Earl's Court
Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the sub-districts of South Kensington to the east, Chelsea to the south and Kensington to the northeast. It lent its name to the now defunct eponymous pleasure grounds opened in 1887 followed by the pre–World War II Earls Court Exhibition Centre, as one of the country's largest indoor arenas and a popular concert venue, until its closure in 2014.
This article is about the area in London. For the former exhibition centre, see Earls Court Exhibition Centre. For the Underground station, see Earl's Court tube station.
In practice, the notion of Earl's Court, which is geographically confined to the SW5 postal district, tends to apply beyond its boundary to parts of the neighbouring Fulham area with its SW6 and W14 postcodes to the west, and to adjacent streets in postcodes SW7, SW10 and W8 in Kensington and Chelsea.
Earl's Court is also an electoral ward of the local authority, Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council.[2] Its population at the 2011 census was 9,104.
History[edit]
Early history[edit]
Earl's Court was once a rural area, covered in orchards, green fields and market gardens. The Saxon Thegn Edwin held the lordship of the area prior to the Norman conquest. Subsequently, the land, part of the ancient manor of Kensington, was under the lordship of the de Vere family, the Earls of Oxford, descendants of Aubrey de Vere I, who held the manor of Geoffrey de Montbray, bishop of Coutances, according to the Domesday Book 1086. By circa 1095, his tenure had been converted, and he held Kensington directly from the crown. A church had been constructed there by 1104.[3]
For centuries, Earl's Court remained associated with the De Vere family, who likely lent their comital title to the manor house that became known as the "Earl's Court". Ownership later transferred through marriage in the early 17th century to the family of Sir William Cope. His daughter Isabella married Henry Rich, an ambitious courtier who was created 1st Earl of Holland in 1624. The manor subsequently passed to Rich and the house later constructed at Holland Park would bear his name for posterity as Holland House.[4] Eventually, the estate was divided into two parts. The part now known as Holland Park was sold to Henry Fox in 1762. The Earl's Court portion was retained and descended to William Edwardes, 1st Baron Kensington.[5]
The original manor house was located on the site of the present-day Earl's Court, where the Old Manor Yard is now, just by Earl's Court tube station, eastern entrance.[6] Earl's Court Farm is visible on Greenwood's map of London dated 1827.
In the late 18th century, the area began to transition from rural estates to suburban housing developments. The surgeon John Hunter had established a home and animal menagerie on the site of the former manor house in 1765. After his death in 1793, the property changed hands several times. For a period in the early 19th century it operated as a lodging house and asylum before being demolished in 1886.[7]
Population[edit]
Immediately after development, Earl's Court was sought-after and had generally middle class population, apart from some poorer pockets. Multi-occupied homes and overcrowding existed in parts of Warwick Road and around Pembroke Place, inhabited mostly by laborers and working class families. Wealthier residents with many servants occupied the larger houses on Cromwell Road and Lexham Gardens.[8]
Over time, the balance tipped from owner-occupiers to lodging houses and flats. By the 1890s, Booth's poverty maps showed the area still wealthy overall but with signs of decline setting in. The large houses built for single families were increasingly converted to flats or operated as boarding houses catering to visitors to nearby Earl's Court Exhibition Centre.[8][7]
After World War II, the area became known for its transient population. Groups settling briefly included Polish refugees, Commonwealth migrants, Arabs, Iranians and Filipinos. The influx led to overcrowded housing conditions and neglect of properties. Some stability returned from the 1970s with residents' associations forming and upgrades to the housing stock. But Earl's Court continued to be known for its rootless, shifting population compared to other more settled Kensington neighbourhoods.[8] Thus, in 1991 it had 30% annual population turnover with almost a half of inhabitants born outside of the UK.[6]: 13
The Earl's Court ward had a population of 9,104 according to the 2011 census.[1]
The recent change in the area's population is largely owed to rocketing property prices and the continued gentrification of the area. The scale of change is illustrated by the economic divide between the eastern and western areas of Earl's Court. Despite fighting fiercely for the exhibition centre, according to Dave Hill in The Guardian, the area's economy has been destroyed by this imbalance and the destruction of the exhibition venue.[17]