Place Name
Named after the village of Bidborough in Kent, the home county of 17thCentury Bloomsbury landowner Andrew Judd. Judd left it to the Skinners’ Company as trustees for the benefit of the Tonbridge School in Kent which he himself had established. The street was developed in the early 19thCentury by James Burton during a phase of rapid development in the district. Up until then it had been farmland, known as Sandhills. In 1819 the street appears on the revised edition of Horwood’s 1799 plan, its original course though being much shorter (between Judd Street and Mabledon Place only), with much of the north side of the street occupied by livery stables. Its extension east to Tonbridge Street was at that time called Claremont Place, and was merged with Bidborough Street in the 20thCentury, by which time, the Skinners’ had started selling off much of the land. The properties on this street were let on long leases to Camden County Council.
