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Chelsea
Chelsea maps
Historic maps of Chelsea and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Chelsea maps
Chelsea area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Chelsea and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Chelsea
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Chelsea.
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As it Used to be
This shot of Kings Road at the corner of Sydney St. is where the Chelsea Palace Music Hall used to be. I particularly remember the old building when used by ITV to transmit shows like Spot The Tune in the mid to late fifties. I don't know when it was demolished to have this carbuncle built.
Visiting my Inlaws
In 1953 I used to visit my in-laws who lived at 19 Rumbold Road, Fulham. I remember when we walked along Kings Road towards the football ground there was an antique shop that had an unusual armchair in the window. It was carved in the form of an old lady. Her arms were the arms of the chair and the front legs were the front legs of the chair. So if someone sat on it they were sitting on her lap. My relatives' home was very poor, with only a tap coming out of the wall and an enamel bowl under on a stand to catch the water. The toilet (which was considered 'modern') was a wooden slat from wall to wall and the plaster was falling off the wall, showing daylight through. There were 'Baths' nearby where people had to visit for a bath as no one had bathrooms. A market nearby sold most beautiful fruit! Large juicy oranges etc. My husband's grandfather had a Bakery shop in Fulham Road during the... Read more
Living in Chelsea After The War.
Hi all. We first moved to Chelsea in 1945 and took up residence at 58, Elm Park Gardens. I first attended Park Walk School then went on to the Cooks Ground School in Old Church Street (later changed to Kingsley School). I did a paper round every morning 7 days a week from Bloomfield's paper shop in Gloucester Road, Kensington, and helped the local milkman from Bunces Dairy in Old Church Street in Chelsea every Saturday morning, then I would queue up outside the Co-op in the Kings Road (World's End) with the children's pram, shopping list and ration book in hand, waiting my turn to move up and purchase the week's groceries with the money I earned from my paper round, which was a pound a week (giving my mother 15 shillings of it), a lot of money in those days. My mother had seven of us to feed in those days and every penny counted. During the summer holidays I would learn to swim in the Serpentine in Hyde... Read more
Custom Cars And Mrs. Beeton!
I lived in Chelsea when Mr. Beeton was still alive and running his bakery on the King's Road. I worked there for a while after leaving college and I feel very privileged to have done so. He dressed like a Victorian gentleman and hand-iced all the important cakes himself. The shop was a delight, unchanged for many years, and it was a tragedy when the business closed down. The old wooden racks, counters and floors were a step back in time, and the baked goods simply divine..... I've never tasted better bread, and the franzipan cakes were sublime. I served many famous faces, particularly on Saturdays, and I still have a couple of autographs written on the white paper bags we used to put the cakes into! I lived in Ixworth Place, in a lovely airy flat on the Sutton Estate and was very happy there. Further along towards Hyde Park Corner was St. George's Hospital - now the ridiculously expensive Lanesborough Hotel - and in 1964 I was lucky... Read more
Greater London memories
Mum And Dad Grew up in Fulham
Mum remembers going across Parsons Green durig the war and the air raid had gone off, then she heard a doodlebug above her, she ran into the gents toilets and heard it land somewhere near, she never been that frightened since. Mum and Dad both lived next door to each other in Broughton Road, Fulham, they were big houses, one family lived on top floor, another downstairs. I remember having to go through downstairs living room to get to outside loo, they let me when it was raining. My dad died 2 years ago, he remembered having to go to school with no shoes on, they were so poor, and his mum died young and they were looked after by an old aunt, if they asked for more food they were given a worm cake to eat. I remember waiting outside Fulham baths for my nan, who would visit on the bus and train, but sometimes she wasn't there so I was sent to wait ouside for her. We were... Read more
Childhood Memories
My Nan lived in Church Path (renamed Lillie Walk), they were all mainly Irish families living there, Nan's family all stayed in Fulham around North End Road. In the 1950s me and my sister were taken there to buy new shoes and stop to see Nan's sister, Aunt Annie, who had a fruit barrow by Barbers store, we always got an apple. We also used to go to see her brother Uncle Tom who lived in Shorrolds Road, and we got to go to the pub in Farm Lane for a drink. My sister and me lived in Burlington Road (near Putney Bridge) so going on the 14 bus to North End Road was a great treat. We all now live in Surrey but still talk about our childhood in Fulham.
Our Local Church - St Johns
WE LIVED IN FARM LANE FULHAM SW6, IN A LOVELY O'L PREFAB. OUR LOCAL CHURCH WAS ST JOHN'S.
