1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Paddington (England)

PADDINGTON, a north-western metropolitan borough of London, England, bounded E. by Hampstead and Marylebone, S. by the city of Westminster, and W. by Kensington, and extending N. to the boundary of the county of London. Pop. (1901), 143,976. The best houses are found in the streets and squares of Bayswater, in the south-west, neighbouring to Kensington Gardens (a small part of which is in the borough) and to Hyde Park, farther east, while in the north-east are broad avenues and “mansions” of residential flats. Bayswater Road, skirting the park and gardens, forms part of the southern boundary of the borough; Edgware Road forms the eastern; from this Harrow Road branches north-west, Bishop's Road and Westbourne Grove form a thoroughfare westward, and Queen's Road, Bayswater, leads south from there to Bayswater Road. The name of Paddington finds no place in Domesday—it may have been included in the manor of Tyburn—and the land belonged to the Abbey of Westminster at an early date. It was granted to the see of London by Edward VI. In the 18th century the picturesque rural scenery attracted artists, and even in the middle of the 19th the open country was reached within the confines of the present borough, which now contains no traces of antiquity. Bayswater is said to take its name from Baynard, a Norman, who after the Conquest held land here and had a castle by the Thames not far above the Tower of London, whence a ward of the city is called Castle Baynard. Many springs flowed forth here; the stream called Westbourne was near at hand, and water was formerly supplied hence to London. In the borough are the Paddington and the Queen's Park technical institutes; St. Mary's Hospital, Praed Street, with medical school; and Paddington Green children's hospital. The terminus of the Great Western railway, facing Praed Street, is called Paddington Station. The parliamentary borough of Paddington has north and south divisions, each returning one member. The borough council consists of a mayor, 10 aldermen and 60 councillors. Area, 1356·1 acres.