Sophisticated Wedding in Richmond, London

The Petersham Hotel is situated between what remains of Richmond Hill’s Common and Petersham Common. These were formerly adjoining and grazing livestock would roam across the manor house boundaries. So in 1639, a strip of land on the Richmond side of the boundary was granted to one Francis Barnard on condition that he made and maintained ‘ a sufficient divide with a gate and stile ’ between the two commons.This strip of land was latterly resolater divided up into three sections. At the top end ‘The Wick’ replaced the Bull’s Head tavern in 1775.

At the southern end the stabling was based (now the Rose of York tavern). In the centre a cabin, first erected about 1650, was rebuilt as a substantial house in the 1770’s. It got the name of Nightingale Cottage from the nightingales on Richmond Hill; well known and respected for their singing( Wordsworth wrote a sonnet about them). Nightingale Lane, initially a straight path down the hillside, acquired its present alignment in 1810 when the Richmond Vestry leased the lower part of the Hill Common to the proprietor of Nightingale Cottage to extend his lawn. This leased land, which can not be erected on, is now the Petersham parking lot.

In 1863, Nightingale Cottage (renamed Ashburnham Lodge) was acquired by the Richmond Hill Hotel Company. They employed John Giles as the head designer, who had just designed London’s first ‘ grand hotel ’; the lately repaired Langham Hotel in Portland Place. The construction in Richmond was completed in 1865 – the same time as E M Barry’s new ‘French Château’ of the Star and Garter above it on the hill.

Although slightly ambitious than Barry’s structure the Richmond Hill Hotel with its turret high pitched roofs and numerous sundecks was an imposing structure. Its architectural style was described at the time as ‘florid Italian Gothic’. The description and plans in described in a sales catalogue in 1866 show a dining room, dance hall, bar, numerous bedrooms and a number of separate ‘sitting apartment ’ as well as several suites. Every room had, of course, its own fireplace with a coal fire and although the Peterham was, up to date with all the amenities of it’s time, it only had two bathrooms!

The most noticeable point of the interior is the stunning Portland stone staircase; reported to be the highest freestanding stone staircase in the country. The artwork on its ceiling were executed by Ferdinando Galli( 1816- 97), an Italian painter temporarily working in England (he had an exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1866).

The Petersham looks out across Petersham Meadows to the bend in the Thames. The meadows are safeguarded from development by an Act of Parliament passed in 1902, and renewed every 100 years, to guard the stunning view from Richmond Hill; seen from the Terrace Walk at the top of Nightingale Lane. This view has been painted by numerous renowned artists, including Sir Joshua Reynolds (for whom Wick House, coming door to the Wick, was erected) and J M W Turner (who lived across the Thames in Twickenham for sometime).