A HISTORY OF SURREY 



Of the few old shops that remain in the town the 

 most noted is the Original Maid of Honour Shop 

 which existed in the i8th century, where the 

 cheese-cakes supposed to have been introduced by 

 one of the maids of honour are still sold. In 1823 

 it was acquired by a Mr. Bilton, who sold the good- 

 will, lease, and famous recipe to Mr. J. T. Billett 

 (grandfather of the present owner) for 1,000. 

 Richmond was formerly celebrated for its inns, but 

 the greater number of the original houses have dis- 

 appeared. In 1634, out of twenty-five ale-houses 

 licensed within the hundreds of Kingston and Emley 

 Bridge, ten were allowed in Richmond alone ' by 

 reason of the Prince's Court often residing there and 

 being a place of much resort and recreation for 

 divers gentlemen and citizens.' 146 Shops in George 

 Street now occupy the sites of the ' Queen's Arms ' and 

 the ' Black Boy,' and also of the old Castle Inn, the 

 licence of which was removed in 1761 to the later 

 Castle Hotel in Hill Street, and of the original ' Red 

 Lion,' whose licence is supposed to have been trans- 

 ferred to the present hotel about 1755. Of the once- 

 famous Feathers Inn at the junction of King Street " 7 

 and Walter Lane, only the staircase and assembly room 

 now remain ; and there is no vestige of the ' Rose 

 and Crown.' The 'King's Head' stands at the corner 

 of Bridge Street on the site of the old Ferry Inn ; 

 opposite to it was another in Hill Street, which was 

 superseded by the Talbot Hotel, now Talbot House. 

 Tickets for the Old Theatre were sold at the ' Three 

 Compasses.' The 'Grey hound,' still existing in George 

 Street, although much altered, was the meeting-place 

 appointed for the trustees for putting the first Act 

 relating to the government of the parish (see below) 

 into execution." 8 The present ' Lass of Richmond 

 Hill ' has been rebuilt more than once ; it deserves 

 notice on account of its name, which is sometimes 

 thought to commemorate the heroine of a ballad and 

 a tale about whom much controversy has arisen. It 

 seems, however, that the true home of this young 

 lady was Richmond in Yorkshire, although the 

 tradition that she belonged to Richmond in Surrey 

 still persists. 149 



The increase of the population at the end of the 

 J 8th century occasioned an application for the build- 

 ing of Richmond Bridge. Previous to this time 

 communication with the opposite bank had been by 

 a ferry, which was held on lease from the Crown. 160 

 An Act was passed in 1773 by which the commis- 

 sioners were enabled to purchase the ferry from the 

 then lessee, and after building the bridge to exact 

 tolls until the money borrowed and the interest on it 

 was repaid and 5,000 vested in the funds for the 

 support of the bridge, after which the tolls were to 

 cease. 151 The bridge, consisting of five stone arches, 

 was begun in 1774 and finished in 1777, and in 

 1841 was said to be almost free, the only toll taken 

 being a halfpenny on Sundays for foot passengers 

 passing from the Surrey side, and a much reduced toll 



for carriages. 16 * The money for building the bridge 

 had been raised on the tontine system, and after the 

 death of the last shareholder in 1859 the bridge 

 became free. 1 " The embankment was continued 

 from Kew to Cholmondeley Walk also in ijj^.. lu 



In the middle of the igth century Richmond was 

 still called a village, although it was then said to 

 resemble a town in all respects. The railway to 

 London was opened in lS^6, lu and since that time 

 the development of the town, possessing as it does the 

 attractions of a beautiful situation combined with 

 proximity to London and facility of conveyance by 

 land and water, has been exceedingly rapid. The 

 population has increased from 9,255 in l85l lss 

 to 22,684 ln '89' and 25,577 > n 1901- '" 



The government of the town was in the hands of a 

 vestry, constituted under George III in 1785,"* until 

 1 890, when Richmond was incorporated by royal char- 

 ter. 1 " In 1892 the municipal borough was extended 

 to include the civil parishes of Kew, Petersham, and 

 that part of Mortlake which was created the civil 

 parish of North Sheen in 1 894. 160 It is divided into 

 six wards, and is governed by a mayor, ten aldermen, 

 and thirty councillors. It has a separate commission 

 of the peace, but no separate court of quarter sessions. 1 " 



Richmond, from its entrance on the north, extends 

 for about a mile to the crest of the hill. The road 

 from Kew, leaving the Old Deer Park on the right, 

 passes between shops and above the combined stations 

 of the London and South-Western Railway (over 

 which the North London Railway has running 

 powers) and the Metropolitan and District Railways, 

 to the beginning of George Street, 168 where it is joined 

 by the road from Sheen, 1 * 4 which, running parallel 

 with the railway, leads from the lower end of 

 Queen's Road. The fire-engine station is situated 

 at the angle formed by the junction of Kew and 

 Sheen roads. George Street has its continuation in 

 Hill Street, which bears round to the left and divides 

 a short distance above the turning of the bridge, the 

 lower road running parallel with the river towards 

 Petersham, and Hill Street itself becoming Hill Rise 

 and ascending towards Richmond Park, from the 

 gates of which Queen's Road slopes downwards in a 

 north-easterly direction to meet the road from Sheen. 

 These roads outline the thickly populated part of 

 the parish, a network of smaller roads covering the 

 ground between. 



To one approaching Richmond Park from the 

 town, the Terrace Gardens are on the right, and on 

 reaching them there first breaks upon the view, through 

 a few openings in the intervening trees, the lovely scene 

 that has been immortalized by painters and poets ; lw 

 while from the Terrace itself, just beyond the gardens, 

 there is an uninterrupted view of the landscape. Far 

 below is the winding river with its willow-covered 

 islets, forming with the surrounding woods and 

 meadows a beautiful foreground which fades away into 

 a blue or hazy distance. In clear weather, however, 



148 Cat. S.P. Dam. 1634-5, p. 19. 

 "7 Formerly Furbelow Street (Hurt, op. 

 cit. n). 



148 Burt, op. cit. 8. 



149 Much of the above information is 

 derived from Lysons, Brayley, Chancellor, 

 and Bell, op. cit. 



180 Cal. of Pat. 1476-85, p. 171 ; 

 L. and P. am. Fill, x, 226 (18) ; Cal. 

 S.P. Dam. 1591-4, p. 459, &c. 



141 Local Act, 13 Geo. Ill, cap. 83. 



1M Brayley, op. cit. iii, 98. 



163 Chancellor, op. cit. 153. 



144 Bell, op. cit. 52. 



155 Lewis, Tofog. Diet. iii. 



166 Burt, op. cit. 13. 



"' Pof. Ret. 1901, pp. 6, 1 6. 



158 The Act 25 Geo. Ill, cap. 41, is 

 sometimes referred to as the Richmond 

 Local Act, 1784; Burt, op. cit. 12. 



540 



169 London Gazette, 1890, iii, 2681. 

 For a copy of the charter ee Burt, op. cit. 



160 Pof. Ret. 1901, p. 12 and note, 

 i" Ibid. 



163 Called High Street until 1769 5 

 Burt, op. cit. n. 



161 Formerly called Marshgate Road. 

 166 Reynolds, Turner, Pope, Collini, 



and Thomson are among many who hare 

 painted or described this prospect. 



