Old Kew, Chiswick and Kensington 12+

📕 Originally published in 1910, this work contains a wealth of information on various aspects of the history of Kew, Chiswick and Kensington. It is beautifully illustrated and is a fascinating work for anyone with an interest in the local history of the capital city of England. The following passage is from the introduction:'THE general history of Kew has been written by Lysons in Part I of his ""Environs of London"" (1792), and by E. W. Brayley in Vol. Ill of his ""History of Surrey"" (1840). From the book of ""Surrey Fines,"" edited by Mr. F. B. Lewis, and from the Calendar of the Patent Rolls, I have been able to establish the separate existence of the hamlet so far back as the fifteenth century; and if no earlier mention of it is to be discovered in the Patent Rolls and Close Rolls, the presumption must be that Kew formed until then an unidentified part of West Sheen and the Royal Manor of Richmond. In dealing with its later annals I have endeavoured to keep within the present parochial boundaries, but it has been no easy matter to separate Kew from the rest of the Manor.'