4.5 of 5 (3 votes)

Historic Twickenham

A leisurely walk (city/town) in City of London, England, about 5.30km (3.29 mi) long with an estimated walking time of about 1:15h. It is suitable for families with children, prams & pushchairs, wheelchairs.
Elevation Profile
Ascent 15m (49ft)
Descent 18m (59ft)
Max. Elevation 20m (65ft)
Altitude Gain & Loss 33m (108ft)
Start & End
Strawberry Hill station
Distance 5.30km
(3.29mi)
Duration ~1:15h
Difficulty  
Leisurely
Ordnance Survey Map
3Created by John Walker on 13 Mar 2016
Twickenham is a Thames-side suburb most famous for the England Rugby Union national stadium. This walk stays well away from this, keeping to the historic heart of Twickenham, along the left bank of the river Thames. This is an easy walk on smooth or metalled paths with almost no climbing. If you are coming by train start the walk at Strawberry Hill station (on the Waterloo to Kingston loop).

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Walk Map

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Waypoints

OS Grid TQ155724
Leave the station and turn left along Tower Rd. After 150m turn right along Waldegrave Gardens. At the T-junction the gleaming white 'little gothic castle' of Horace Walpole is across the road.
OS Grid TQ158724
After Strawberry Hill (and its excellent café) continue further along Waldegrave Rd. to Cross Deep. Cross over into Radnor Gardens, a public park on the left bank of the Thames.
About 0.31 km (~0.19 miles) from
OS Grid TQ160726
Radnor House was one of many large riverside properties when 18th C Twickenham was a fashionable resort. The house was destroyed by a bomb in 1940. Only a gazebo, summer house and flood mark remain.
About 0.26 km (~0.16 miles) from
OS Grid TQ160727
Leave the park and turn right. Just here was Alexander Pope's Villa, with must-have 18C grotto, decorated with stalactites & crystals. The house has gone but the grotto exists, rarely open to public.
About 0.15 km (~0.09 miles) from
OS Grid TQ162730
Turn right at traffic lights and almost immediately right again into Wharf Lane. This leads back to the landscaped riverside. A footbridge crosses to the island, former home to the Eel Pie Hotel.
About 0.42 km (~0.26 miles) from
OS Grid TQ164731
The former pub hosted many famous rock bands in the 60’s, having given up on the pies when eels got scarce. The island boasts 2 boatyards and many artists studios, with nature reserves at both ends.
About 0.22 km (~0.14 miles) from
OS Grid TQ163733
This was once the main route from Richmond to Hampton Court. Though narrow it was paved in the early 18th C and formed part of a turnpike. The Fox is a very ancient pub, along with other old shops.
About 0.20 km (~0.12 miles) from
OS Grid TQ164733
Turn right down Bell Lane, towards the river. Take a narrow lane to the left, passing between a house and its front garden. This tiny road leads past small cottages and a pub, to Twickenham Museum.
About 0.12 km (~0.07 miles) from
OS Grid TQ164733
The parish church is a strange mixture, with a medieval stone tower & a brick-built nave with plain-glass windows. The original building collapsed in 1713, due to neglect. Go N from here to Oak Lane.
About 0.05 km (~0.03 miles) from
OS Grid TQ164735
A small green lung amongst terraces is now disused, open to the public. It is a peaceful spot & a haven for wildlife. Parakeets & woodpeckers by day, foxes & owls by night. At end of Oak Lane turn R.
About 0.23 km (~0.14 miles) from
OS Grid TQ164736
On the corner is Amyand House, named for Dr. Amyand (1680-1740) who carried out the very first appendectomy, more than a century before it became accepted practice. Continue to turn R into Stafford Rd
About 0.13 km (~0.08 miles) from
OS Grid TQ166734
Cross over into Sion Rd then right into York House Gardens. Walk around a picturesque garden then climb steps to a large sunken lawn facing York House, a 17th C town house, with later French influence
About 0.30 km (~0.19 miles) from
OS Grid TQ165733
The house was owned by several French pretenders during the 19th C (possibly explaining the shuttered windows and the fully functioning cast iron pissoir). Cross a stone bridge to a formal garden.
About 0.11 km (~0.07 miles) from
OS Grid TQ165733
Go R to the pond at end of this garden. The last private owner of the House was the Indian industrialist Sir Ratan Tata who lived here until 1914, adding the Italianate naked ladies & shell statues.
About 0.07 km (~0.04 miles) from
OS Grid TQ165732
Go L of the statues and turn R along the river bank, through an arched gateway into Champion’s Wharf. This commemorates poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744) possibly Twickenham’s most famous late resident.
About 0.05 km (~0.03 miles) from
OS Grid TQ166733
Turn R into Riverside, past Dial House (with wall mounted sun-dial), home to Thomas Twining and later generations of tea merchants, from around 1725. Continue under the bridge past the White Swan pub.
About 0.10 km (~0.06 miles) from
OS Grid TQ169733
Turn R & then L under an iron footbridge, to enter Orleans Gardens. The building ahead is all that remains of a much larger Palladian villa mostly demolished for gravel digging. There is a good cafe.
About 0.34 km (~0.21 miles) from
OS Grid TQ170734
The cafe is behind the main house. Go R from the Karmarama cafe and take a path through woods to a gate in a brick wall, emerging onto a minor road. Turn L then after 50m go R into Marble Hill Park.
About 0.20 km (~0.12 miles) from
OS Grid TQ173736
The small ’Palladian villa’ is Marble Hill House, built in the 1720’s by Henrietta Howard, the mistress of George II. Walk past the house to reach a path, turn L to exit & cross to Sandycombe Rd.
About 0.28 km (~0.17 miles) from
OS Grid TQ171739
A large white house on the R, looking slightly neglected. was the home, from 1813, designed and lived in by the famous artist JWM Turner. Turn R into St. Maragarets Rd., passing Twickenham Studios.
About 0.36 km (~0.22 miles) from
OS Grid TQ168742
From here you can catch trains to Richmond, Kingston, Clapham Junction or Waterloo. Also buses to Richmond, Twickenham and Teddington.
About 0.44 km (~0.27 miles) from

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