Kingston Royal Walkabout

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The Friends of Kingston Museum and Heritage Service are grateful for an Awards for All Lottery Grant which has made the production of this Royal Walkabout in the Queen's Jubilee year possible.

The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is one of only four Royal Boroughs in England and Wales. The others are Windsor & Maidenhead, Kensington & Chelsea and Caernarfon. The name Kingston is derived from Kinges Tun, meaning a royal farm or estate. By Saxon times it was the site of a major church. The first reference to Kingston by name is in a document dated 838 telling of a royal council held here, over which King Egbert presided.

Start at the

Coronation Stone next to the Guildhall [1].

Kingston's Coronation Stone is to the right of the Guildhall as you face the building.  The names of the seven Anglo-Saxon kings reputed to have been crowned in Kingston in the tenth century are written around the base. The Stone was later used as a mounting block for horsemen in the Market Place, but in 1850 it was set, with great ceremony, on a special base and surrounded by ornamental railings. Find out more about the Coronations and the Stone in Kingston Museum.

The Guildhall [2

] was opened in 1935 by Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. The Building contains portraits of Queen Anne, painted and presented by Sir Godfrey Kneller in 1706, and of Queen Elizabeth II painted by Arthur Pan in 1953. It also incorporates linenfold panelling from the old Tudor Town Hall. The portraits are located in committee rooms where meetings take place regularly, and can be seen by prior arrangement.

Walk away from the Market Place, down the High Street over

Clattern Bridge [3],

the oldest bridge in Surrey still in use.  Cross the road using the pedestrian crossing by the Police Station. Walk back over the Bridge, stopping to read the plaque set into the brick parapet. The Bridge takes the road across the Hogsmill River, which runs into the Thames. The name 'Clattern' comes from the clattering sound of horses' hooves.

Turn back south along the High Street, passing the new theatre and some attractive 16th, 17th and 18th century properties. You will pass

Picton House [4]

, once owned by Cesar Picton, who was brought from Africa in 1761 as a child. The plaque on the wall will tell you about its famous black owner.  

Further along the High Street turn right onto

Queen's Promenade [5]

, made in Queen Victoria's reign and named after her. The Queen often came through Kingston on her way to Claremont House in Esher. Turn right back towards Kingston along the river walk.

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Optional extension

To see

St Raphael's Roman Catholic Church [6]

,

continue south along Queen's Promenade about 500 metres. Look across to the other side of Portsmouth Road and you will see the Church, an Italianate building, built in 1848 by local landowner Alexander Raphael as a private chapel. Royal weddings were held here in the 19th century. The Prince and Princess of Wales (later Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) came here to the wedding of

Princess Helene of Orleans, great granddaughter of King Louis Philippe of France, in 1895. A festive arch was constructed over the road to greet them.

Walk back towards Kingston along Queen's Promenade to the Charter Quay Development.

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As you walk back along the riverside towards Kingston, note the attractive views, particularly of Kingston Bridge. The Charter Quay Development completed the River Walk, created a wetland area, erected over 100 flats, created a piazza with cafes and restaurants and, facing onto High Street, the shell of a new theatre. Stop on the footbridge over the

Charter Quay wetland area [7]

.

Look downstream at

Kingston Bridge [8]

.

It replaced an earlier wooden bridge in 1828. The Duchess of Clarence, later Queen Adelaide, opened the bridge and gave her name to the main shopping street. Her husband later reigned as King William IV.  The Bridge was widened in 1914. More strengthening and widening work had to be done in 1999 to 2001. The Duke of Kent visited Kingston in

June 2001 to unveil a tablet half way across the bridge marking the completion of the new bridge works.

Kingston's old wooden bridge was the only crossing above London Bridge until 1729.  Residents of Kingston broke the bridge deliberately in 1554 to stop Thomas Wyatt and his rebels from crossing. For this loyalty Queen Mary Tudor gave Kingston, already entitled by Royal Charter to hold two annual fairs, the right to hold an additional fair on two days in July. Find a picture of the old bridge in the Museum. Remains of the medieval bridge were excavated, and along with the remains of a medieval 'undercroft', have been re-sited in the basement of the John Lewis Store.  

