43 Claudius arrives in London
The emperor Claudius catches up with the Roman army, waiting at the Thames for him to lead the final victory over the English tribes

150 London as a trading centre
London develops as a prosperous trading centre, at the hub of the network of Roman roads in Britain

886 Alfred drives Danes from London
Alfred captures London from the Danes, pressing them back into the region of Danelaw where their rule is, for the moment, tolerated

1114
A 'chapelry' exists by now in Petersham, probably occupying the same site as a Saxon church mentioned in the Domesday Book

1176 London gets a bridge
Construction begins on London Bridge, the first stone bridge to be built across a tidal waterway

1193 Bridge across the Thames at Kingston
A documentary reference to Kingston Bridge is first recorded in 1193; it has stone revetments but a flimsy wooden structure in constant need of repair

1200
A small rectangular flint chapel is built on the site of the present St Mary's church in Barnes

1215
St Mary's chapel in Barnes is enlarged

1327
The fishery at ‘Kaiho-juxta-Braynford’, which may be the origin of Kew Pond, first appears in the accounts of St Swithin’s Priory at Winchester

1332   November 12
The earliest recorded incumbent of St Mary's Church in Twickenham, William Browne, is presented.

1342 First know vicar of St Mary's, Hampton
The Vicars of St Mary's Church in Hampton are known back to 1342 and the old Church possibly existed from c.1250

1358 Edward III builds first Richmond palace
Edward III begins to transform a royal manor by the Thames at Richmond into a building that can for the first time be called a palace

1360 Ransom of 3 million gold crowns
After four years of captivity in Bordeaux and London, the French king John II is released for a promised ransom of 3 million gold crowns

1381 Wat Tyler meets Richard II
Wat Tyler, leader of the Kentish rebels, meets Richard II at Smithfield - before being struck and wounded by the Lord Mayor of London

1394 Richard II's wife dies at Richmond
Anne of Bohemia, the wife of Richard II, dies of plague at Richmond and in his distress the king orders the palace to be demolished

1413 Henry V begins new palace at Richmond
Soon after his accession Henry V begins construction of a new royal palace at Richmond

1415
Sir William de Milbourne, the first known resident of Milbourne House, dies and is buried in the Barnes parish church of St Mary’s

1467
Sir John Saye, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Edward IV, becomes the first recorded resident of Barn Elms, the manor house of Barnes

1476 Caxton sets up in London
Caxton establishes the first English printing press in London, after working in the new trade in Bruges

1483 Princes in the Tower
The two royal princes, Edward V and his younger brother, are confined in the Tower of London by their uncle - soon to be Richard III

1485
A tower is added to St Mary's in Barnes

1487 Richmond palace burns
When Henry VII is in Richmond for Christmas, fire breaks out in his lodging and destroys much of the palace

1493
John Williams, a brewer, acquires half an acre of land beside the Thames in Mortlake and builds on it a house subsequently known as Cromwell House

1500 to 1650 Villas around Kew Green
A number of noblemen and wealthy merchants build their villas around Kew Green, including Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, closely associated with Queen Elizabeth I. The only villa to survive from this period is the present Kew Palace built in the Dutch style for Samuel Fortrey.

1500
The manor of East Sheen and West Hall is carved out of the manor of Mortlake, including all that part of Kew that now lies between the river, the A316 and the District railway

1501 Henry VII rebuilds Richmond palace
The rebuilding of Henry VII's palace is largely completed, after an impressively short time

1505
St Peter’s is rebuilt, retaining some Norman work in the chancel from the original ‘chapelry’

1509   December 25 Henry VIII spends first Christmas with Catherine in Richmond
The newly crowned and recently married king, Henry VIII, spends his first Christmas with his wife, Catherine of Aragon, at Richmond

1514 Wolsey leases Hampton Court
Thomas Wolsey leases Hampton Court from Henry Daubeney

1514 Wolsey begins Hampton Court
Thomas Wolsey begins to build himself a palace at Hampton Court, but will later consider it politic to give it to Henry VIII

1514-1522 Wolsey adds Great Gatehouse at Hampton Court
Wolsey's first phase of work at Hampton Court adds a whole new courtyard of accomodation, Base Court, and an imposing Great Gatehouse

1520
Thomas Cromwell’s sister Katherine and her husband Morgan Williams move into the Mortlake house inherited from Morgan’s uncle John Williams

