Westbourne park

Westbourne Park is the 29th out of 35 stations on the Circle Line that I have visited whilst doing my 'Above the Underground' challenge. The Circle Line has only been stopping at this station since 2009 when the line was extended to Hammersmith. Prior to that only the Hammersmith and City line stopped here.

Westbourne Park was served by the Hammersmith and City Railway from 1866 but a couple of houses were damaged due to the vibrations from the trains.  A new station was built on this site in 1871. The name Westbourne originated from a small river that rises in Hampstead and flows for 12 miles southwards into the Thames near Chelsea. The river is mainly underground now but whilst at Sloane Square station, also on the Circle Line,  I saw evidence of the river which was transported via a large pipe inside a metal box structure, which carries the river above the platforms.

 As I left the station I  noticed the Victorian post box embedded in the wall, as further evidence of the date of the building.

Having now travelled out of Zone 1 of the Underground which is basically Central London I immediately noticed a difference in housing being much denser, with more residential estates and social housing. By social housing I mean homes for those on low incomes. At the end of the road I turned left passed the Brunel Estate.

 Built on derelict railway land the estate was begun in the 1960s and completed in 1974.  The Estate is built in a triangular shape with a playground in one point of the triangle and a day nursery in another. It is a densely populated estate that includes tower blocks.

On the other side of the road is St Stephen's school. The large engraved stones above the doorways tell of a previous era. I can just imagine the children having to recite these quotations and woe betide them if they got it wrong.

St Stephen's National School
Boy's entrance
These schools are erected to promote religious teaching. Jesus said Feed my lambs. St John 21:15
True religion is an habitual recollection of God and intention to serve Him and this turns everything to gold: Isaac Newton
Example teacheth. Company comforteth. Emulation quickeneth Glory Raiseth:      Bacon

Girls entrance
These schools built by the self denial of church people were opened by the Right Reverend Mandell Creighton on the thirtieth day of October 1897 being dedicated for ever to the cause of education based on the definite religion of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who said
 Feed my lambs. St John 21:15

Continuing along this road would take me to the previous Circle Line station at Royal Oak. When I saw this footbridge I decided to cross over the the numerous railway lines.

It was a much longer footbridge than I imagined.

The footbridge didn't just take me over the railway lines but also under Westway, the elevated section of the Great West Road.

Space beneath Westway has not been wasted but used for five a side football pitches for the adjacent school, which I realised was Westminster College .

As I neared the end of the footbridge I came out by the side of Westminster College, which was where I had left the Grand Union Canal towpath when I was looking around the Royal Oak area of the previous station.

I returned to the towpath to do the next section. Not such a picturesque part of the canal with rubbish piled up on benches and graffiti everywhere.

After going under the very low bridge I decided to leave the towpath at the next exit.

The exit took me out through Meanwhile Gardens onto Elkstone road.

Meanwhile gardens is a community project established in 1976. Although not that large it has a number of features that distinguish it from the norm. The best known feature is the skateboard pit. It also has a wildlife garden. The local community got together to develop a piece of derelict land into  the garden it is today. The project only had temporary authorisation to use the land, hence the name 'Meanwhile'. The lease was extended for another 25 years in 1999. All credit to the community for keeping the project going for so long with all the work that entails.

From Elkstone Road  I had a good view of Trellick Tower. Built to replace sub standard Victorian housing it was one of many towers built in the late sixties to help solve post second world war housing crises. It was designed by Erno Goldfinger and opened in 1972. Its design stands out from others with its separate lift and service tower linked at every third floor to access corridors in the main building. It has 31 floors in total. Goldfinger wanted a concierge and proper security as well as  vetting potential tenants. The local council of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea who took over responsibility for the building on its completion rejected Goldfinger's proposals. This meant the building could be accessed by anyone including rough sleepers and drug dealers. Goldfinger had designed drying rooms on the ground floor so tenants didn't have to hang washing out on the balconies. However, before tenants even moved in, these had been vandalised. Due to the lack of foresight by the council, by the late 1970s, Trellick Tower had become a hive of criminality and anti social behaviour and was known as the 'Tower of Terror'. The introduction of 'right to buy' council houses in 1980 meant that a number of the flats were bought and a new Residents' Association brought pressure on the council to improve security with a door entry system and a concierge. In 1994 the residents decided to self manage the tower to prevent increased rents. Most of the flats are still social housing but a significant number are now privately owned. So the once notorious ' Tower of Terror' has defied all odds by becoming an iconic Grade II listed building. You can even see its image printed on cushions and plates.

Another brutalist building in the shadow of Trellick Tower is Holmfield House. Its geometric blue tiling helps to break up the greyness of these brutalist buildings. Built in the late 1960s it is now a children's centre.

Before crossing back over the railway I noticed a small community garden. Good to see a community making the most of even the smallest of spaces. I discovered that this tiny piece of neglected land was originally rescued by MIND ( a mental health charity)  volunteers. Building on the work done by the volunteers, the project is now managed by the Chelsea Physic Garden with the help of a number of grants.

The plan is to involve the local community in the growing of food and other plants. Especially important for the high number of residents in the nearby tower blocks who have no access to a garden.

This is the Golborne Railway Bridge which  was renovated in 2013 using ideas from the community to improve the lighting and general appearance of the bridge. It was also decided to create an art installation, to decorate the corner at the Trellick end of the bridge, led by local arts group Brown Baby.












The installation is a new set of steps with tiles made by Kensington and Chelsea College design students.

