In 1841, at which time the population of Kentish Town numbered upwards of 10,000, there was only one place of worship belonging to the Established Church; the erection of a new church was proposed and erected upon the estate of Brookfield, the greater part of which is in the hamlet of Kentish Town, and the remainder in the adjoining chapelry of Highgate. The building is erected in the Early English style, and has a fine tall spire; some of the windows are enriched with painted glass. The site of the church was given by the proprietor of the ground whereon it stands, Lady Burdett-Coutts gave the peal of bells, and other grants were made towards the fabric.

In 1848 a large Congregational chapel was built here, in the ecclesiastical style of architecture of the

for several months the Passionist Fathers from The Hyde served the place. In 1855 a piece of freehold ground was purchased (funds being provided by Cardinal Wiseman), and three cottages which stood upon the land were converted into a temporary chapel, capable of accommodating about 200 persons. The new church, which is in the Gothic style, has since been erected in its place.

The historical memorabilia of Kentish Town, we need scarcely remark, are comparatively very scanty. We are told how that William Bruges, Garter King-at-Arms in the reign of Henry V., had a country-house here, at which he entertained the German Emperor, Sigismund, who visited England in 1416, to promote a negotiation for peace with France. This is literally all the figure that it acts

in history down to quite recent times, when we incidentally learn that the Prince Regent was nearly meeting with a serious accident here, in December, 1813, through a dense fog, which would. not yield even to royalty. On his way to pay a visit to the Marquis of Salisbury, at Hatfield House, Herts, the Prince was obliged to return to Carlton House, after one of his outriders had fallen into a ditch at the entrance of Kentish Town, which at that time was not lit with gas, and probably not even with oil.

The road through this district, however, even when no fog prevailed, does not seem to have been very safe for wayfarers after dark, in former times, if we may judge from the numerous notices of outrages which appear in the papers of the times, of which the following may be taken as a sample :

The London Courant, August 8, 1751, contains the following:-"On Sunday night, August 5th, 1751, as Mr. Rainsforth and his daughter, of Clare Street, Clare Market, were returning home through Kentish Town, about eight o'clock, they were attacked by three footpads, and after being brutally ill-used, Mr. R. was robbed of his watch and money."

A few years later, the following paragraph appeared in the Morning Chronicle (January 9, 1773): On Thursday night some villains robbed the Kentish Town stage, and stripped the passengers of their money, watches, and buckles. In the hurry they spared the pockets of Mr. Corbyn, the druggist; but he, content to have neighbours' fare, called out to one of the rogues, 'Stop, friend! you have forgot to take my money.'

The result of these continual outrages was that the inhabitants of the district resolved upon adopting some means for their protection, as was notified by the following announcement in the newspapers: "The inhabitants of Kentish Town, and other places between there and London, have entered into a voluntary subscription for the support of a guard or patrol to protect foot-passengers to and from each place during the winter season (that is to say) from to-morrow, being old Michaelmas Day, to old Lady Day next, in the following manner, viz. :—That a guard of two men, well armed, will set out to-morrow, at six o'clock in the evening, from Mr. Lander's, the Bull,' in Kentish Town, and go from thence to Mr. Gould's, the 'Coach and Horses,' facing the Foundling Hospital gate, in Red Lion Street, London; and at seven will return from thence back to the 'Bull;' at eight will set out again from the 'Bull' to the 'Coach and Horses,' and at nine will return from thence to the Bull' again; and will so continue to do every

evening during the said winter season, from which places, at the above hours, all passengers will be conducted without fee or reward."

Kentish Town, in the middle of the last century, could boast of its Assembly Rooms, at which the balls were sufficiently attractive to draw persons from all parts of the neighbourhood of London. In fact, it became a second " Almack's "*—in its way, of course. It was a large wooden building, and stood at the angle of the main road, where the Highgate and Holloway Roads meet, and on gala nights it was lighted up with numberless lamps. In 1788 the house was taken by a person named Wood, who issued the following advertisement :— "Thomas Wood begs leave to inform his friends and the publick in general, that he has laid in a choice assortment of wines, spirits, and liquors, together with mild ales and cyder of the best quality, all of which he is determined to sell on the most valuable terms. Dinners for public societies or private parties dressed on the shortest notice. Tea, coffee, &c., morning and evening. A good trap-ball ground, skittle ground, pleasant summerhouse, extensive garden, and every other accommodation for the convenience of those who may think proper to make an excursion to the above house during the summer months. A good ordinary on Sundays at two o'clock."

By the side of the roadway, facing the old Assembly Rooms, was an elm-tree, beneath whose spreading branches was an oval-shaped marbletopped table, the edge of which was surrounded with the following inscription :-" Posuit A.D. 1725 in Memoriam Sanitatis Restauratæ ROBERTUS WRIGHT, Gent." The old tree was struck by lightning in 1849.