1522-1528 Wolsey's Chapel is completed at Hampton Court
The second phase of Wolsey's work at Hampton Court includes the creation of three suites fit for Royal occupation, a suite of rooms for himself and a magnificant Chapel

1528 Wolsey order to leave Hampton Court
Henry VIII orders Wolsey to vacate Hampton Court after Wolsey has opposed the King's divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon

1528 Wolsey loses Hampton Court
In a desperate attempt to retain royal favour, when suspected by the king of opposing his divorce, Cardinal Wolsey gives his spectacular Hampton Court Palace to Henry VIII

1529 Henry VIII creates his private quarters at Hampton Court
Henry's first phase of building at Hampton Court includes the construction of all the rooms required for operations of the kitchens, a Council Chamber and private rooms for himself

1529 Gardens at Hampton Court for Henry VIII
Plans are laid for the King's new gardens at Hampton Court including the Privy Garden, Pond Yard and Mount Garden

1530
King Henry VIII’s barge moors in the creek leading from the River Thames to Kew Pond

1532 Henry VIII rebuilds Great Hall at Hampton Court
Henry rebuilds the Great Hall at Hampton Court, the first in a sequence of rooms leading towards his private lodgings

1532 Privy Garden completed at Hampton Court
The Privy Garden at Hampton Court is completed and is divided up into squares by 180 posts topped with heraldic beasts and is said to resemble a chess board in red, white and green

1535 Henry VIII enhances chapel at Hampton Court
Henry modernises the Chapel at Hampton Court and adds the magnificent ceiling

1536 Water Gallery at Hampton Court
A Water Gallery, over 170ft long, is constructed and incorporates a landing stage for the King's Barge at Hampton Court with a Pleasure Gallery above

1536 Anne Boleyn executed
Henry VIII's queen, Anne Boleyn, is beheaded in the Tower of London on unsubstantiated charges of adultery

1536 A deer park for the navy
Henry VIII encloses land to the north of Hampton Court Palace as a deer park, and plants it with acorns to provide oak for the navy

1540 Astronomical clock at Hampton Court
Nicolas Oursian creates an astronomical clock for Henry VIII at Hampton Court

1566
The mathematician, astrologer and alchemist John Dee moves to a house in Mortlake on the site of the building now known as the Queen’s Head

1571
John Dee brings back from Lorraine a cartload of special instruments for alchemy, to be installed in his laboratory at Mortlake

1576 London gets its first theatre
James Burbage builds London's first theatre and calls it the Theatre

1579
Queen Elizabeth buys the lease of Barn Elms for her spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham

1583
John Dee sets off for six years of travel in Europe, during which his laboratory and library in Mortlake is plundered by former associates and rivals

1590 Water closet installed in Richmond
Queen Elizabeth I instals in Richmond Palace a flushing water closet (or toilet) recently invented by Sir John Harington

1591 Jane Lovell secure in Richmond
Queen Elizabeth I grants Jane Lovell, widow of John, the ongoing rights to his offices in Richmond Palace

1599 Globe built on Bankside
The Globe, where many of Shakespeare's plays are first performed, is built on Bankside in London

1603   March 23 Elizabeth I dies in Richmond palace
Queen Elizabeth I dies at the age of 69 in Richmond Palace

1604 Thorn bushes bestow their name on park
Bushy Park has by now acquired its familiar name, from the thorn bushes planted to protect the sapling oaks from the deer

1610
Sir Thomas Vavasour builds Ham House

1610
A 3 storey brick mansion set in 74 acres, later known as Cambridge Park, is built by Sir Humphrey Lynd.

1612 Baptist church in London
The establishment of a Baptist church in London is a defining moment for the Baptist sect within Christianity

1613 Globe burns during Shakespeare's last play
The Globe catches fire during a performance of Shakespeare's last play, Henry VIII

1616 Pocahontas a sensation in London
Pocahontas fascinates Londoners when she arrives with her husband to publicize Jamestown

1619
Dee’s house and estate are purchased by Francis Crane to establish the Mortlake Tapestry Works, with eighteen looms operated by Flemish weavers

1626
Ham House is expanded by William Murray, former ‘whipping boy’ to Charles I, and later created Earl of Dysart

1631 Samuel Fortrey builds house in Kew Gardens
Samuel Fortrey builds a house with gables, in the Dutch style, in what is now Kew Gardens.

