KINGSTON HUNDRED 



RICHMOND 



Windsor Castle is distinctly visible. This view was 

 frequently threatened, until it was permanently secured 

 to the town by an agreement between the corporation 

 and the trustees of the Earl of Dysart in 1896, by 

 the purchase of the Marble Hill Estate, Twickenham, 

 by the London County Council in igoz, 166 and by 

 Sir Max Waechter's recent gift of the Petersham 

 Ait, or Glover's Islet, to the corporation. 



A theatre is said to have existed in Richmond as 

 early as 1 7 1 5.'" Another one called the Old Theatre 

 was built on the slope of the hill in 1 7 1 9 on the site 

 of an old stable for donkeys ; its licence was forfeited 

 in 1756, and ten years later a new theatre was 

 opened on the Green where Garrick House now 

 stands, the prologue for the occasion being written by 

 David Garrick. Edmund Kean acted here in 1817 

 and took a great fancy to Richmond ; he became the 

 lessee of the theatre in 1831, and took up his residence 

 in the house connected with it. He died and was 

 buried at Richmond in l833. 168 This theatre was 

 pulled down in 1886, and another one built in 1889, 

 but it was not found to pay. A new theatre of varie- 

 ties has been lately erected on the little green adjacent 

 to the large Green. Other means of popular enter- 

 tainment are found in the Terrace Field, 16 * the athletic 

 grounds, swimming baths, the free library, 170 and boat- 

 ing. The common called Pesthouse Common, owing 

 to a pest-house existing here, once extended from the 

 bottom of Queen's Road to the park gates ; but it was 

 granted to the vestry by the Act of 1785, and inclosed 

 for a workhouse and burial ground, except for a small 

 portion that adjoins the lower part of Queen's Road. 

 The pest-house itself was pulled down in 1 787.'" 



The Royal Hospi'al, on the outskirts of the Old 

 Deer Park, was opened in 1868 and has been several 

 times enlarged. Part of it was formerly the home of 

 the poet Thomson. The town hall, built between 

 Hill Street and the river on the site of the old Castle 

 Hotel which was given by Sir Whittaker Ellis, bt., 

 then M.P. for the division, was completed in 1893. 

 A footbridge and lock were opened in 1894. 



The ecclesiastical parish of St. John the Divine was 

 constituted in 1838, the church having been built in 

 1826-9, and that of Holy Trinity in 1870 out of 

 the parish of Richmond. The parish of St. Luke 

 was formed in 1890, and that of Christ Church in 

 1 894, out of Richmond and Mortlake. There is a 

 Roman Catholic church dedicated in honour of St. 

 Elizabeth in a branch road from Hill Rise called the 

 Vineyard, first opened in 1824. At the lower end 

 of Queen's Road is a Roman Catholic Marist convent. 

 A Presbyterian church of England erected in 1885 

 is situated on the little green ; there are also Congre- 

 gational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan places 

 of worship (the first built in 1830), and a Free 

 Church. 



The Wesleyan Theological Institution was founded 

 in 1844. It is a large and well-appointed building 

 in Bath stone of 1 6th-century style. 



In 1725 there was a charity school at Richmond 



for 50 boys and 50 girls, founded in 1713 by Mar- 

 garet Lady Vandeput, wife of Sir Peter Vandeput, 

 kt. 17> In 1786 the minister and churchwardens 

 returned that Lady Capell had left in 1721^11 a 

 year charged on land for the charity school, where 

 in 1786 24 boys and 34 girls were educated. Other 

 benefactions and subscriptions brought the total 

 income up to 2 1 8 6i. ln This was the general 

 school for Richmond, in which, when Brayley wrote, 

 about 1 844, 400 children were educated at fees of 

 I d. a week, and the charity children also clothed as 

 well as educated free. It is now represented by the 

 King's School in Kew (Public Elementary), entirely 

 rebuilt in 1887. 



St. Mary's (Parochial) School was built in 1853, 

 the Vineyard (British) School in 1866, Holy Trinity 

 (National) Infants' Schools in 1866, Kew Road 

 (Wesleyan) School in 1 867, Holy Trinity (National) 

 Girls' School in 1867, St. Elizabeth's (Roman 

 Catholic) School in 1870, St. John's (National) 

 School in 1873, Holy Trinity, Prince's Road, 

 (National) Girls' and Infants' School in 1875, 

 rebuilt in 1898, Holy Trinity, Mortlake Road, 

 (National) Boys' School in 1885, and Darrell Road 

 (Council) School was opened in 1906. 



Among the place-names that have been found in 

 connexion with the parish are 'blacke Henry,' 

 < Kingslease,' ' the Pray,' ' Cranes Croft,' ' Barbadoes 

 Close,' 'Rachells Peece,' < Lyttle Praise,' 'Create 

 Prayse,' ' Robinhoodes Walke.' 



There is no mention of SHEEN, now 

 MANOR known as RICHMOND, in the Domesday 

 Survey, as it was at that time included 

 in the neighbouring manor of Kingston (q.v.), which 

 was held by the king. By the reign of Henry I, 

 however, the manor had acquired a separate existence 

 under the name of Sheen, and was granted by the 

 king to the family of Belet, who held it by the ser- 

 jeanty of butlery. 174 In 1206 Master Michael Belet 

 paid the sum of ,100 for the office of butlership. 1 " 

 He seems to have forfeited his lands, and those in 

 Sheen were granted to Hugh de Nevill in I2I5. 17 ' 

 Michael was evidently restored shortly afterwards, as 

 he granted a virgate and a half of land in the manor 

 of Sheen to Walkelin de Canetone early in the reign 

 of Henry III. 177 At his death the custody of his 

 daughter and heir, with her inheritance in Sheen, 

 was acquired by Wimund de Ralegh. 179 This 

 daughter appears to have been the Maud Belet who 

 died in or before 1229, when her lands devolved on 

 her kinsman John Belet, who paid ten marks for relief 

 in that year. 179 He died in 1 23 1, 180 leaving two 

 daughters, Emma Oliver, and Alice who married John 

 de Vautort a tenant on the manor, 181 and thus the manor 

 of Sheen became divided. In 1253-4 Emma Oliver, 

 or Emma Belet as she is here called, was party to a 

 fine with John de Vautort and Alice his wife as to lands 

 in Sheen and other places which were said to have 

 been the right of John Belet the father of Emma. 181 

 By 1258 Emma Oliver had become the wife of 



lfp '' London Statures (prepared under the 

 direction of the Parl. Committee of the 

 L.C.C.), ii, 493-4. 



"7 Brayley, op. cit. IOI. 



168 Bell, op. cit. 71-9. 

 " Granted to the vestrjr in 1786 ; 

 Bell, op. cit. 85. 



170 Opened in 1881 ; Burt, op. cit. 49. 



WUbid. 7, 15. 



"Willis's Visitation MS. at Farnham. 

 She was daughter of Sir John Buckworth 

 of West Sheen. Sir Peter Vandeput was 

 a merchant of Flemish descent, father of 

 Sir Peter Vandeput, bart. 



MParl. Return, 1786. 



V* Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), Zl6. 



W Rot. de Ohlatii tt F/a.(Rec.Com.), 358. 



WRot. Lit. Claui. (Rec. Com.), i, 237. 



541 



OT Harl. Chart. 45 H 45. 



M Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 227. 

 The text gives ' the daughter and heir of 

 Nicholas Belet.' 



V'Exarfta i Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), i, 

 190. *>Ibid. 2 1 8. 



"1 Tata di Ntvill (Rec. Com.), 228. 



NFeet of F. Div. Co. 38 Hen. Ill, 

 no. 90. 



