PADDINGTON

PADDINGTON, a parish and suburban district of London, in the Holborn division of the hundred of Ossulstone, and borough of Marylebone, county Middlesex, 3 miles W. by N. of St. Paul's. It is the terminus of the Great Western railway, and the junction station of the Metropolitan line, which, like the Great Western, is constructed on the broad gauge, so that trains can run through from the one line to the other. Here is also the basin of the Paddington canal, with extensive wharves and warehouses on its banks, and which communicates with all the principal canals in the kingdom, and by means of the Regent's canal joins the Thames at Limehouse. The parish, which lies between the Edgware and Uxbridge roads, comprises the populous suburban districts of Bayswater, Maids Hill, Westbourne Green, and Craven Hill, and is divided into the following ecclesiastical districts,-All Saints', Christ Church, Holy Trinity, St. John's, St. Mary's, and St. Saviour's. It contains an area of 1,220 acres, with a population in 1861 of 75,784.

In the Saxon times it appears to have been a small agricultural village, and was given by King Edgar to the Abbey of Westminster, and at the Dissolution it was appropriated by Henry VIII. towards the endowment of the then newly founded bishopric of Westminster, since the abolition of which, in the reign of Edward VI., it has belonged to the see of London, under which it is leased to the Thystlewaites of Southwick, for less than one-fourth of its present rental. The town consists principally of numerous modern streets and squares, built on a very large scale, including Cambridge, Connaught, Gloucester, Hyde Park, Oxford, and Sussex squares. It is partially paved and lighted with gas, and is well supplied with water from the West Middlesex waterworks. Amongst the principal public buildings are the terminus of the Great Western railway; St. Mary's Hospital, built in 1850 by Hopper, at a cost of over £30,000; a dispensary, savings-bank, union poorhouse, and Cockerell's almshouses, besides the places of worship mentioned below. It is within the jurisdiction of the magistrates acting for the metropolis, and under the superintendence of the metropolitan police. The parish church, which was formerly a chapel-of-ease to St. Margaret's, Westminster, was originally founded by Sir Joseph Sheldon, lessee of the manor, about the year 1700. The living is a perpetual curacy* in the diocese of London, value £1,200, in the patronage of the bishop. The present church, dedicated to St. James, occupies the site of a more ancient one on the green, and was rebuilt by Wapshott in 1791 for £6,000. It is a substantial building of brick, with a Doric portico on the S. side, and a cupola, and has the tombs of John Marquis of Lansdowne, Mrs. Siddons, Dr. Geddes, the Biblical translator, Bryan, author of the "Dictionary of Painters," and other celebrities. In the old church of St. James, Hogarth was married to Thornhill's daughter. In addition to the parish church are the following district churches-St. John's, St. Michael's, St. Mary's with St. Philip's, Holy Trinity, All Saints', Christ Church, St. Saviour's, St. Mary Magdalene's, St. Stephen's with St. Luke's and St. Thomas's, and St. Matthew's, Bayswater, the livings of which are all perpetual curacies, varying in value from £1,000 to £150. St. John's church, in Southwick Crescent, was erected in 1831 at a cost of near £9,000, and has a campanile turret, and a stained window. Holy Trinity church, situated in Westbourne Terrace, was built by T. Cundy, and has a crocketed spire. The other churches are all modern. There are places of worship for Baptists, Wesleyans, Roman Catholics, and other Dissenting congregations; also National and other schools. The parochial charities, arising chiefly from land and tenements, amount to about £350. See London.

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