It was hard to decide when to finish this artwork map because I kept on learning new things all the time and I could have continued although I was aware that it could get too crowded! The great thing about digital art is that I can amend it, so if anyone thinks that there is anything important that is missing, I welcome any suggestions.
From my notebook: (not in date order)
- The boatmen called J.W.W.Turner ‘Admiral Booth’ because he lived with his landlady Mrs Booth.
- I found a reference to J.R.R. Tolkien in Chelsea, but no address or any more detail.
- William Morris and his daughter May Morris often visited William De Morgan at the Orange House which was in Cheyne Row where the church is now.
- In 1901 at the express wish of Queen Victoria, the area was given Royal Borough status by Edward V11.
- Hans Holbein the younger painted Thomas More surrounded by his family in Chelsea.
- Decca recorded at the old Chenil Gallery recording studio with artists Sir John Barbirolli, Spike Hughes and Jim Dorsey.
- The following artists exhibited at the Chenil Gallery, Augustus John, Gwen John, William Orpen, William Nicholson, Ben Nicholson, James Dickson Innes, Eric Gill, David Bomberg, Derwent Lees, Edna Clarke Hall, Frank Dobson, Leon Underwood, William Roberts and many more.
- Sir John Barbirolli, Spike Hughes, Jim Dorsey
- Sir William Nicholson.
- Dame Sybil Thorndike used to read the lesson at Christ church, (she lived in Carlyle Square – just outside the area).
- Overcrowding is a big problem on Cheyne Walk/just not enough space.
- Crosby Hall and the heraldic sea stags on the entrance.
- At the old Crosby Hall in Bishopsgate before it was moved to Chelsea it had connections to Sir Walter Raleigh, Richard 111, Shakespeare, and it was used as a setting for Shakespeare’s Play, Richard 111.
- The Heraldic shields at the Moravian church, corresponding to areas and street names. The families who once owned estates and would go to Chelsea for the w/end to get away from London.
- Chelsea had been famous for wild duck shoots.
- Houseboats: 60 residential moorings.
- Samuel Pepys visited Danvers House.
- Prince Albert visited John Martin at Lindsey House.
- Dr Thomas Arne is believed to have written ‘Rule Britannia’ at 215 Kings Road.
- It is rumoured that Edward V111, and Wallace Simpson dined at 215 Kings Road with Sybil Colefax.
- Nicholas Sprimont ran the Chelsea porcelain factory from 1716-1771. They used a special blue paint called mazarine.
- Argyll House is the oldest remaining house on the Kings Road.
- Whistler declared “Shall the birthplace of art become the tomb of its parasite in Tite Street’
- In Nancy Mitford’s book ‘The Pursuit of love’, Linda lived on Cheyne Walk.
- In 1719 Sir Hans Sloane led a petition to get the Kings Road made public.
- Rosetti kept many unusual animals. His landlord added a clause into all future tenant contracts ,‘no peacocks are allowed’
- The ghost of a bear was reported as having been seen in the nineteenth and twentieth century on Cheyne Walk.
- David Bowie painted the interior of his house in Oakley Street black.
- Carlyle Mansions was known as ‘Writer’s block’.
- Peter Ustinov spent time at 215 Kings Road.
- There are three faux blue plaques in Glebe place, the one referring to Sir Alfred Munnings says Munning on it.
- The Cross Keys is the oldest pub in Chelsea built in 1708, Dylan Thomas would also go there.
- Coffee houses were all the rage in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
- Winston Churchill wrote “I think the person who taught me most about painting was William Nicholson”