1632 Van Dyck moves to London
Van Dyck moves to London and becomes portrait painter to the British court and aristocracy

1632
Charles I acquires Raphael’s cartoons for The Acts of the Apostles (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum), to be copied as tapestries in the workshops at Mortlake

1635 York Farm built for Andrew Pitcairne
York Farm, now known as York House, is built for Andrew Pitcarne, Groom of the Bedchamber of Charles I.

1638-1639 Longford River provides water for Hampton Court gardens
The Longford River is constructed to take water from the River Colne over Hounslow Heath to the Hampton Court Parks to supply water to the gardens.

1642 King leaves London
Charles I leaves London and heads for the north of England, where his support is the strongest

1642 King marches on London
Charles I marches to within a few miles of Westminster (to Turnham Green), but withdraws without engaging the enemy

1649
Ham House is inherited by William Murray’s daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband, Sir Lyonel (later Earl) Tollemache

1649 Parliament sells royal estates
After the execution of Charles I, Parliament sets about selling the royal estates to raise funds

1649 Charles I beheaded
Charles I is beheaded on a scaffold erected in the street in London's Whitehall

1649 Parliament abolishes monarchy
Parliament in London abolishes the monarchy in England, as 'unnecessary, burdensome, and dangerous'

1650 Richmond Palace is sold in several lots
Richmond Palace is sold, probably as several lots, and within a year the stones and bricks are being carted off by builders for use elsewhere

1650 Anne Bradstreet is published in London
The poems of Massachusetts author Anne Bradstreet are published in London under the title The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America

1652 London's first coffee house
The first coffee house opens In London and Londoners soon find such places useful to meet in and do business

1656
Pitcarne dies in 1640 and York House is eventually sold by his family to the Earl of Manchester.

1660 Monck to the rescue
General George Monck marches south from Scotland to London, to intervene in England's unresolved political crisis

1660 Long Parliament dissolved
Monck, reaching London, dissolves the Long Parliament and convenes a new one

1660 Monarchy restored in England
Charles II lands at Dover and is given a warm welcome in London four days later

1661 York House bought by Earl of Clarendon
York House is bought by Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, Lord Chancellor to Charles II.

1662 Long Water constructed at Hampton Court
The Long Water at Hampton Court (3800 ft long), supplied by the Longford River, is constructed flanked by avenues of Dutch limes aligned on the Queen's Drawing Room and a semi-circular canal at the East Front

1662 Royal Society founded in London
An academy of English scientists is given a royal charter by Charles II and becomes the Royal Society

1663 Edward Proger builds house
Bushy House is built by Edward Proger, in the royal enclosure now known as Bushy Park, by order of Charles II

1665 Blood transfusion works - on dogs
The first recorded attempt at blood transfusion, at the Royal Society in London, proves that the idea is feasible

1665 Plague kills Londoners
The Great Plague of London causes as many as 7000 deaths in a week and perhaps a total of 100,000 by the end of the year

1666 Fire destroys London
The Great Fire of London rages for four days, destroying 13,200 houses and 81 churches

1671
Elizabeth Tollemache, now a widow and owner of Ham House, marries the Earl (later Duke) of Lauderdale, member of the Cabal that ruled England under Charles II

1673 Radnor House is built
The house, later known as Radnor House, is built, probably by John Hooker.

1675 The house of West Hall is built for let
The house of West Hall is built for let, probably by Thomas Juxon, lord of the manor, to be followed by the house of Brick Farm

1677 Wren completes Monument to commemorate Fire
Wren completes Monument to commemorate Fire

1679 Tower of St Mary's Church rebuilt
The tower of St Mary's Church is rebuilt in red brick, replacing one of flint and stone

1680 Whitton Park is formed
A private estate on the West Field corner of Hounslow Heath comprising 12 acres of land and a substantial house becomes known as Whitton Park.