Free workshops were held for local people to create their own tiles as part of the installation.

The steps have a brief timeline engraved with world and local events.

I crossed the bridge and walked down Golborne Road. Lots of different shops, many of them with a mediterranean influence.  When the Spanish Civil War ended in the 1930s a number of Spanish refugees settled in this area so there are a few Spanish shops and tapas bars here.

More of the Spanish connection can be seen here just round the corner on Portobello Road. This is the Instituto Espanol Canada Blanch, an independent school for children from the age of 5-18. The school is housed in a former 19th century Franciscan convent.

A very colourful mural. I then realised there was much artwork to be seen along this part of the Portobello Road.

The Portobello Wall art project is an annual art commission for a 100m stretch of wall that links the markets of Golborne Road and Portobello Road. This year's winner is Anastasia Russa with a piece of work based on Connection..  Her mural represents characters and events that have shaped this area. Here are just a few sections of this very long 100m mural.

On the opposite side of the road, on the wall of the Spanish school are these sketches by Fiona Hawthorne. Her work celebrates  150 years of Golborne and Portobello markets.They were all sketched from life in the Portobello and Golborne area during July 2015.

Turned off Portobello Road onto Tavistock Road with its multicoloured row of houses.






This whole area of Notting Hill was rural until the early 19th century when London began to expand westwards especially with the arrival of the railway. The main landowner was James Weller Ladbroke and from the 1820s he began to develop the  Ladbroke estate as a fashionable suburb of London, by building these large houses. We will see more of the estate from the next station, Ladbroke Grove. During the 20th century this area changed completely. As middle class families no longer employed servants, the large Notting Hill houses were split into rental flats with multiple occupation. Caribbean immigrants from the 1950s were drawn to the area because of the cheap rents. Many were exploited as racial prejudice was rife and it wasn't easy for immigrants to have a choice of accommodation. The infamous landlord  Peter Rachman  owned a number of slum properties in the area. Using violence and intimidation he overfilled his slum properties with newly arrived immigrants and prostitutes. He was convicted twice for owning brothels but died in 1962 before the extent of his empire had been investigated. His name lives on in the Oxford English Dictionary, Rachmanism meaning the exploitation and intimidation of tenants by unscrupulous landlords.

The Italian Job pub. I think this is the first time I've seen an Italian craft beer pub. First established as a pub in 1832. One of its previous names, The Pelican can still be seen at the top of the building. It closed as The Pelican in 2010 to become the Red Lemon and closed again before becoming The Italian Job in 2017.

I then turned left into All Saints Road with its upmarket shops.From the 1980s things began to change. The wealthy started to move in, converting the large houses back to single households. With the money, came more eateries, designer shops and organic food outlets. It is now known as an affluent and fashionable area with its attractive terraces of Victorian houses






I stopped here for lunch in The Tin Shed. It was a lovely cafe with a small menu but very tasty food.

Fashionable Mews houses.

At the end of All Saints Road I turned left and then right into Powis Gardens. Interesting mural on the side of the house. I couldn't find out anything about the mural but it is eye catching.

The road led me into a pedestrian square with All Saints church. Doctor Samuel Walker planned the building of the church as a memorial to his parents and intended to finish the building with a tall spire. But before it could be placed on the tower it was discovered that the marshy ground on which it had been built wouldn't be able to take the weight. Dr Walker became bankrupt before completing the church. With no windows or furniture it had to be boarded up and became known as Walker's Folly or All Sinners in the mud. It was finally finished in 1861. In more recent times it is known as the church that is always open during the Notting Hill Carnival making its facilities (including toilets) available to all.

A short distance from the church is Powis Square.  In the 1900s this upper middle class garden square went into social decline with a large multi cultural population of Asian and Jewish residents. By the 1950s Rachman owned a number of houses which were in desperate need of renovation but instead were let to immigrants.

 By the late 1950s there were numerous racial incidents happening fuelled by white fascists and gangs of 'Teddy Boys'. On 30th August 1958 hundreds of white youths armed with petrol bombs and bottles, knives and iron bars set out to terrorise the Caribbean community. Black youths armed themselves in self defence and the rioting continued for over a week. Looking for a more positive response to the riots Claudia Jones organised an annual carnival in St Pancras Town Hall.  The carnival took to the streets for the first time in 1968. Growing in popularity each year it now attracts a million people a day during the 2 day festival in August.

On the north side of the square is the Tabernacle. The building opened in 1888  as the Talbot Tabernacle a place of Christian worship. During the 'swinging 60s' many hippies moved into the area and the building appeared in the film 'The knack'. It is reported that the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd rehearsed here. Quite possible as Brian Jones (1942-1969) a former member of the Stones lived in Powis Square in the early 60s.. The tabernacle ceased to be a church in 1975 and the building was taken over by the council for demolition. It was saved by a  group of campaigners who managed to get it a Grade II listing. Twenty years later it received a large grant from Lottery funding so that it could be converted into a community arts centre. In 1998 it reopened with a new hall, bar, studios, gallery and restaurant.

In the foyer of the tabernacle is a sculpture by Carl Gabriel depicting a man playing the Steel Pan.

From Powis Square I made my way back to Westbourne Park station via Chepstone Road.

On my way back I decided to go up to one of the walkways leading to the flats closest to the station. It gave me a good view over the railway lines.

It is such a short walking distance between stations (less than 10 minutes) so I am keeping my walks quite short on this part of the line. Anymore than 5 minutes in any one direction then I am encroaching on the surrounds of another station.