Hampton Wick
The advent of railways, trams and Kingston Bridge resulted in many demolished houses
Hampton Wick has always been a small concentrated area, constrained as it is by Bushy and Home Parks to the west and south, the river to the east and Teddington to the north. It contained many, often tightly-packed, cottages and small dwellings and had very few large houses. The enclosure award of Hampton in 1811 added about 7 acres of land from what had previously been the Wick Green.
Many houses have been “lost” because of improvements to the transport infrastructure. The first major change that depleted the existing housing stock in this way was the opening of the new Kingston Bridge in 1828. 19 properties in Hampton Wick were directly affected, many of which had to be demolished to make way for the new approach roads. Between 1861 and 1863 the railway line from Twickenham to Kingston, was driven through Hampton Wick. About another 20 houses had to be demolished as the railway cut a swathe through the village. Later, in 1902, tramlines were laid through the village which necessitated the demolition of 21 buildings - some opposite The Swan public house and the old library in High Street.
Other properties have been lost through redevelopment. The Pits Improvements in the late 1800s swept away much of the housing in Park Road east of School Road. There were several rows of working class cottages behind High Street, reached by narrow alleyways. One of these, Newmans Cottages was replaced by Jubilee Close in the 20th century and almost all the rest have gone. Old Bridge Street, once packed with cottages, was mostly demolished in the 1960s and has been redeveloped
There were further cottages south of Kingston Bridge as far as the entrance to Home Park and along Hampton Court Road but these were demolished in the 1950s or early 1960s.
The old vicarage in Park Road and its extensive grounds have been replaced by the large block of flats called Ingram House.
