34 THE BATH ROAD 



and, indeed, the turnpike gate which until 1721 

 crossed Piccadilly, opposite Berkeley Street, gave a 

 quasi- official confirmation of that view. In that 

 year, however, it was removed to Hyde Park Corner, 

 just westward of the thoroughfare now known as 

 Grosvenor Place, and so remained until October, 1825, 

 when it was disestablished in favour of a turn^^ike 

 gate opposite the spot where the Alexandra Hotel 

 now stands. Beyond it — in the country — was the 

 pretty rural village of Knightsbridge, with a gate 

 by the barracks ; and, beyond that, the remote 

 village of Kensington, to which the Court retired for 

 change of air, far away from London and its cares ! 



From 1721 to 1825, therefore, we may well regard 

 Hyde Park Corner as the beginning of town. This 

 was so well recognized that local allusions to the fact 

 were plentiful. For instance, where Piccadilly Terrace 

 now stands was an inn called the " Hercules' Pillars," 

 a favourite sion for houses on the outskirts of laro^e 

 towns, just as churches dedicated to St. Giles were 

 anciently placed outside the city walls. " Hercules' 

 Pillars " was the classic name for the Straits of Gib- 

 raltar, regarded then as the boundary of civilization ; 

 hence the peculiar fitness of the sign. 



On the western side of this inn, a place greatly 

 resorted to by the 'prentice lads who wanted to take 

 their lasses for a country outing in Hyde Park, was a 

 little cottage, long known as "Allen's Stall," which 

 stood here from the time of George the Second until 

 1784, when AjDsley House was erected on its site. 

 The ground is said to have been a present from 

 Georoe the Second to a discharo;ed soldier named 



