CHAPTER 1

Richmond and Kingston: A Brief History

Nothing in the neighbourhood is better known or more delightful than the view from Richmond Hill and Terrace.

It is, of course, impossible to give a detailed account of the history of these districts in about 2,000 words. The interested reader can consult numerous books on this topic if he or she wishes. This chapter is merely a brief overview of the locations where the crimes covered thereafter occurred.

For many centuries, places such as Richmond, Kingston, Teddington and Twickenham were villages along the river Thames, seemingly far to the west of London (Richmond is 15½ miles from London; Kingston 20). In fact, this was the case until the late nineteenth century. Twickenham and Kingston date from Saxon times; indeed the latter was not a inconsiderable town then. Saxon Kings were crowned there in the tenth century (the Coronation Stone is on display in the town to this day) and as late as the sixteenth century, the nearest bridge over the Thames to the west of London Bridge was at Kingston.

Royal connections persisted into the Middle Ages and beyond. There was a royal palace at Richmond which was used by Edward III and his grandson, Richard II. It was rebuilt in the fifteenth century. In fact, at this time, Richmond was known as Sheen, and only had a name change at the end of the fifteenth century. This was when Henry, Duke of Richmond, and the first Tudor monarch (Henry VII), had one of his palaces here and had the parish renamed. This palace was demolished on Cromwell’s orders in 1648. But there was a better known one. This was Hampton Court, one of Henry VIII’s chief palaces. His daughter, Elizabeth I, died at Richmond in 1603 and a number of her successors in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were well acquainted with Richmond and Hampton Court. From 1837, the latter was thrown open to the public and continues to delight the tourists. Kingston was the scene of strife in the Middle Ages with its castle being destroyed in 1264 and skirmishes occurred there in the Civil War of the 1640s, when a Duke’s brother was killed.