ward is Parsons Green, so called from the fact that the old
rectory-house stood on the west side. Lysons says: "Parsonage house
stands upon the west side of Parsons or Parsonage Green, to which it
gave its name. It is now divided into two tenements. In the year 1598 it
was in the tenure of Sir Francis Walsingham's widow." Bowack, in 1705,
wrote that it was old and much decayed. He says an old stone building
adjoining seemed to be 300 or 400 years old, and might have been used
for religious services by the Rectors and their households. Parson's
Green was once a very fashionable place; in Strype's edition of Stow's
"Survey" it is commented on as having "very good houses for gentry." St.
Dionis' Church is a noticeable object, built of red brick, with Bath
stone dressings. Though only consecrated on June 18, 1885, it carries
with it associations from an older building, St. Dionis Backchurch,
which stood at the corner of Lime Street and Fenchurch Street. When that
church had been pulled down, the pulpit, font, and altar were
transferred to the new building at Fulham, and L10,000 was devoted out
of the proceeds of the sale of the site for the use and endowment of the
new church. The pulpit and font date from 1666. The plate also is
interesting, including two flagons, four chalices, four patens, etc.,
which are of various dates from 1625 to 1725. A large red-brick hall,
separated from the church by Rectory Road, is used as a mission-hall. A
few steps further northward, partly hidden from the road by intervening
buildings, was the old house called Rosamund's Bower. Before its
demolition in 1892 it was quaintly pretty, with leaded window-panes and
red-tiled roof, and was then known as Audley Cottage. It was called
Rosamond's Bower first in order to perpetuate the tradition of its
standing on the site of a mansion of Fair Rosamund. The earliest mention
of it is in 1480, when it was valued at ten marks per annum. It belonged
to Sir Michael Wharton before 1725, and when he died in that year it was
divided between his co-heirs. It was the residence of Mr. Crofton Croker
between 1837 and 1846, and he has written a very full account of it.
Samuel Richardson came to Parson's Green in 1755 from North End. In
Ashington Road stands the Church of the Holy Cross, a Roman Catholic
building of plain yellow brick, with a cross at each end, built in 1886.
Just after leaving Parson's Green, there is on the right a high
red-brick wall, which shows