A little farther from town, in or about the year 1858, some gardens were opened as a place of public amusement on the Highgate Road, near the foot of Highgate Rise. But the place was not very respectably conducted, and after a run of about a year the gardens were closed, the magistrates refusing a spirit licence to the proprietor, a Mr. Weston, the owner of a music-hall in Holborn.

In 1833 races were held at Kentish Town, the particulars of which, as they appeared in the Daily Postboy, are reprinted in Mr. Palmer's "History of St. Pancras." These races in their day drew as much attention as did Epsom then, but all memory of them has long passed away. There was also at one time established here a society or club, known as "The Corporation of Kentish Town," an institution, there is little doubt, much on a par with

• See Vol. IV., p. 197.

The Officers and Aldermen of the Corporation of Kentish Town are desired to attend the next day of meeting, at Two o'clock, at Brother Legg's, the "Parrot," in Green Arbour Court, in the Little Old Baily, in order to pay a visit to the Corporation of Stroud Green, now held at the "Hole in the Wall" at Islington; and from thence to return in the evening to Brother Lamb's in Little Shear Lane, near Temple Bar, to which house the said Corporation have adjourned for the

winter season.

By order of the Court,
T. L., Recorder.
October 1, 1754.

CORPORATION OF KENTISH TOWN, 1756.
GENTLEMEN,

Your Company is desired to meet the past Mayors, Sheriffs, and Aldermen of this Corporation, the ensuing Court Day, at Mr. Thomas Baker's, the "Green Dragon," in Fleet Street, precisely at Two o'clock, in order to go in a body to Mr. Peter Brabant's, the "Roman Eagle," in Church

tions.

321

He was entrusted with the management of the design, and the receipt of subscriptions, which flowed in largely; and he insured the house for £4,000. Circumstances having occurred to show that the destruction of the building was not caused by accident, suspicion fastened upon Mr. Lowe ; but before he could be secured and brought to justice, he put an end to his life by poison.

We shall have

Among the "worthies" of Kentish Town we may mention Dr. William Stukeley, the celebrated antiquary, who formerly lived here. Occasion to mention him again when we reach St. Pancras. He was called by his friends "the Arch-Druid," and over the door of his villa a friend caused to be written the following lines:"Me dulcis saturet quies, Obscuro positus loco, Leni perfruar otio, Chyndonax Druida."

These lines may be thus translated:-
"Oh, may this rural solitude receive
And contemplation all its pleasures give
The Druid priest."

Mayor who now resides in that town.

The "Castle" Tavern, in Kentish Town Road, stands upon the site of an older house bearing the same sign, which had the reputation-true or false-of dating its origin from the time of King John. The front of the old building had the familiar and picturesque projecting storeys, supported originally by a narrow pier at the side of a bolder one. The interior of one of the rooms had a fireplace of stone, carved with a flattened arch of the Tudor style, with the spandrils enriched with a rose and a leaf-shaped ornament terminating in a snake's tail. This fireplace had been for years hidden from view by a coat of plaster. It is possible that, in their ignorance of Gothic architecture, the good people of Kentish Town ascribed a Tudor arch to the early part of the thirteenth century.

Another old building at Kentish Town was the Emanuel Hospital, an establishment for the reception of the blind, which was burnt down in 1779. The house had been purchased by a Mr. Lowe, who was one of the chief promoters of the charity, and who took every possible method to forward the establishment and procure subscrip

• See Vol. III., p. 279.

of glass so inscribed in France, in which the doctor believed were contained the ashes of an Arch-Druid of that name, whose portrait forms the frontispiece to his work on Stonehenge. Dr. Stukeley's reputation, however, as an antiquary is not great at the present day, as he has been proved by Mr. B. B. Woodward, in the Gentleman's Magazine, to have been equally credulous and superficial.

Here, too, lived an eccentric old bachelor and miser, Mr. John Little, at whose sudden death, intestate, in 1798, about £37,000 of property, 173 pairs of breeches, and 180 old wigs were found in a miserably furnished apartment which he allowed no one to enter. These and his wealth all passed to a brother whom he had discarded, and whom he had meant to disinherit had not death prevented him.

It is generally said that Charles Mathews the elder was a resident in Kentish Town; but his home, Ivy Cottage, was in Millfield Lane, in the hamlet of Brookfield, of which, as well as of St. Anne's Church, Brookfield, it will be more convenient to treat in our notice of Highgate. present we have no intention to climb the breezy "northern heights of London.”

At

At No. 8, in Lower Craven Place, lived, for some time, Douglas Jerrold. He afterwards removed to Kilburn, where he died in June, 1857.†

† See ante, p. 249.