On the other side of the river is

Hampton Court Park [9]

and beyond it, Hampton Court Palace. Many Kingston  tradespeople helped to build the Palace in the 16th century. William Morer of Kingston was paid 10 shillings for 500 floor tiles for the Great Hall and Edmund More carved the royal arms on stone tablets over the gateways. The water supply from Coombe Springs on Kingston Hill was piped under the river by gravity to the palace in lead pipes. It was used for cooking, washing and 'flushing'.

From the 14th century, ownership of the swans on the Thames has been shared between the Crown and the Vintners' and Dyers' Companies. Find out about 'swan upping' and Royal Watermen in the Museum.

The river offered many leisure opportunities, including regattas, and Kingston is mentioned in 'Three Men in a Boat,' by Jerome K Jerome. In 1953 a great Tudor River Pageant celebrated the Queen's coronation.

From the wetland area, turn your back on the river and walk towards the Market Place. As you go you will notice a kiosk into which have been built old roof timbers that once formed part of the

Castle Inn in the Market Place [10]

, as a plaque relates.  

Leave Charter Quay along Shrubsole Passage into the Market Place.

Panels detailing the history of the Market Place [11] were

installed here in Autumn 2002.  

You are now standing on the west side of Kingston's ancient

Market Place [12]

which still retains the same shape as in medieval times. Royal Charters have enabled Kingston to set up markets to sell goods for over 800 years. The most famous charter was granted by Charles I who, in 1628, gave Kingston the right to ban other markets within 7 miles.

In the Museum find Kingston's first surviving charter , granted by King John in 1208, and some medieval jugs and pots that were made in Kingston. Many were sold in London, some to the royal household. Look for the human heads decorating some of them.

The Market Place was laid out about 1170 in the time of Henry II. Its buildings, including some inns, faced into the market Place and backed onto small wharves. A tannery and a candle maker's business were both notorious for their smells.

You can see a model of Kingston in 1813 in the Museum. Find out how many inns, malthouses and breweries were near the Market Place.  

The inns around the Market Place were used by the London to Portsmouth coaches.

The Druid's Head [13]

survives today. The Griffin was improved in 1851 by its proprietor, John Williams who added the fashionable Assembly Room, patronised by royalty, the only part of the Griffin that still remains. Williams styled himself 'Royal Postmaster', and the

Royal Coat of Arms [14]

is displayed on the frontage to this day.

On the site of Borders Bookshop stood Hides Department Store and earlier, the Castle Inn built in 1537, whose beautifully restored

Jacobean oak stairway [15]

forms part of the bookshop.

The Market Place was once a place of punishment. In 1513 Thomas Denys was burnt here for practising the 'heretical' movement known as Lollardy. In 1572 'rogues and vagabonds' were whipped around the Market Place and branded on the ears. Old pictures show the stocks and pillory beside the Town Hall. There was also a ducking stool. The stool was used to punish scolds who were paraded round the Market Place to the river where they were ducked. The 'wonder wall' in Kingston Museum will tell you more.

The Market Place was also a place of celebration. Tudor May games and dances were held here. We know from 16th century Borough archives that the church bells were rung for royal occasions, for example when Jane Seymour, wife of Henry VIII, died, and when Queen Elizabeth I passed by on the river on her way to Hampton Court. Royal proclamations were traditionally announced from the balcony of the Town Hall, now the Market House. Buildings were decorated for Queen Victoria's Jubilees. Queen Elizabeth II visited the Market Place in 1992, and again in 2002 for her Golden Jubilee.

A massive inscribed pewter plate made by the royal pewter maker, in the Museum, was used to serve a huge piece of beef to 700 schoolchildren in Kingston Market Place to celebrate the coronation of King George IV in 1821.  

In the middle of the Market Place is the Market House, which now houses the

Tourist Information Centre [16]

. A Victorian building dating from 1840, it was the Town Hall before the present Guildhall was built.

The gilded statue is of Queen Anne and was made by sculptor Francis Bird in 1706. This came from an earlier building on the same site that was substantially rebuilt during Queen Anne's reign. The Borough Archives record that a great 'rearing' dinner was held to celebrate the event.  

The

memorial [17]

in front of the Market House is dedicated to Henry Shrubsole, three-times Mayor of Kingston who died in office in 1880.  

