Plaque

The plaques are in the porch behind the pillars that you can see in our photo, Cubitt on the left, Prince of Wales on the right.

The (2018) Bessborough Gardens management's website gives: "In the 1840's the Thomas Cubitt development began. Within a century the head lease of this land had reverted back to the Crown Estate. Most of the buildings were suffering from the damage of the Big Flood in 1928 and the Second World War and were in a derelict state, although they were still required for residential use because of the acute post war housing shortage. In the mid 1980's, in conjunction with Wimpy Homes the Crown Estate embarked on redevelopment of the land with a three phase development. Phase one being the build of some 140 flats which we now know as Bessborough Gardens. The two projects of Lindsay Square and Balvaird Place followed."

When we visited the website again in 2019 the text on that page had changed and adds to our knowledge again: "Bessborough Gardens was named after Lord Granville who was married to The Countess of Bessborough's niece in the early nineteenth century. The acreage was largely marsh land split by the River Tyburn which was little more than an open sewer leading to the River Thames. The area's development had inauspicious beginnings: In the 1820's there was a depressed housing market, but an astute developer, by the name of Thomas Cubitt was enjoying a huge success bucking the trend and selling high worth houses like hotcakes to the aristocracy in Belgravia. He gradually acquired parcels of land in Pimlico from the Grosvenor family and also a major section of Bessborough Gardens from a bankrupt developer, Thomas Hamlet. In the 1840's the Thomas Cubitt development began. Within a century the head lease of this land had reverted back by the Crown Estate."

Trying to understand why the name Bessborough was used we followed up the clues provided in this text and discovered that Lord Granville had had an affair (producing two illegitimate children) with Henrietta Ponsonby, the Countess of Bessborough, who then arranged for him to marry her niece. Nice. But still no good explanation for the name of the Gardens.

These are some quality plaques. It seems that when the Prince of Wales is going to be named on a memorial they spend that bit more.

2024: Regarding the naming of the development, Mr Little kindly wrote and directed us to Westminster Council's page on the Gardens: "Bessborough Gardens was originally the site of Holy Trinity Church designed by J. Pearson, built in 1849 to 1852 but demolished in 1954. Bessborough Gardens is named after Lord Bessborough, John William Ponsonby, the 4th Earl of Bessborough, {1781 - 1847} a British politician who was Home Secretary in 1834." Now that makes sense: a notable politician who died shortly before the development was completed. The 4th Earl was one of the naughty Countess's legitimate children.