur, as he was also the owner and manager of two West End theatres and one of England's first luxury hotels

The Gun Club was formed in 1860 at the Hornsey Wood Tavern, which stood in what today is Finsbury Park NORTH London. The creation of the park in 1867 forced a relocation and Frank HEATHCOTE received the permission of Richard NAYLOR  to promote live PIGEON SHOOTING  at his HURLINGHAM estate.  Therefore he formed  the Hurlingham Club for this purpose and "as an agreeable country resort" The club leased the estate from Naylor in 1869 and in 1874 acquired the land outright for £27,500. And that is why the pigeon today forms part of the club's crest.

This building stands on the site of Swan Wharf which in the nineteenth century was the site of a brewery and public house 'Swan Inn'. Beside, was the coal wharf of Cramer Roberts & Co. The inn was destroyed by fire in 1871.

In honour of the volunteers who left Hammersmith and Fulham to fight in the International Brigade, Spain 1936 - 1939. They fought alongside the Spanish people to stop Fascism and save liberty and peace for all.
They went because their open eyes could see no other way.
"No pasaran!"

The official BISHOP OF LONDON summer residence until 1973 (since 704!). 
Site, in the 16th, of London most important botanical gardens.

Football club. Formed as Fulham St Andrew's Church Sunday School F.C. by worshippers in the church at Star Road, West Kensington. The club which plays at Craven Cottage in Fulham has spent twenty-four seasons in English football's top division. Notable players have included Johnny Haynes, George Cohen, Bobby Robson, Rodney Marsh and Alan Mullery.

carry on on the thames path… you won’t regret!

William Tierney Clark 1783 - 1852 who lived locally was a distinguished civil engineer, architect and fellow of the Royal Society. He designed the first suspension bridge over the Thames at Hammersmith completed in 1827, which was replaced by the present bridge in 1887. Clark’s Hammersmith Bridge design led directly to his greatest work, the Chain Bridge over the Danube at Budapest (1849) shown on the panel above. Clark was the engineer of the West Middlesex Water Company located in Hammersmith. His other civil engineering works were the chain bridges at Marlow (1832) and Shoreham (1833 - 1923), He also built the Thames Medway Canal (1824 - 1844) and Gravesend Pier (1834)See his portrait and a representation of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge in Budapest:

The most bombed bridge in the whole world?. A 16 years old BRENDAN BEHAN placed some explosives… The IRÁ attempted agains it… And again, the IRÁ, or were BARNES residents against its reopening to motor vehicles?

HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE is only open to pedestrians and cyclists. You can catch a bus in CASTLENAU

Shops and eateries. HIGH STREET, THE TERRACE

Back on the hammersmith side

Now, back to the route… remember you are in hammersmith,  riverside

JAMES THOMPSON composed here RULE BRITTANIA, 1790

The DOVES TYPEFACE

A more recent dweller, CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON, DANGEROUS LIAISONS 

Off to richmond?