Riverside Properties in Richmond
Richmond is a town in southwest London, England and is part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is located 8.2 miles (13.2 km) west-southwest of Charing Cross. The formation and naming of the town are due to the building of Richmond Palace early in the 16th century. The development of Richmond as a London suburb began with the opening of the railway station in 1846. It was formerly part of the ancient parish of Kingston upon Thames in the county of Surrey and it became a municipal borough in 1890 that was enlarged in 1892 and 1933. It has formed part of Greater London since 1965. Located on a meander of the River Thames, Richmond now forms a significant local commercial centre with a number of parks and open spaces and has a developed retail and night-time economy.
History
Henry VII had a palace built here in 1501 which he named Richmond palace in recognition of his earldom and the ancestral home of Richmond Castle in Yorkshire to stand in place of the Manor, a home to the earlier royals which was destroyed by fire. The town that developed nearby took the same name as the palace, and there are unconfirmed beliefs that Shakespeare may have performed some plays there. The palace was no longer in residential use after 1649, but in 1688 James II ordered partial reconstruction of the palace: this time as a royal nursery. The bulk of the palace had decayed by 1779; but surviving structures include the Wardrobe, Trumpeter's House (built around 1700), and the Gate House, built in 1501. This has five bedrooms and was made available on a 65 year lease by the Crown Estate Commissioners in 1986.
Recreational Amenities
Richmond is well endowed with green and open spaces accessible to the public. To the east and south lies Richmond Park, a large area of wild heath and woodland originally enclosed by Charles I for hunting, and now forming London's largest royal park. This park is both a National Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is about three times the size of Central Park in New York and it contains on a permanent basis around 650 red and fallow deer. There are several substantial buildings within the park; notably Pembroke Lodge and White Lodge. To the north lies Old Deer Park, a 360-acre (1.5 km2) Crown Estate landscape extending from the town along the riverside as far as the boundary with the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. This contains wide green lawns, municipal sports pitches and playing fields, rugby and athletic grounds, swimming pools, two Royal Mid-Surrey golf courses, and the Grade I listed former King's Observatory erected for George III in 1769.
Rising southwards from Richmond Bridge is Richmond Hill, together with the Terrace Gardens that slope up from the River Thames. These gardens were laid out in the 1880s and were extended to the river some forty years later. The broad gravel walk along the top of the hill is of earlier vintage and the view from there west towards Windsor has long been famous.
Apart from the great rugby stadium at Twickenham and the aircraft landing and taking off from London Heathrow Airport the scene has changed little in two hundred years. The view from Richmond Hill now forms part of the Thames Landscape Strategy which aims to protect and enhance this section of the river corridor into London
Royal Star and Garter Home
A commanding feature on the hill is the Royal Star and Garter home. During World War I an old hotel on this site, which had been a popular place of entertainment in the 18th and 19th centuries but had closed in 1906, was taken over and used as a military hospital. After the war it was replaced by this handsome building providing accommodation and nursing facilities for 180 badly injured servicemen.
