West Brompton

This is the 40th station I have visited on the District Line as part of my 'Above the Underground' challenge. West Brompton station is about a ten minute walk from Earls Court station on the District Line's Wimbledon branch. West Brompton is also a London Overground and National Rail station but the platforms for these services are separated by fencing from the underground trains.

 

The station is an attractive Grade II listed building dating back to 1866. The brickwork is a soft, warm yellow with decorative arches.

Across the road from the station you can see the hoardings surrounding the old Earl's Court site. 

Just a short distance from the station is Brompton Cemetery. This is one of the 'Magnificent Seven' as they are commonly known. They were created in the 19th century to alleviate overcrowding in existing parish burial grounds. The other cemeteries, which together circle the City of London, are Kensal Green, West Norwood, Highgate, Abney Park, Nunhead and Tower Hamlets. Brompton Cemetery was consecrated in 1840 making it one of the oldest garden cemeteries in Britain. There are over 200,000 buried here and it is still open for burials. The cemetery has a number of noted residents including the suffragette leader, Emmeline Pankhurst. It is also thought that the children's writer and illustrator, Beatrix Potter( 1866-1943) used the names from the gravestones for her characters. You can find the names of Peter Rabbett, Mr McGregor, Mr Nutkins, Jeremiah Fisher and Mr Todd all buried here. Maybe it is just a coincidence that they feature in her books but she lived close by and I'm sure she would have walked through the cemetery on many an occasion. It was a beautiful morning when I visited and I spent quite a bit of time walking around enjoying the peace and wildlife. Some of the monuments are huge but they would be for the wealthy families.

 

For the Victorians, a memorial stone was an essential way of keeping a loved one's memory alive. Middle class families would have longed for a large monument but the next best thing was a private grave with an elegant headstone. The cheaper option was to go in a common grave with half a dozen strangers. Headstones were not usually allowed on common graves so most were left unmarked.

This large mausoleum is a symbol of the success of the McDonald family. Scottish born he made his money in the Scottish oil industry. The granite and marble monument has stained glass windows and is guarded by life size angels. The angels are holding a book and a laurel wreath, traditional symbols of wisdom and victory. 

Next to the large mausoleum is the Hawkins Whitshed angel. Although not that big compared to the mausoleum next door, it occupies a very expensive plot on the corner of the main avenue. The monument records Anne, the wife of Baronet Hawkins Whitshed and their daughter Elizabeth Le Blond, a mountaineer, photographer, writer and film maker.

You can still be buried in the cemetery today but large or ornate new memorials are no longer allowed.  Although many buried here have no headstones or markers, no-one has been forgotten as the name of every single person has been recorded in the cemetery's burial books. There are some simple markers that say all that is needed.

There is a lot of symbolism behind the memorial designs. Here the cross is on top of a pile of rocks. The rock of faith, often seen with an anchor, the traditional symbol for hope.

A broken column represents a person who died in the prime of life, often the head of the family. In contrast to a wheat symbol, showing someone who died later in life.

The flowers on this cross are lilies, a Christian symbol of purity and peace. Roses are a symbol  of goodness and innocence. 

Urn: A vessel for the soul. Often draped with a cloth indicating the thin veil between life and death.

An obelisk represents eternal life, along with pyramids and snakes. These symbols originated in Ancient Egypt.

 This is the tomb of a wealthy socialite, Hannah Courtoy and is supposed to be a Victorian time machine that could transport the tomb to seven other cemeteries. The tomb was designed by Bononi, a well known sculptor and Egyptologist and friend of Courtoy who died in 1849. The interior is said to feature hieroglyphics.

Brompton cemetery is an early example of a landscape architect and a traditional architect working together. The design was inspired by St Peter's in Rome.

This is the memorial to Percy Lambert, the first person to drive at 100mph, who was killed in a car crash when his tyre burst at Brooklands race track in November 1913.

On leaving the cemetery I turned left onto Lillie Road. The road has some shops, pubs and hotels. This is the Lillie Langtry pub in this three storey Georgian townhouse. This is the oldest pub locally. Originally named the Lillie Arms after Sir John Scott Lillie who had it built in 1835 as part of the North End Road Brewery Complex. Not sure why they renamed it the Lillie Langtry. I could find no connection to the actress of that name. The road is also named after Sir John Scott Lillie who first laid out the easternmost section of the road across his estate in 1826. 

Around the corner on Seagrave Road is another popular pub, the Atlas. This one was reconstructed after bomb damaged in WW2.

Back on Lillie Road is this large interesting mix of restaurants and bars. 

The company that owns this property took over four old buildings and converted them into a row of restaurants. It then restored the Victorian pub next door providing access to all the restaurants. Finally the gardens were converted into one of London's largest pub gardens complete with a retractable roof making it fully usable whatever the weather.

The frontage of the next row of shops has been decorated in the same way.

One of the shops is run by the charity 'Dad's House'. The charity aims to make sure children remain the priority of single dads after divorce, separation or bereavement. The founder of the charity is William McGranaghan who is a single father. This is one of the charity's drop in centres which provides emotional support, law clinics, food banks and other essential services.

A little further down set back from the road is the Empress State building named to honour the Empire State building. It was completed in 1961 and for a little while was the tallest building in London. Originally the building was designed for use as a hotel but before that happened the Admiralty decided to make it their headquarters. When completed in 1961 it was the last office building to be built without air conditioning. The building has now been bought by the Metropolitan police and it is to become a central counter terrorism and organised crime hub for London. Just in front of the Empress State building is the Metropolitan Police Heritage Centre and gift shop. This used to hold exhibitions but I believe it has now permanently closed and the collection is being moved to a new site. 

 

On a building opposite the police station is this fading advert for a popular brand of matches

This is a Peabody housing estate. The Peabody Trust provides 66,000 homes for rent in London and the South East. George Peabody (1795-1869), the founder of the trust,  was an American financier and philanthropist. He was born into a poor family in Massachusetts and made his fortune in dry goods and banking. He visited London a few times before settling here in 1837. Seeing so much poverty in London he pioneered the idea of social housing. The Peabody foundation built houses with separate laundry rooms and space for children to play. His first estate was in Spitalfields in 1864.

The rules of children playing have obviously changed over the years.

Just by painting these garage doors this alleyway looks so much better.

Many of the sidestreets have terraced victorian housing

At the end of this street is the London Oratory School. This is a Catholic boys secondary (non fee paying) school and was the school of choice for Tony Blair's sons. 

This was once the entrance to Farm Lane Trading Estate originally used as stables for horse buses. The ornate, listed Edwardian arched entrance and railings to the site have been retained when the site was redeveloped in 2013. It is now a private square of 40 new homes and gardens. In 2014 the developer was selling seven three, four and five bedroom homes with prices between £2.6m and £4.2m

The Harwood Arms is the only Michelin-starred pub in London. It is the top gastropub in 2020 according to the Estrella Damm list. I didn't realise it was so prestigious when I took this photo The pub is in a quiet residential area and I did wonder about popping in for a sandwich. Glad I didn't embarrass myself.

Not far from the pub was this church. On closer inspection I realised it was no longer a church but the London Film Academy. It refers to itself as 'a boutique film school'. A short walk and I was back on Lillie Road where the station is situated. The end of another enjoyable walk 'Above the Underground'.