WALPOLE HOUSE 



The tower of Chiswick Church, the only part that has not under- 

 gone material changes in restoration, has kept watch and ward 

 over the hamlets of Chiswick and Sutton, for 500 years. It forms 

 a landmark towards Kew. It has witnessed many changes, for 

 most of the older houses which must have given great distinction 

 to the neighbourhood in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, 

 have one by one disappeared. Corney House, the old home of 

 the Russell family, with the beautiful gardens by the river-side 

 in which Queen Elizabeth walked was pulled down in 1832, 

 and on part of the site Messrs. Thorny croft established their 

 boat-building works, where the first launches made of steel were 

 constructed, and here, in 1876, the first torpedo boat for the British 

 navy, named " The Lightning," was built. 



College House, before mentioned, has also passed away ; so, 

 too, has Sutton Court, formerly the Manor House of " The Dean's " 

 or Manor of Sutton where at one time dwelt the Viscount and 

 Viscountess Fauconberg. The Viscountess was the third daughter 

 of the Protector Cromwell. After her father's death she favoured 

 the Restoration, which her husband certainly helped to bring about. 



Left a widow, she lived on at Chiswick for many years, dying 

 a benefactress to the poor of the hamlet. 



These and other memorials of a vanished age have all, with one 

 exception passed away, and left no trace, and now the oldest 

 houses remaining in Chiswick Mall, are mostly, Queen Anne or 

 Georgian. 



The exception is Walpole House, attractively situated on the 

 water-side, with the willowy island separating it from the 

 broad course of the stream. It is a beautiful example of 

 the early Wren period. Its windows command extensive views 

 towards Kew on the one hand, and Fulham on the other. There 

 is no garden in front, but there is a flagged space between the 

 front door and the wrought-iron entrance gate and in this respect 

 the place does not correspond with Thackeray's own drawing 

 of Miss Pinkerton's Academy, the variations being probably made 

 intentionally. On the river side of the Mall, the row of dainty little 

 shut-in gardens each one belonging to the house it faces are 

 a quaint and pretty feature of the locality. 



Beyond these the long narrow Eyot green with willows in 

 the summer, yellow with kingcups in the spring, is divided from 



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