Place Name
It is often mistakenly believed that this road was named after a friend of William Shakespeare who lived in Richmond and was apparently a host of the great man, who would come to visit him whenever performing plays in Richmond. Alas it is not true, it is actually thought to be named after a Simon Bardolph who lived in Richmond in 1650 – long after the playwright had passed away. Bardolph, also spelt Bardolf, was one of the speculators who invested in the Ireland Adventures, bankrolling Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentary cause in Eire, in exchange for land there. When he died a few years later he left his £300 share to his daughter and her heirs. There is a monument to a Simon Bardolph who died on 1654, his wife Ann, and various members of their family, in St Mary the Virgin Church in Mortlake.
