London’s Alleys: Ashland Place, W1
This passageway sits alongside Paddington Street Gardens in Marylebone, giving the residents of the houses a good view of the park opposite. While today it looks very inviting, it wasn’t originally.
The park was laid out in the 18th century as an additional burial ground for St Marylebone Parish Church on land that was donated in 1730 by Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.
Edward Harley had recently married the Duke of Newcastle’s daughter, Henrietta Cavendish Holles. Through various later marriages and splits, a large section of this part of London became the Portland–Howard de Walden estate, which is still owned by the Howard de Walden family.
Situated next to a Burying Ground, it’s not hugely surprising that Ashland Place’s first name was simply Burying Ground Passage, and when the burial ground was opened as a public park in 1886, it was renamed the somewhat more wholesome Ashland Place.
The area, though, was far from wholesome. Ashland Place was on the edge of a small block of shabby tenement flats and squalid homes built over the gardens of the houses that were first erected here. The small block of streets had around 120 houses, whose residents had sunk to “in the lowest stages of moral and physical degradation.” The area was even equated with the notorious rookeries of St Giles and Bermondsey.
Even by the area’s standards, Ashland Place was considered a poor street. The first trades didn’t move in until the 1880s. Right up to the 1950s, the street was mainly filled with workshops for cabinetmaking, upholstery, and engineering. At the northern end of the alley is a late Victorian factory building that was occupied from the 1950s by the glazing contractors J. Preedy & Sons, although these days it’s an office and residential conversion.
Further down are the social housing blocks that replaced the slums. At the southern end of the passageway was Paradise Street, but in 1938, it was renamed Moxton Street, after Moxton House, which was built there.
Today, the road is sealed off from traffic at the top, but that only happened recently, although complaints about road traffic using the narrow passageway to get into central Marylebone seem to date back to at least 1973, when the local MP, Kenneth Baker, supported calls to block the road.
It took a while, but the local residents finally got what they wanted.
…and the Rajdoot curry house on the corner of Paddington Street is one of the best kept secrets in London. If you’re wanting the more traditional English-style Indian – there’s no trendy “Mumbai street food” here – you won’t do much better.
A hidden side of the West End commonly not seen by most. Good catch!
I used to deliver to the bathroom shop at the southern end,
1990-2010.
I used to ride down this street to work, to safely get to Marylebone High Street
Oh the stories I could tell you about Ashland Place and Ossington Buildings as I used to live there as a child in the 60’s and 70’s.
Everything seemed normal to me then, I guess it does when you’re a child, but later on the disparity between rich and working class became apparent. Whilst the surrounding area was full of grand houses and mansion blocks “the buildings” had outdoor toilets and no bathrooms. This led to us having a tin bath once a week in front of the open fire. We actually thought of it as quite luxurious!
I could go on for ages on this subject but the history of the buildings and the surrounding area are easily found on Google. To think that these self same flats are now highly desired (and highly priced) town addresses really does stick my craw. Don’t even get me started on the Marylebone Square thing!! ?
Btw, I suspect an auto correct issue is to blame but it is Moxon Street not Moxton Street. An article on the adjacent Grotto Passage would make a nice future read.