vii

PART I

CHELSEA SOUTH OF THE KING'S ROAD 1

PART II

CHELSEA NORTH OF THE KING'S ROAD 55

PART III

THE ROYAL HOSPITAL AND RANELAGH GARDENS 67

INDEX 97

_Map at end of Volume._

CHELSEA

PART I

The name Chelsea, according to Faulkner and Lysons, only began to be used
in the early part of the eighteenth century. During the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries the place was known as Chelsey, and before that
time as Chelceth or Chelchith. The very earliest record is in a charter
of King Edward the Confessor, where it is spelt Cealchyth. In Doomsday
Book it is noted as Cercehede and Chelched. The word is derived
variously. Newcourt ascribes it to the Saxon word _ceald_, or _cele_,
signifying cold, combined with the Saxon _hyth_, or _hyd_, a port or
haven. Norden believes it to be due to the word "chesel" (_ceosol_, or
_cesol_), a bank "which the sea casteth up of sand or pebble-stones,
thereof called Cheselsey, briefly Chelsey, as is Chelsey [Winchelsea?] in
Sussex." Skinner agrees with him substantially, deriving the principal
part of the word from banks of sand, and the _ea_ or _ey_ from land
situated near the water; yet he admits it is written in ancient records
Cealchyth--"chalky haven." Lysons asserts that if local circumstances
allowed it he would have derived it from "hills of chalk." Yet, as there
is neither hill nor chalk in the parish, this derivation cannot be
regarded as satisfactory. The difficulty of the more generally received
interpretation--viz., shelves of gravel near the water--is that the
ancient spelling of the name did undoubtedly end in _hith_ or _heth_, and
not in _ea_ or _ey_.

BOUNDARIES

The dividing line which separated the old parish of Chelsea from the City
of Westminster was determined by a brook called the Westbourne, which
took its rise near West End in Hampstead. It flowed through Bayswater and
into Hyde Park. It supplied the water of the Serpentine, which we owe to
the fondness of Queen Caroline for landscape gardening. This well-known
piece of water was afterwards supplied from the Chelsea waterworks. The
Westbourne stream then crossed Knightsbridge, and from this point formed
the eastern boundary of St. Luke's parish, Chelsea. The only vestige of
the rivulet now