Place Name
Originally known as Avenue Road until 1866. It was developed on the estate of Lord Justice of Appeal in Chancery and the owner of more than 100 acres of Richmond, Sir Charles Jasper Selwyn. The map of the manor shows it as a tree lined lane stretching from Kew Gardens to Sandycombe Road. The Streets of Richmond and Kew by James Green, Judith Filson and Margaret Watson say that: “It was developed into a road to provide a more direct route from Kew Gardens Station (opened 1877) to the Queen’s Gate, but this gate into the Botanic Gardens was closed in 1882 in spite of protests from Richmond Vestry which pointed out the beauty of ‘the broad expanse of turf’ leading past the newly-built North Gallery to the Temperate House and the ‘wide road fringed with trees’.” Alas the park authorities were not to be persuaded but as a concession replaced the garden wall with iron railings so that passers-by could admire the view.
