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ST. JOHN'S WOOD

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

Gazetteer

ST. JOHN'S WOOD, a suburban district in the parish and borough of St. Marylebone, in the Holborn division of the hundred of Ossulstone, county Middlesex, 3½ miles W.N.W. of St. Paul's, London.

It has communication with the City and West End by the Atlas omnibuses, which leave the Swiss Cottage every ten minutes, and in the Finchley-road is a station of the Blackwall, Kew, and Kingston railway. This place was formerly a small hamlet belonging to the priory of St. John, at Clerkenwell, but upon the formation of the Regent's Park it rapidly rose into importance, and is now chiefly inhabited by merchants, City men of business, professional men, and families with small independencies. It contains several public buildings, as the new colleges for the education of Dissenting ministers, in connection with the London University; the barracks, near the "Eyre Arms;" the Clergy Orphan Asylum for girls, police station of the 'S' division; Marylebone almshouses; and Lord's cricket ground, where the best matches are played. St. John's Chapel was the burial-ground of the parish of St. Marylebone, but is now closed. In it is a tombstone to Joanna Southcote, with a curious inscription. There are several churches, but all modern. Christ Chapel, erected in 1814, is a proprietary chapel, with a conventional district attached to it by the Rector of Christ Church. It contains several monuments and tombs by Chantrey, Wyatt, and other eminent sculptors, and is adorned with Ionic columns. The living is a curacy in the diocese of London, and in the patronage of trustees. St. Mark's, situated in Hamilton-terrace, was built in 1847, at the cost of near £10,000. The living is a perpetual curacy, value £600, in the patronage of the crown. All Saints' is also a perpetual curacy, value £400. St. Stephen's, Avenue-road, was built in 1849, and is in the patronage of the Bishop of London. There are besides several proprietary chapels, and places of worship belonging to the several bodies of Protestant Dissenters. Jackson, the painter; Terry, the actor; Sir E. Landseer, the animal painter; and Professor De Morgan, the eminent mathematician, have been residents here.

[Description(s) from "The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland" (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]
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