Kensington

For ither uises, see Kensington (disambiguation).

Kensington
Kensington Location within Greater Lunnon
OS grid reference	TQ255795
Ceremonial coonty	Greater Lunnon
Region	Lunnon
Kintra	Ingland
Sovereign state	Unitit Kinrick
Post toun	LONDON
Postcode destrict	SW7, SW5
Postcode destrict	W8, W14
Diallin code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	Lunnon
Ambulance	Lunnon
EU Pairlament	London
UK Pairlament	Kensington

Kensington is a destrict o wast Lunnon, Ingland, athin the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Its commercial hert is Kensington High Street. This affluent an densely populatit aurie conteens the well-kent museum destrict o South Kensington.

Tae the north, Kensington is bordered bi Notting Hill an Holland Park; tae the east, bi Brompton an Knightsbridge; tae the sooth, bi Chelsea an Earl's Court; an tae the wast, bi Hammersmith an Shepherd's Bush.

Name

The aurie is first mentioned in the Domesday Book o 1086, whaur it wis written in Laitin as "Chenesitone", which haes been interpretit tae hae oreeginally been "Kenesignetun" (Kenesigne's land or meadaes) in Anglo-Saxon.

History

A pictur o Kensington taken bi scientist Sir Norman Lockyer in 1909 frae a helium balloon

The manor o Kensington, Middlesex, wis grantit bi William the Conquerer tae Geoffrey de Montbray or Mowbray, bishop o Coutances, ane o his inner circle o advisors an ane o the walthiest men in post-Conquest Ingland. He in turn grantit the tenancy o Kensington tae his vassal Aubrey de Vere I, who wis hauldin the manor in 1086, accordin tae Domesday Book. The bishop's heir, Robert de Mowbray, rebelled against William Rufus an his vast barony wis declared forfeit. Aubrey de Vere I haed his tenur convertit tae a tenancy in-chief, hauldin Kensington efter 1095 directly o the croun. He grantit land an kirk thare tae Abingdon Abbey at the daithbed request o his young eldest son, Geoffrey. As the Veres became the earls o Oxford, thair estate at Kensington came tae be kent as Earls Court, while the Abingdon land wur cried Abbots Kensington an the kirk St Mary Abbots.

Geografie

Cairt o Kensington (click tae enlairge)

The focus o the aurie is Kensington High Street, a busy commercial centre wi mony shops, teepically upmercat. The street wis declared Lunnon's seicont best shoppin street in Februar 2005 thanks tae its range an nummer o shops. Housomeivver syne October 2008 the street haes facit competeetion frae the Westfield shoppin centre at White City. The heritage bus service on route 9, uisin Routemasters, wis extendit tae Kensington High Street in November 2010 at the Council's urgin, pairtly tae boost the nummer o visitors tae the High Street.

Kensington's seicont activity centre is South Kensington, whaur a variety o smaw shops are clustered close tae South Kensington tube station. This is the soothren end o Exhibition Road an aw, the thoroufare that serves the aurie's museums an eddicational institutions.

The edges o Kensington are no well-defined; in pairticular, the soothren pairt o Kensington blurs intae Chelsea, which haes a seemilar airchitectural style. Tae the wast, a transition is made athort the West London railwey line an Earl's Court Road further sooth intae ither destricts, whilst tae the north, the anerly obvious dividin line is Holland Park Avenue, tae the north o which is the seemilar destrict o Notting Hill.

In the north east, the lairge Royal Park o Kensington Gardens (contiguous wi its eastren neebour, Hyde Park) is an obvious buffer atween Kensington an auries tae the north east. The ither main green aurie in Kensington is Holland Park, juist north o Kensington High Street, whilst Kensington haes numerous smaw residential gairden squares.

While South Kensington can be regardit as a pairt o Kensington, the destricts o North Kensington an West Kensington are regardit as distinct frae Kensington. North Kensington is separatit frae Kensington bi Notting Hill. West Kensington is separatit frae Kensington bi the West London railwey line.

