Strawberry Hill, London
Strawberry Hill is an affluent area of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in Twickenham. It is a suburban development situated 10.4 miles (16.7 km) west south-west of Charing Cross. It consists of a number of residential roads centred around a small development of shops and served by Strawberry Hill railway station. The area's ACORN demographic type is characterised as well-off professionals, larger houses, and converted flats. St Mary's University, Twickenham, the country's oldest Roman Catholic University, is situated on Waldegrave Road. Its sports grounds were used as a training site for the 2012 Olympics.
Strawberry Hill House
The nineteenth-century development is named after "Strawberry Hill", the fanciful Gothic Revival villa designed by author Horace Walpole between 1749 and 1776. It began as a small 17th century house "little more than a cottage", with only 5 acres (20,000 m2) of land and ended up as a "little Gothic castle" in 46 acres (190,000 m2). The original owner had named the house "Chopped Straw Hall", but Walpole wanted it to be called something more distinctive and after finding an old lease that described his land as "Strawberry Hill Shot", he adopted this name.[1][2]
After a £9 million, two-year long restoration, Strawberry Hill House re-opened to the public in October 2010.[3]
Other attractions
Other local attractions include:
- St Mary's University, Twickenham
- Radnor Gardens
- Strawberry Hill railway station, built in 1873, is an excellent local example of the Victorian era railway building boom.
Education
References
- ^ Calloway, Stephen, Snodin, Michael, and Wainwright, Clive, Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill, Orleans House Gallery, Richmond upon Thames, 1980. p. 7-22
- ^ Warburton, Eliot. Memoirs of Horace Walpole and His Contemporaries. Henry Colburn. London. 1851. p. 11-28
- ^ Strawberry Hill. Strawberry Hill Trust. 28 March 2011.
- Jones, E. and Woodward, C. A Guide to the Architecture of London, 1983, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London
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