Bayswater facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bayswater |
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 View from Bayswater Road |
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 Bayswater
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| Population | 12,363 (2020 estimate) |
| OS grid reference | TQ255805 |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | W2 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| EU Parliament | London |
| UK Parliament |
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Bayswater is an area in the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and Notting Hill to the west.
Much of Bayswater was built in the 1800s, and consists of streets and garden squares lined with Victorian stucco terraces; some of which have been subdivided into flats. Other key developments include the Grade II listed 650-flat Hallfield Estate, designed by Sir Denys Lasdun, and Queensway and Westbourne Grove, its busiest high streets, with a mix of independent, boutique and chain retailers and restaurants.
Bayswater is also one of London's most cosmopolitan areas: a diverse local population is augmented by a high concentration of hotels. In addition to the English, there are many other nationalities. Notable ethnic groups include Greeks, French, Americans, Brazilians, Italians, Irish, Arabs, Malaysians, and many others.
Contents
Etymology
The name Bayswater is derived from the 1380 placename "Bayards Watering Place", which in Middle English meant either a watering place for horses, or the watering place that belonged to the Bayard family.
History
Historically, Bayswater was located to the west of London on the road from Tyburn towards Uxbridge. It was a hamlet in the seventeenth century close to the Kensington Gravel Pits. By the end of the eighteenth century Bayswater remained a small settlement, although the gradual expansion of London westward into Mayfair and Paddington brought it closer to the outskirts of the city. During the Regency era new suburbs were rapidly constructed to cope with the growing population of the city. An important early developer in Bayswater was Edward Orme who constructed Moscow Road and St. Petersburgh Place, which he named in honour of Alexander I of Russia. Both Bayswater and Tyburnia to the east developed independently of each other. Gradually over the following decades the remaining open spaces were built on and it became an urban area of affluent residential streets and garden squares.
Notable residents
- Damon Albarn
- Brett Anderson
- Mike Atherton
- J. M. Barrie, playwright and novelist, and his wife, Mary, lived at 100 Bayswater Road.
- Tony Blair
- Winston Churchill
- Richard Cobden, lived on Westbourne Terrace
- A. J. Cronin
- Umaru Dikko, former Nigerian minister of transportation
- Tim Dry has lived in Bayswater since the early 1980s.
- Ade Edmondson
- Stephanie Beacham
- Roger C. Field, inventor and designer whose first home was flat D, 15 Cleveland Square
- Alexander Fleming
- Mariella Frostrup
- Ferdinand de Géramb
- Reginald Gray, Irish artist, lived with his wife Catherine at 105a Queensway from 1958 to 1963.
- J. B. Gunn, physicist, lived with his mother, the Freudian psychoanalyst L. F. Gunn/Grey-Clarke, at 14 Durham Terrace, in the 1940s
- Francis Guthrie, whose observations led to the Four color theorem
- Alice Hart-Davis
- Thora Hird
- Paul Johnson
- Dylan Jones
- Jonathan King
- Keira Knightley
- Guglielmo Marconi, the pioneer of wireless communication, lived at 71 Hereford Road between 1896 and 1897 with his mother upon arrival in England (marked by a blue plaque).
- Rik Mayall
- Stella McCartney
- Queen Noor of Jordan
- Dermot O'Leary
- Irfan Orga, exile and writer, lived at 29, 35 and 21 Inverness Terrace from 1942 until the mid-1950s, publishing his memoirs Portrait of a Turkish Family in 1950.
- Nick Ross
- Ilyich Ramírez Sánchez, terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal
- Jennifer Saunders
- Paul Simonon
- Sting occupied a basement flat at 28A Leinster Square in the late 1970s during the formative years of The Police. Trudie Styler, now his wife, lived in a basement flat two doors down.
- Georgina Castle Smith (pseudonym Brenda), children's writer born and bred in Bayswater
- Luigi Sturzo, Catholic priest and politician, and one of the fathers of Christian democracy and a founder of the Italian People's Party (1919)
- John Tenniel, artist and cartoonist, was born at 22 Gloucester Place, New Road, Bayswater on 28 February 1820.
- Jeremy Thorpe
- Kwasi Kwarteng
Education
Nearest places
Nearest tube stations
The stations within the district are Bayswater and Queensway. Other nearby stations include Paddington (Bakerloo, Circle and District lines and Circle and Hammersmith & City lines), Royal Oak (in Westbourne) and Lancaster Gate (to the east).
Places of interest
- Kensington Gardens
- St Sophia's Cathedral
- The Mitre, Bayswater
- Whiteleys Shopping Centre under reconstruction
See also
In Spanish: Bayswater para niños
