Kensington
Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around 2.9 miles (4.6 km) west of Central London.[a]
The district's commercial heart is
Name
The
History
The
The original Kensington Barracks, built at Kensington Gate in the late 18th century, were demolished in 1858 and new barracks were built in Kensington Church Street.[6]
In 2022, 12.2% of Kensington residents have been granted non domicile status to avoid paying tax in the UK.[7]
Geography
The focus of the area is Kensington High Street, a busy commercial centre with many shops, typically upmarket. The street was declared London's second best shopping street in February 2005 due to its wide range and number of shops.[8] However, since October 2008 the street has faced competition from the Westfield shopping centre in nearby White City.[9]
Kensington's second group of commercial buildings is at South Kensington, where several streets of small to medium-sized shops and service businesses are situated close to South Kensington tube station. This is also the southern end of Exhibition Road, the thoroughfare which serves the area's museums and educational institutions.
The boundaries of Kensington are not well-defined; in particular, the southern part of Kensington has conflicting and complex borders with Chelsea (another ancient manor) whether electoral or postal definitions are used, and has similar architecture. To the west, a border is clearly defined by the line of the Counter Creek marked by the
In the north east is situated the large public
The sub districts of Kensington:
Kensington is, in general, an extremely affluent area, a trait that it shares with Chelsea, its neighbour to the south. The area has some of London's most expensive streets and garden squares, and at about the turn of the 21st century the Holland Park neighbourhood became particularly high-status. In early 2007 houses sold in Upper Phillimore Gardens, immediately east of
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea forms part of the most densely populated local government district in the United Kingdom. This high density has come about through the subdivision of large mid-rise
Notable attractions and institutions in Kensington include
Administration
Kensington is administered within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and lies within the Kensington parliamentary constituency.
Media sector
The head office of newspaper group
The building also houses Lebedev's TV channel London Live, with its news studio situated in part of the former department store, using St Mary Abbots church and Kensington Church Street as live backdrop.
Transport
Kensington is crossed east–west by three main roads, the most important of which is the
Kensington is well served by
A number of local bus services link Kensington into the surrounding districts, and key hubs are Kensington High Street and South Kensington station. These bus services were improved in frequency and spread from 2007 until 2010 when the western extension of the London congestion charge area existed (which required drivers of cars and vans during the charging hours Monday-Friday to pay a daily fee of £8).
In 2020 a temporary cycle lane on Kensington High Street caused a nationwide media stir.[13][14] The temporary cycle lane was installed by the local council in September 2020 with £700,000 in funding from central government grants, but it was removed in December 2020.[15]
Sports
Kensington has one football team,
Notable people
- Jeremy Bamber (born 1961), convicted mass murderer
- Ivan Berlyn (1867–1934), film and stage actor
- Antonia Bird (1951–2013), film director
- Howard Blake (born 1938), composer, conductor and pianist
- Frank Boys(1918–2003), first-class cricketer
- Les Champelovier (1933–2023), amateur footballer
- Frank Cadogan Cowper (1877–1958), artist
- Academy Award-winning actor
- Dennis Wise (born 1966), footballer
- Dido (born 1971), singer and songwriter
- Carmen Ejogo (born 1973), actress
- Evangeline Florence (1867–1928), soprano
- Justine Frischmann (born 1969), musician
- Percival Gale (1865–1940), cricketer
- William Leach (1883–1969), first-class cricketer
- Montague MacLean (1870–1951), cricketer
- Freddie Mercury (1946–1991), frontman of the British rock band Queen
- Jimmy Page (born 1944), guitarist of the British rock band Led Zeppelin
- Una-Mary Parker (1930–2019), journalist and novelist
- Reginald Popham (1892–1975), cricketer and footballer
- Sir John Richard Robinson, journalist and editor
- Christopher Stanger-Leathes (1881–1966), rugby union international
- Jason Vale (born 1969), lifestyle coach
- Frank Ward (1888–1952), first-class cricketer
- Frank Westerton (1866–1923), stage and silent-film actor
- Tom Holland (born 1996), Actor
- Finn McMissile(born 1973), British intelligence
See also
References
- ^ "Wards of Brompton, Courtfield, Campden, Earls Court, Holland, Queens Gate and Abingdon". Archived from the original on 16 June 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
- ^ "DocumentsOnline". www.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
- ^ "CP 40/541; year 1396", Plea Rolls, Court of Common Pleas— with county margination "midd". Kesyngton is the place where the trespass (taking animals) occurred (line 3)
- ^ Victoria County History of England, Middlesex, vol. 1, pp. 116–7
- ^ Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon, vol 2, pp. 55–6
- ^ Kensington Barracks, London Picture Archive, retrieved 25 September 2016
- ^ "Non-doms: 12% of residents in London's richest parts claimed status in 2018". the Guardian. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ "Best shopping street' in London", BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk, 23 February 2005, retrieved 23 October 2008
- ^ Core Strategy:Putting the neighbourhood first, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, retrieved 14 May 2010
- ^ "Contacts Archived 9 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine." Daily Mail and General Trust. Retrieved 6 September 2011. "Northcliffe House 2 Derry Street London W8 5TT Great Britain"
- ^ Ponsford, Dominic. "Sharing with Mail 'will safeguard future of Independent'." Press Gazette. 28 November 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2011. "Under a deal signed today, the Independent titles will share back office functions with the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Metro and Evening Standard at Northcliffe House in Kensington."
- ^ Mackie, Gareth, "Johnston Press agrees £24m deal for i newspaper", The Scotsman, Johnston Press, retrieved 14 December 2017
- ^ "Council to 'revisit' removal of cycle lane on Kensington High Street". The Independent. 9 January 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
- ^ "Residents back 'ripped out' cycle lanes, Khan says – The Transport Network". www.transport-network.co.uk. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
- ^ "Council to scrap £700k Kensington High Street bike lane – The Transport Network". www.transport-network.co.uk. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
Notes
- ^ Measured from Kensington High St, outside the Underground station to Charing Cross, following tradition.
Further reading
- "Kensington", Chambers's Encyclopaedia, London, 1901
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 15 (11th ed.), 1911, pp. 733–744 ,
- Lysons, Daniel (1792), "Kensington", Environs of London, vol. 3: County of Middlesex, London: T. Cadell
- Mitton, Geraldine Edith (1903), Besant, Sir Walter (ed.), The Fascination of London: The Kensington District, London: Adam and Charles Black
- "London Kensington Market (destroyed)", geocities.com, 11 February 2008, archived from the original on 11 February 2008
- Mary Cathcart Borer, Two Villages: The Story of Chelsea and Kensington. London: W. H. Allen, 1973.
External links
- Media related to Kensington at Wikimedia Commons
- The dictionary definition of kensington at Wiktionary