Place Name
Several generations of the Gilpin family had connections around East Sheen. The first major family member to be featured living in the area was William Sawrey Gilpin (1762 – 1843) the watercolour painter and landscape gardener, who married his cousin Elizabeth Gilpin at Mortlake in 1806. They were the first occupants of Painsfield, East Sheen, living there from 1830 until his death. Another William Gilpin (died February 28, 1867) was treasurer of Christ’s Hospital, High Sheriff of Surrey and a local magistrate, lived at Palewell Lodge, which was knocked down in 1925 but was a little to the west of today’s Park Drive. When he died in Christ’s Hospital he left some £45,000, leaving his wife £3,000, his daughter Jemima Weatherby the interest on £20,000, and to his nephew and godson Captain Norcliffe Gilpin his estate and residence in East Sheen, among other legacies. In 1896 the Palewell estate was sold by Norcliffe to Herbert Sheppard-Cross, MP, who the following year applied to Barnes Urban District Council to close four public footpaths so they could be developed into new roads. This road was built in 1909.
