At the end of August, members of the Society took a wander through riverside Chelsea, led by Blue Badge Tourist Guide Caroline Piper. We started at Christopher Wren’s Royal Hospital Chelsea, arguably the most elegant retirement home in the country and with up-to-date medical facilities in the modern infirmary. From the original 476 Chelsea Pensioners, there are now approx 300 residents, all army veterans, both men and women, famous for their iconic red coats. The walk took us past two exciting new developments in the area, Chelsea Barracks which is being developed as “traditional Belgravia garden-square living”, and the huge new London neighbourhood rapidly going up around Battersea power station on the other side of the river.
Our walk continued along the Chelsea Embankment, taking in the gorgeous red brick houses of the Cadogan Estate, 93 acres of prime real estate owned by the same (very rich!) family for 300 years. The area is dotted with many, many, many blue plaques and statues to Chelsea’s famous ex-residents, including the homes of playwright Oscar Wilde, painter John Singer-Sargent, painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti and historian Thomas Carlyle.
A highlight of the tour was peering into the secret hidden gem of Chelsea Physic Garden, founded in 1673 by the Society of Apothecaries and still containing medicinal and other useful plants. Thanks to the generosity of their 18th century landowner, Sir Hans Sloane, the garden has a fixed £5 per annum rent in perpetuity, so hopefully won’t be going anywhere. The tour finished at the pretty little Chelsea Old Church with the statue of Sir Thomas More, arguably Chelsea’s most important resident who first encouraged the rich and fashionable to settle in Chelsea in the 16th century. As our tour finished the fairy lights on the romantic, pastel painted Albert Bridge were twinkling and the sun was going down on the Thames.
Organised by Caroline Piper