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Petersham Road

A village that stayed a village because the meadows in front of it cannot legally be built on.

Lanes & alleys

Petersham sits between Richmond Hill and the river, and the reason it still reads as a village rather than a suburb is the Richmond, Ham and Petersham Open Spaces Act of 1902: the meadows below the hill are covered by it, so the fields in front of the houses have been unbuildable for over a century while land like it everywhere else was developed.

What that has preserved along the road is a run of houses that would be remarkable anywhere - Rutland Lodge, built in 1666 for a Lord Mayor of London, Montrose House behind its ironwork, and a watchman's box and lock-up of 1787 still standing at the roadside. George Vancouver, who charted the north-west coast of America and has a city named after him, retired to River Lane off this road and is buried in St Peter's churchyard under a Portland stone monument. Dickens took Elm Cottage here in 1839 and wrote Nicholas Nickleby in it.

Where
Petersham Road, Petersham, TW10
Nearest station
Richmond · 28 min walk

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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