Kensington is, in general, a extremely affluent aurie, a trait that it nou shares wi its neebour tae the sooth, Chelsea. The aurie haes some o Lunnon's maist expensive streets an gairden squares, includin Edwardes Square, Earls Terrace – a exclusive redevelopment o Georgian Houses, The Phillimores, an Wycombe Square – a new big development done tae a vera heich staundart. In early 2007, hooses sauld in Upper Phillimore Gardens for in excess o £20 million. Addeetionally, maist neebourin destricts are regardit as exclusive residential auries, includin Knightsbridge an Brompton tae the east an the nearest pairts o Notting Hill tae the north. Tae the wast is the less affluent but up-an-comin aurie o Earl's Court.

Kensington is vera densely populatit an aw; it forms pairt o the maist densely populatit local govrenment destrict (the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) in the Unitit Kinrick. This heich density is no formit frae heich-rise biggins; insteid, it haes come aboot throu the subdiveesion o lairge mid-rise Victorian an Georgian terracit hooses (generally o some fower tae sax floors) intae flats. Unlik ither pairts o the Borough, Kensington itsel haes amaist nae heich-rise biggins – the exception bein Holiday Inn's London Kensington Forum Hotel in Cromwell Road, a 27-storey biggin.

Notable attractions an institutions in Kensington (or South Kensington) include: Kensington Palace in Kensington Gardens, the Royal Albert Hall opposite the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, the Royal College of Music, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Heythrop College, Imperial College, London, the Royal College of Art an Kensington and Chelsea College. The Olympia exhibition haw is juist ower the wastren mairch in West Kensington.

Admeenistration

Kensington Gardens in the simmer

Kensington is pairt o the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, an lees athin the Kensington pairlamentar constituency.

Economy

Northcliffe House, heid office o the Daily Mail and General Trust

The heid office o Daily Mail and General Trust is locatit in the Northcliffe House in Kensington. In addeetion tae hoosin the DMGT heid office, the biggin hooses the offices o The Independent series, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard, an Metro an aw.

Sonangol Leemitit, a subsidiar o the Sonangol Group, haes its heid office in the Merevale House in Kensington.

Transport

Kensington is crossed east-wast bi three main roads, the maist important o which is the A4 or Cromwell Road which connects it tae baith Central Lunnon an Heathrow Airport. Tae the north is the maistly parallel Kensington Road (o which Kensington High Street forms a lairge pairt), linkin central Lunnon an Hammersmith tae the aurie. Tae the sooth is Fulham Road, which connects South Kensington wi Fulham tae the soothwast. North-sooth connections are no as well-developit an thare is nae obvious single north-sooth route throu the aurie.

Kensington is well servit bi public transport. Maist o Kensington is servit bi three stations locatit in the Travelcard Zone 1: High Street Kensington, Gloucester Road an South Kensington. Aw three are servit bi the Circle Line which connects thaim tae Lunnon's railwey terminals. The Destrict line serves aw three stations an aw, albeit on different branches; it links the latter twa tae Wastmeenster an the Ceety. The Piccadilly line links South Kensington an Gloucester Road tae the West End in aboot 10 minutes an aw, an in the ither direction tae Heathrow Airport in aboot 40 minutes. In addeetion Kensington (Olympia) in Travelcard Zone 2 serves the wastren pairt o Kensington, wi Destrict Line trains tae Earl's Court an High Street Kensington. (West Kensington station is no in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.)

A nummer o local bus services link Kensington intae the surroondin destricts, an key bus hubs are Kensington High Street an South Kensington station. Thir bus services wur impruivit in frequency an spread in 2007 tae complement the wastren extension o the Lunnon congestion chairge aurie, which required vehicles drivin intae or aroond Kensington in chairgin oors Monday-Friday tae pey a daily fee o £8. The extension o the congestion chairgin aurie wis athdrawn at the end o 2010.

See an aw

• Earls Court
• South Kensington
• Kensington Roof Gardens
• Knightsbridge
• West Kensington

References

• Kensington – 1911 Encyclopædia article
• London Kensington Market (Destroyed)
• Ashbourne College

Further readin

• Daniel Lysons (1792), "Kensington", Environs of London, 3: County of Middlesex, London: T. Cadell
• "Kensington". Chambers's Encyclopaedia. London. 1901.

Freemit airtins

Wiktionar

Rake fer Kensington i the
Scots Wiktionar, the free Scots dictionar.

• The Kensington Destrict, bi Geraldine Edith Mitton, 1903, frae Project Gutenberg