Place Name
This road follows the ancient boundary between Mortlake and Barnes and takes its name from the riverside pub that has been a feature on the River Thames for more than 300 years, having previously been called the King’s Arms when it was first built in 1662. The name changed sometime in the 18thCentury. The present pub was rebuilt in 1899. The White Hart (“hart” being an archaic word for a mature stag) was the personal badge of Richard II, who probably derived it from the arms of his mother, Joan “The Fair Maid of Kent”, heiress of Edmund of Woodstock. It may also have been a pun on his name, as in Rich-hart. The pub served as a headquarters for Barnes Football Club in the mid-19thCentury.