Walk round to the back of the Market House. To the left, Thames Street goes off towards Kingston Bridge. Note the fine 1902 façade of

Millet's, formerly Nuthall's Restaurant and Banqueting Rooms [18]

.  In medieval times a mansion called Bishops Hall belonging to the Bishops of Winchester once stood to the west of Thames Street on the riverside. Hugh Herland, royal mastercarpenter, lived here in 1392. Herland designed the famous hammer beam roof in Westminster Hall for Richard II. Much of the timber came from Kingston.

On the corner of Thames Street note

the 'Next' shop [19],

including a little building to the side, which dates from 1590. The tall façade, designed in 1909 and 1929, shows important people connected with Kingston including King Edward the Elder, King Athelstan, King John, Edward III and Queen Elizabeth I. This shop was earlier used by Boots the Chemist. Phillipsons Lending Library was once here. It is said that Queen Victoria used the Library.

Turn right and then left into the gates to

All Saints' Church [20]

. The gates were presented by the East Surrey Regiment, which was later merged into the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment. The Regiment enjoys the Freedom of Kingston. As you walk towards the church door you will be standing on the site of St Mary's Saxon Chapel, sometimes called the 'Chapel of the Coronations' [21]. The remains of the chapel collapsed in 1730, killing the sexton and injuring his daughter, Esther Hammerton.  You can find the story in Kingston Museum. Inside the Church look for a memorial brass dedicated to wealthy Kingston lawyer Robert Skerne and his wife, who was the daughter of King Edward III and his mistress, Alice Perrers. Pick up a leaflet about the church inside. It will tell you a lot more about the building.

Come out of the church by the same door and back into the Market Place. Turn left, and left again, and walk towards Clarence Street along Church Street. There was once a pig market where the flower stall now is.  Numbers 6 to 8 Church Street [22] was once the Rose Tavern, owned by William Shale, a valet to Henry VIII; inside can be seen some

fine original timbers. Continue on and you will see the

Bentall Centre [23]

.

The front of the Bentall Centre that faces John Lewis was built in the 1930s to look like Hampton Court Palace. The Queen unveiled a plaque commemorating its restoration on 29th July 1992. Turn right, walk the length of Clarence Street, cross at the pedestrian traffic lights and turn right down Eden Street.

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Optional extension

Instead of turning into Eden Street continue straight on for about 50 metres and cross the road, walking into Old  London Road to the famous collapsing telephone boxes. This sculpture, made by David Mach in 1989, is called

'Out of Order' [24]

. Further along Old London Road on the left are

Cleaves Almshouses, built in 1668 [25]

with money given by William Cleave for elderly residents of Kingston. There is a beautiful sundial on the wall.

Go to the end of London Road. Look across the main road. On the corner, opposite Kingston Grammar School is the

Lovekyn Chapel [26]

. This private Chantry Chapel was built in 1309 by Edward Lovekyn. Royal consent was needed, and this was obtained from Edward II in return for the cancellation of debts owed to Lovekyn for arranging the marriage feast of the King's father, Edward I, to Princess Margaret of France. Queen Elizabeth I gave the chapel to form a Grammar School by Royal Charter in 1561. Queen Elizabeth II visited Kingston to celebrate the School's 400th anniversary in 1961.

Go back to the telephone boxes and turn left. Cross over the road at the traffic lights towards the Cattle Market bus station. Carry on along Wheatfield Way towards the Museum on your left

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If you do not take the optional extension, walk down Eden Street passing the 18th century Quakers'

Meeting House [27]

on your left. Evidence of Kingston's medieval pottery kilns has been found in the Eden Street area where Alders Store is now.  

If, before turning left into Lady Booth Road to go to the Museum, you continue a little further down Eden Street, you will see on the brick wall opposite a ceramic plaque depicting

Kingston's seven Saxon kings [28]

and buildings and characters connected with Eden Street.  

Walk down Lady Booth Road, and cross the road (Wheatfield Way) at the pedestrian crossing. Opposite are the

Library and the Museum [29].

Both were built with contributions from Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish American benefactor, and were opened in 1903 and 1904 respectively.

Finish your walk at the Museum and visit the Town of Kings Gallery where you can find out more about Kingston's Royal Heritage.