What’s the story?

The land from what is now Pesthouse Common in the north to the Amenity Land and Lass of Richmond Hill in the south was originally two commons, both belonging to the Crown.

A pest house, where the (poor) sick were quarantined, had been built at the north end of the commons, but by the mid 1700s Richmond's populaton was expanding and the local government was looking for a site for a new workhouse with infirmary and farm, for the destitute poor, and a new cemetery.

In those times, local government fell to the Parish, better known then as the Vestry. The Vestry had its eye on the two commons, which belonged to the Crown, namely King George III and his wife Queen Charlotte - yes, the very same you may remember from the movie The Madness of King George or TV's Brigerton spinoff Queen Charlotte.

After lengthy wrangling an agreement was reached and a special Act was brought before Parliament in 1785, enacted in 1786, giving the land to the Vestry. The gift came with conditions, like give up the right of way known as the Kew Foot Road that ran right through the royal estates of Richmond and Kew (now Kew Gardens). And there were also specific strings attached to the use of the gifted common land itself. These took the form of legal provisos stipulating that the land was to be used for “the good use of the poor […] in perpetuity”. The Vestry's plans to replace the pesthouse with a new workhouse, infirmary, farm and cemetery met the conditions and the changes went ahead.

Photo/Illustration coming soon

The 1800s brought many changes to local government and, in particular, to the Poor Laws. What's important for our story is that, by Victorian times, decision making had moved away from the Vestry to newly organised local government, and even to Westminster. In the 19th century London was also spreading, and when the suburban railways arrived in Richmond, it became an attractive place not just for nobility and the very rich to spend the summer, but for affluent professionals to live year round.

By the 1850s, the strings attached in the 1786 Act to the use of the land had been forgotten. While the workhouse, infirmary farm and cemetery remained, the rest of the land was developed into what was the first Queens Road estate. This consisted of substantial houses and gardens for well-to-do Victorian families and their servants.

Photo/Illustration coming soon

A hundred years on, times had changed again. By the 1950s many of these once-affluent Victorian family houses were run-down or derelict. Richmond Council hatched a plan to demolish them and make way for the proposed Petersham by-pass, which would have linked Richmond and Kingston via a tunnel under Richmond Park, by-passing the troublesome bend and speeding up traffic. The plans included high-rise flats on either side of the above-ground section of the new highway. The Council compulsorily purchased some of the houses standing in the way, ready for demolition to begin.

Photo/Illustration coming soon

Not everyone thought the Council plan was such a good idea. Richmond residents banded together with dissident councillors and the local vicar to oppose the plan. Together they started a public campaign to scupper the highway and underpass. While a long legal battle went through the courts, the houses compulsorily purchased by the Council became home to squatters and parties.

Meanwhile the campaign group went back to the 1786 Act of Parliament, arguing that the land did not belong to Richmond Council, but to the Vestry aka Parish of Richmond. The prolonged legal battle went all the way to the then highest court in country, the Law Lords. In the 1960s they ruled that Richmond Council did not own the land, but at the same time, they did not recognise the then Parish of Richmond as the direct successor to the 1786 Vestry. Further wrangling ensued, but in 1971 the land was finally entrusted to the Richmond Parish Lands Charity (now called the Richmond Foundation) who were to use them for “the good use of the poor […] in perpetuity”, in other words in the spirit of the 1786 Act.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

TO BE CONTINUED...

A short account of the history is included a in Historic England’s Phase 1 Grade II listing https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1400339, while the full account can be found in The King’s Gift, p. RPLC, 1986; Royal Bounty – The Richmond Parish Lands Charity 1786-1991, by John Cloake, p. RPLC, 1992. 

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