Why Are Notting Hill Streets Named Talbot Road, Powis Square and Lansdowne Crescent?
Walk through Notting Hill and the street names tell a story. Talbot Road, Powis Square, Powis Terrace, Colville Terrace, Stanley Crescent, Lansdowne Crescent, Ladbroke Grove, Kensington Park Gardens. Each one preserves a fragment of the history of how the area was built. Some recall the families who owned the land. Some honour Victorian politicians. Some hide a connection to a Welsh castle. Here is what they all mean.
6/18/20266 min read
The Ladbroke names
The most obvious set of names belongs to the family who owned the higher ground from the mid-1700s onwards. The Ladbrokes were City bankers from Surrey who acquired around 170 acres of farmland that became the heart of modern Notting Hill.
Ladbroke Grove is the area's main north-south axis, running from Holland Park Avenue up to Kensal Green. Ladbroke Square is London's largest private garden square. Ladbroke Gardens, Ladbroke Road and Ladbroke Walk all preserve the family name. James Weller Ladbroke, the man who began the development with architect Thomas Allason in the 1820s, is the family member most directly remembered, though the streets honour the family rather than any one individual.
The Talbot names
East of Portobello Road, the streets carry a different family name. The Talbots bought Portobello Farm in 1755 and held the land for a century until the Misses Mary Anne and Georgina Charlotte Talbot sold it for development from 1852 onwards.
Talbot Road runs east-west across the old Talbot estate, from Portobello Road to Westbourne Park. The road was laid out by the speculator Charles Henry Blake who bought 130 acres of Talbot land in 1862. Blake was working through the architect Thomas Allom, who designed many of the houses on the new streets.
There is some debate about whether Talbot Road was named after the Talbot family of the Earls of Shrewsbury, who owned land elsewhere in England, or after the local Misses Talbot who actually sold the land. The local connection is the more obvious source. The Talbot Tabernacle, which became simply The Tabernacle on Powis Square, took its name from the same family connection.
The Welsh names
Several Notting Hill streets carry Welsh names that puzzle visitors. Powis Square, Powis Terrace, Powis Gardens, Powis Mews. These do not honour any local family but recall Powis Castle in Welshpool, mid-Wales. The connection comes through the leaseholder of the land in the 1860s, W. K. Jenkins, whose origins were in the Welsh Marches near Powis Castle. Jenkins applied a string of Welsh names to the streets he developed. Denbigh Terrace, Denbigh Mews, Denbigh Road, Westbourne Park Villas and several others trace back to the same Welsh connection.
The Welsh names became Caribbean Notting Hill in the post-war period. Powis Square in particular became the heart of the Caribbean community in the 1950s and 60s. The film Performance with James Fox and Mick Jagger was filmed at 25 Powis Square in 1970. Lemmy Kilmister made his Hawkwind debut at a free open-air concert in Powis Square gardens in 1971. The square's Welsh name now carries a richly multicultural history.
The political names
Many Ladbroke estate streets honour Victorian politicians who were prominent at the time the streets were laid out.
Lansdowne Crescent, Lansdowne Rise and Lansdowne Road all honour Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780-1863). He was a leading Whig politician, three times Lord President of the Council, and held office under five prime ministers. The streets were laid out in the 1840s and 50s when Lansdowne was at the height of his political influence.
Stanley Crescent and Stanley Gardens probably honour Edward Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby (1799-1869), who became Prime Minister in 1852 just as developer Charles Henry Blake was beginning to build on these streets. Stanley was a Conservative leader who served as Prime Minister three times.
Clarendon Cross and Clarendon Road honour George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (1800-1870), Foreign Secretary under several Liberal governments and a leading Whig politician of the period.
Blenheim Crescent takes its name from the Battle of Blenheim of 1704, the famous victory of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, over the French. The choice was probably inspired by the new Liberal government's military pride during the Crimean War period.
Elgin Crescent recalls the Earls of Elgin. The seventh Earl, James Bruce, served as Governor General of Canada and Viceroy of India in the 1850s and 60s, exactly when the crescent was being built.
Cornwall Crescent takes its name from the Duchy of Cornwall, the traditional landed estate of the Prince of Wales. The choice may simply have been a salute to the Crown.
