ENGLAND 



Kensington Talace^ London 



KENSINGTON GARDENS, adjoining 

 Hyde Park, at one time belonged to 

 Sir Heneage Finch, created Earl of Nottingham 

 in 1 68 1. We read that in March 1662 a 

 grant was made to Finch " of that ditch or 

 fence which divides Hyde Park from his own 

 lands with the trees, etc., thereto belonging, 

 10 feet by 100 roods, from the southern high- 

 way leading to Kensington, to the northern 

 highway leading to Acton, with the disparking 

 the same " (only twenty-six acres then sur- 

 rounded the house and park). In 1691 

 William III purchased Nottingham House, 

 as it was then called, from Daniel, second 

 Earl of Nottingham, a considerable part of 

 Whitehall having just been destroyed by fire. 

 He rebuilt it almost entirely from designs by 



F 41 



