Kensington and Chelsea

From the records: “The first record of the Manor of Chelsea precedes the Domesday Book and records the fact that Thurstan, governor of the King's Palace during the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042–1066), gave the land to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster.”

From the records: “The manor of Chenesitone is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086, which in the Anglo-Saxon language means "Chenesi's ton" (homestead/settlement).”

From the records: “The origin of the name "Notting Hill" is uncertain though an early version appears in the Patent Rolls of 1356 as Knottynghull, while an 1878 text, Old and New London, reports that the name derives from a manor in Kensington called "Knotting-Bernes", "Knutting-Barnes", or "Nutting-barns", and goes on to quote from a court record during Henry VIII's reign that "the manor called Notingbarons, alias Kensington, in the parish of Paddington, was held of the Abbot of Westminster." For years, it was thought to be a link with Canute, but it is now thought likely that the "Nott" section of the name is derived from the Saxon personal name Cnotta, with the "ing" part generally accepted as coming from the Saxon for a group or settlement of people.”

From the records: “One early spelling is Kesyngton, as written in 1396.”

From the records: “He came to Chelsea in 1520 and built the house, which in his day had two courtyards laid out between the house and the river, and in the north of the site acres of gardens and orchards were planted.”

From the records: “Kensington Palace was originally a two-storey Jacobean mansion built by Sir George Coppin in 1605 in the village of Kensington.”

From the records: “The site for the Royal Hospital was an area of Chelsea, London which held an incomplete building "Chelsey College", a theological college James I founded in 1609.”

From the records: “The main inspirational force behind the foundation of the hospital was Sir Stephen Fox (1627–1716), Paymaster of the Forces and a trusted and able royal administrator of the King, and in 1681 Fox and the king initiated plans for a permanent hospital for disabled soldiers.”

From the records: “The hospital's chapel was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and is a fine and rare example of Wren's pure ecclesiastical work: it rises 42 feet (13 m) high and was completed in 1687.”

From the records: “Shortly after William and Mary assumed the throne as joint monarchs in 1689, they began searching for a residence better suited for the comfort of the asthmatic William.”

From the records: “The Royal Hospital opened its doors to the Chelsea Pensioners in 1692 for "the relief and succour" of veterans.”

From the records: “The Queen's Gallery, built in 1693, was previously filled with Turkish carpets and oriental artifacts, and was designed as a place for Mary to fulfil "simple pastimes such as walking, reading, and needlework."”

From the records: “She commissioned the Hawksmoor-designed Orangery, modified by John Vanbrugh, that was built for her in 1704.”

From the records: “In 1718, the Raw Silk Company was established in Chelsea Park, with mulberry trees and a hothouse for raising silkworms.”

From the records: “The entryway to the King's State Apartments is marked by the King's Staircase, decorated with a painting by William Kent depicting George I's royal court, completed in 1724.”

From the records: “The Palace was regularly used by reigning monarchs until 1760 and since then by members of the Royal family.”

From the records: “The 7' 6" (229 cm) statue of King Charles II which stands in the central court (the Figure Court) of the hospital was cast in copper alloy by Grinling Gibbons; it was originally gilded but was bronzed in 1787.”

From the records: “In 1798 the several unused and vacant parts of the palace, located immediately below the former State Apartments in the south-east corner of the main palace complex, were merged into an apartment which was granted to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn.”

From the records: “Notting Hill is in the ceremonial county of Greater London although it was formerly a hamlet on rural land until the expansion of urban London during the 19th century.”

From the records: “The Chelsea Bun House sold these during the 18th century and was patronised by the Georgian royalty.”

From the records: “St Mark's College, Chelsea, was founded in 1841, based on the beliefs of The Reverend Derwent Coleridge, son of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, its first principal: that its primary purpose was to widen the educational horizons of its students.”

From the records: “It was here that the Duke of Wellington lay in state in 1852 and the table on which his coffin rested is just inside the entrance.”

From the records: “The original Kensington Barracks, built at Kensington Gate in the late 18th century, were demolished in 1858 and new barracks were built in Kensington Church Street.”

From the records: “From around 1870, Notting Hill had an association with artists.”

From the records: “By the end of the 19th century, the State Rooms were severely neglected.”

From the records: “In 1900 the lower tier was reorganised into metropolitan boroughs, two of which were called Chelsea and Kensington, corresponding to the two parishes.”

From the records: “Queen Mary was instrumental in opening the State Apartments as a temporary location for the London Museum, from 1911 to 1914.”

From the records: “The Chelsea Book Club, at no. 65 Cheyne Walk (Lombard Terrace), a bookshop that also presented exhibitions and lectures, held the first exhibition of African art in London (sculpture from Ivory Coast and Congo) in 1920, and was the first bookshop to stock Joyce's Ulysses in 1922.”

From the records: “As a result of the number of royal relatives residing there during the 1920s and 1930s, Edward VIII called the palace "the aunt heap".”

From the records: “Kensington Palace was severely damaged during the Blitz of 1940.”

From the records: “In late August and early September 1958, the Notting Hill race riots occurred.”

From the records: “The dire housing conditions in Notting Hill led Bruce Kenrick to found the Notting Hill Housing Trust in 1963, helping to drive through new housing legislation in the 1960s and found the national housing organisation Shelter in 1966.”

From the records: “The modern borough was created in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963, which reorganised 86 boroughs and urban districts into 32 London boroughs and also created the Greater London Council.”

From the records: “It has continuously taken place since 1965.”

From the records: “In 1981, in the part of the palace that King George I had built for his mistress, the Duchess of Kendal, Apartments 8 and 9 were combined to create the London residence of the newly married Prince of Wales and his wife, Diana, Princess of Wales.”

From the records: “Upon Diana's death on 31 August 1997, the gates at Kensington Palace became the focus of public mourning with over one million bouquets, reaching 5 feet (1.5 m) deep in places, placed as tribute before them stretching out into Kensington Gardens.”

From the records: “In 2002, the sovereign's mace was presented to the hospital – up until then, the hospital had had no colours or distinctive device – the mace is now carried at all the ceremonial events at the hospital.”

From the records: “In March 2009, the first women in the hospital's 317-year history were admitted as In-Pensioners.”

From the records: “In October 2011, Disney, in cooperation with Historic Royal Palaces, hosted "Rapunzel's Royal Celebration" at Kensington Palace, a special event in which Rapunzel (Tangled) was inducted as the tenth official Disney Princess and crowned.”