The Kensington Park names
Many of the grandest streets carry the original brand of the development. Kensington Park Gardens, Kensington Park Road. James Weller Ladbroke's original idea was to call the entire district "Kensington Park" rather than Notting Hill. The name was meant to evoke the fashionable Kensington area to the south and to distance the new development from the working-class associations of Notting Dale and the Potteries to the west.
The brand never quite stuck. Estate agents and residents continued to use Notting Hill, partly because the name had been in local use since 1356, partly because newspapers and Royal Mail used Notting Hill for the area more generally. By the 1880s the Kensington Park branding was largely abandoned, leaving only the streets that still carry the name today.
The forgotten names
A few names recall figures who would otherwise be entirely forgotten. Allom Street was named after Thomas Allom, the landscape painter turned architect who designed many of the grandest houses on the Ladbroke estate. Pottery Lane in Notting Dale recalls the brick and tile makers who worked the heavy local clay from the early 1800s. Hippodrome Mews remembers the failed racecourse that operated on the site between 1837 and 1841. Walmer Road takes its name from Walmer Castle in Kent, the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, possibly because the Ladbroke family had Cinque Ports connections.
Why the names matter
The names tell you what the developers and landowners wanted the area to be. A leaseholder from the Welsh Marches gave his streets Welsh names. A Liberal-leaning developer in the 1850s honoured Whig politicians. The Ladbrokes named most of the central streets after themselves, while Charles Henry Blake to the east named his streets after a different family because he was developing different land. The political affiliations of the developers, the landowners and the time of building all left their mark.
Walking through Notting Hill with the street names in mind is a kind of historical excavation. Each name is a clue to who held the land and when, who they wanted to honour, and what kind of neighbourhood they hoped to build. The names have outlasted the politicians, outlasted the developers, and outlasted even the original purpose of the development. They remain, written on every street sign and every property deed, as a permanent record of how the area came to be.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Talbot Road in Notting Hill named after?
Talbot Road is named after the Talbot family, who owned Portobello Farm from 1755 until they sold the land for development in the 1850s and 1860s. Charles Henry Talbot bought the farm in 1755, and the Misses Mary Anne and Georgina Charlotte Talbot sold most of the remaining estate to the speculator Charles Henry Blake in 1862. Blake then laid out Talbot Road and the surrounding streets.
Why is Powis Square called Powis?
Powis Square is named after Powis Castle in Welshpool, mid-Wales. The connection comes through the leaseholder of the land in the 1860s, W. K. Jenkins, whose origins were in the Welsh Marches near Powis Castle. Jenkins gave a series of streets in the area Welsh names, including Powis Terrace, Powis Gardens, Denbigh Terrace and Denbigh Road.
Who is Lansdowne Crescent named after?
Lansdowne Crescent is named after Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780-1863), a leading Whig politician who was three times Lord President of the Council and held office under five prime ministers. The crescent was laid out in the 1840s and 50s when Lansdowne was at the height of his political influence. Lansdowne Rise and Lansdowne Road preserve the same name.
Why are so many Notting Hill streets named after Victorian politicians?
The grandest streets of the Ladbroke estate were laid out in the 1840s, 50s and 60s, when developers commonly honoured prominent politicians of the day. Stanley Crescent recalls the 14th Earl of Derby, who became Prime Minister in 1852. Clarendon Road honours George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon, the Liberal Foreign Secretary. Lansdowne Crescent honours the 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne. These choices reflect the political affiliations of the developers and landowners.
What does Ladbroke mean?
Ladbroke is the surname of the family who owned the higher ground of Notting Hill from the mid-1700s. The Ladbrokes were City bankers from Tadworth Court in Surrey. Richard Ladbroke acquired around 170 acres of farmland in the mid-1700s, and his successor James Weller Ladbroke began developing the estate as fashionable housing from the 1820s. The family name is preserved in Ladbroke Grove, Ladbroke Square, Ladbroke Gardens, Ladbroke Road and Ladbroke Walk.
Why was Notting Hill almost called Kensington Park?
James Weller Ladbroke's original plan was to name the entire district Kensington Park, to evoke the fashionable Kensington area to the south and distance the new development from the working-class Potteries to the west. Streets including Kensington Park Gardens and Kensington Park Road preserve this branding. The name never quite stuck because Notting Hill had been in local use since 1356 and was retained by newspapers and Royal Mail.
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