Neighbourhoods

London is often described as a collection of distinct urban villages rather than a single sprawling metropolis, due to the way it developed over time. Discover each neighbourhood's unique character and charm.

Richmond

A town that grew round a Tudor palace and kept the green it was built on.

Quinlan Terry's riverside, finished in 1988 and Georgian on purpose.

Richmond takes its name from a palace. Henry VII built it early in the sixteenth century and called it Richmond in 1501 after his earldom in Yorkshire, and Elizabeth I spent her last days in it. Almost nothing of the palace is left, but the shape of the town is still arranged around the green it stood beside, which is why the centre of Richmond is a cricket pitch with Georgian houses on three sides of it.

The rest is eighteenth century and after. Richmond Bridge went up in the 1770s, the terraces followed on the Green and up Richmond Hill, and the railway arrived in 1846 and turned a Surrey town into part of London - which it formally became in 1965. The view of the Thames from the top of the hill is protected by an Act of Parliament of its own, which is not true of any other view in England.

What is here now: Richmond Theatre on the Green, Frank Matcham's of 1899, 840 seats, taking touring work before and after the West End; the riverside, which fills the moment there is sun; and the walk up the hill to the park gate. Kew Gardens is a mile north and is its own trip.

What’s On

Today2
Tomorrow1
This weekend2

All 15 on What’s On, and 5 later in the year

Things to do

Museums1
Performance venues2
Views1

Food & drink

Coffee1
Desserts & Gelato1

Themes

Beautiful Streets6
Literary London2
The World in London1

Photo by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped, via Wikimedia Commons

Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL.