Hampstead and Marylebone Part 6

Margaret Street was named after Margaret, heiress of the Newcastle and Oxford families. In it is All Saints' Church, a decorative building which has been described as the most beautiful church in the Metropolis.

It was built by W. b.u.t.terfield, and the first stone was laid by Dr.

Pusey on All Saints' Day, November 1, 1850. The whole of the interior is covered by mural decorations. The frescoes in the chancel were executed by W. Dyce, R.A. The style is Early English, and the spire reaches a height of 227 feet.

The church stands on the site of a chapel which is said to have been the cradle of the High Church Movement in the Metropolis. It is curious to read that in the eighteenth century this chapel was an isolated building, and that a shady lovers' walk led from it to Manchester Square, and another walk through the fields to Paddington!

In No. 204, Great Portland Street is the London Throat Hospital. The Jews' Central Synagogue, a large and imposing building in the Byzantine style, is just to the north of New Cavendish Street. In Portland Place there was formerly a well-known tavern, the Jew's Harp, where Onslow, Speaker to the House in George II.'s reign, used to resort incognito.

St. Paul's (episcopal) Chapel stands to the north of Langham Street.

This was formerly Portland Chapel, and was erected 1766 on the site of Marylebone Basin, which had for some time formed the reservoir of a water-supply. The chapel was not consecrated until 1831, when it received its present name. This name recalls a market begun here in 1721 by Edward, Earl of Oxford, but not opened till 1731, owing to the opposition of Lord Craven. The market had a central vane, with date of foundation and the initials of Lord Harley, Earl of Oxford, and his wife. He obtained a grant "authorizing himself, his lady, and their heirs to hold a market on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sat.u.r.days for the sale of flesh, fish, fowl, herbs, and all other provisions." It does not seem, however, to have answered his expectations, for the central room was afterwards used as a pay-office for Chelsea out-pensioners. On the site of this Oxford Mansions now stands.

t.i.tchfield Street was built about the end of the eighteenth century.

Loutherbourg, R.A., lived here, and W. Collins, R.A., was born in this street in 1787.

All the rest of this district is very dreary. There are various chapels and charitable inst.i.tutions scattered about in the streets; but it seems likely before long that land in such an advantageous position will be required for buildings of a better cla.s.s, which will bring in more rent than the present ones.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MARYLEBONE DISTRICT.

Published by A. & C. Black, London.]

Wells Street chiefly consists of large manufacturing premises. St.

Andrew's Church has been opened out by the demolition of adjoining houses. It is celebrated for its choir.

Nollekens the sculptor's studio was at No. 9 in Mortimer Street. The Middles.e.x Hospital stands back from the street, with two wings enclosing a cement courtyard. This hospital was inst.i.tuted in 1745 for sick and lame patients. It was first situated in Windmill Street, Tottenham Court Road, but was removed to Marylebone Fields, as the present site was then called in 1755. The site was obtained from Charles Berners on lease for the term of 999 years, and the first stone of the building was laid by the Duke of Northumberland. The building of the wings was completed in 1775, and they were extended in 1834. Various additions were made to the hospital, and improvements carried out in the interior arrangements, but it was not until 1836 that a charter of incorporation was obtained.

At the end of the eighteenth century several of the wards not then required were opened for the reception of the French refugees as a temporary shelter.

And with this we bring our "Circuit Walk" to an end, having found therein many things interesting, and not a few curious, even in a district usually accounted by no means exceptional in these respects.