Place Name
Originally Alma Villas, commemorating the battle during the Crimean War. The Marlborough Hotel on Friars Stile Road was originally called the Rose Cottage Hotel, which once had a much longer garden running the parallel length of Rosemont Road and famed for its afternoon tea. Twenty-five lots were offered for auction on the northern side of the road in 1866 and it was around this time that the present name was adopted. The houses were built Joseph Sims, responsible for the construction of many residential properties in Richmond as well as several public buildings, including two schools. The 1880 rate book records that he owned houses in Rosemont Road. When the hotel decided to reduce the size of its garden, they offered it to the home owners. Almost half its land was sold off to any Rosemont resident wishing to extend their garden. There were those who didn’t want to take up the offer, so some owners bought their neighbour’s sections which resulted in many houses now having extremely large L shaped plots.
