Brompton, Kensington & Chelsea
A prosperous district yielding to the greater cachets of Chelsea, Knightsbridge and South Kensington, centred on Brompton Road, which runs south-westward from Knightsbridge tube station
Brompton Oratory is one of London’s trendiest and most upmarket places of worship
There was a heathland village here in medieval times and ‘Broom Farm’ was first recorded in 1294. The marshy ground was drained in the 16th century and converted to fruit gardens.
The Brompton Park nursery was established in 1681, on land where the Victoria and Albert museum now stands; it has given its name to the Brompton stock, a large, usually red, biennial variety.
During Victoria’s reign, Brompton became a fashionable district in which to live and an estate was laid out with the inelegant name of Bromptonville, which thankfully has not stuck. A reputation for healthy air attracted a number of private hospices, including Brompton hospital, now converted into one of the most expensive addresses in London.
In 1868 the Metropolitan Railway opened Brompton (Gloucester Road) station, but after the Piccadilly Line arrived in 1906 Brompton’s name was dropped. There was also a Brompton Road station on the Piccadilly Line, between Knightsbridge and South Kensington, from 1906 to 1934.
The Brompton bicycle was conceived in 1975 by Andrew Ritchie when he was living in a flat overlooking Brompton Oratory. Full-scale production eventually began in the late 1980s at a factory in Brentford, where the company is still based.