1688 John Bunyan dies
John Bunyan dies during a preaching visit to London, and is buried in the Nonconformist cemetery, Bunhill Fields

1688 Willliam III marches on London
William III of Orange lands with an army at Torbay and marches to London with almost no opposition from supporters of James II

1689-1694 William and Mary modernize Hampton Court
William III and Mary II embark on extensive work at Hampton Court including demolition of the old Royal lodgings and building of new South and East Fronts around a new quadrangle, the Fountain Court

1689 Great Fountain Garden at Hampton Court
The Great Fountain Garden at Hampton Court, occupying the semi-circle of land between the East Front and the park, is designed with 13 fountains powered by the Longford River

1689 Great Fountain at Hampton Court
The Great Fountain Garden at Hampton Court, occupying the semi-circle of land between the East Front and the park, is designed with 13 fountains powered by the Longford River

1694 Work at Hampton Court suspended for three years
Mary II dies of smallpox and building work at Hampton Court is suspended for 3 years due to William's grief and also for financial reasons due to the enormous expenditure

1694 Barn Elms is demolished by Thomas Cartwright
Barn Elms is demolished by Thomas Cartwright, who replaces it with a country house in a contemporary style.

1695 New Privy Garden at Hampton Court
The new Privy Garden at Hampton Court is built (the Mount had previously been levelled) including a new elm bower and a new Great Parterre of complex design and an Orangery

1698 Tollemache family inherit Ham House
On the death of Elizabeth, Duchess of Lauderdale, Ham House is inherited by her Tollemache descendants who manage the estate for the next 250 years

1699 Grinling Gibbons works in King's Appartments at Hampton Court
Grinling Gibbons begins work on carving decorative features and architectural mouldings in the King's Appartments at Hampton Court

1699 Christopher Wren design for avenue
The Chestnut Avenue through Bushy Park is laid out for William III to a design by Sir Christopher Wren

1700 Banqueting House at Hampton Court
The Banqueting House at Hampton Court is built with carving by Grinling Gibbons and a painted interior which is the work, at least in part, of Antonio Verrio

1700 Milbourne House is largely rebuilt
The original medieval Milbourne House is largely rebuilt

1703 Work begins on Trumpeters' House
Work begins on a house for Richard Hill, brother of Queen Anne's confidante Mrs Masham, which is named for two stone trumpeters either side of the portico

1703
The Mortlake Tapestry workshops are closed

1709 Kneller rebuilds Whitton Hall, later known as Kneller Hall.
Sir Godfrey Kneller buys and demolishes an earlier house and builds a new house, Whitton Hall, which is later known as Kneller Hall, on the site.

1710 New St Paul's completed
Christopher Wren's new domed St Paul's cathedral is completed in London

1710
James Johnston, Secretary of State for Scotland, commissions John James to design his new house, to become known later as Orleans House.

1711 Handel brings Italian opera to London
Handel's success in London with his opera Rinaldo prompts him to settle in Britain

1713 Parts of St Mary's Church collapses
Nave and chancel of St Mary's Church collapse leaving only the fifteenth-century tower, itself the survivor of an earlier building.

1713 Edward Proger dies
Edward Proger dies in Bushy House at the age of 96

1713 Diana fountain in round pond
The Diana or Arethusa Fountain, decorated with bronze sculptures by Hubert Le Sueur, is placed in the centre of the round pond in Bushy Park

1714 Fist St Anne's church on Kew Green
The first St Anne's church is built on Kew Green.

1715
John Campbell, Duke of Argyll, defeats the Old Pretender’s troops at the battle of Sherrifmuir, for which he is rewarded with an estate in Petersham, carved out of Richmond Park

1718
The Octagon, a garden pavilion designed by James Gibbs, is added to Orleans House.

1719 Alexander Pope moves to Twickenham
Alexander Pope comes to live in Twickenham and leases some riverside land with several small cottages.

1720s
In the Duke of Argyll's Petersham estate James Gibbs builds the Palladian villa of Sudbrook Park, with a famous cube room

1720 The Limes is built
The Limes is built, at 123 Mortlake High Street

1720
Pope builds a villa, in the Palladian style.

1722
Whitton Park is bought by Archibald Campbell, Lord Ilay, later third Duke of Argyll.

1722
John Robartes, later fourth Earl of Radnor, leases Radnor House.

1722
Thomas Twining 1 buys a property next to St Mary's Church and redevelops the building which becomes known as Dial House.

1723
Sir Godfrey Kneller dies and leaves Kneller Hall to his widow Susannah.

1724 Maids of Honour Row
Work starts on Maids of Honour Row, four magnificent houses commissioned as lodgings for the ladies-in-waiting to the Princess of Wales

1724 Construction of Marble Hill House begins
The building of Marble Hill House begins on land acquired for Henrietta Howard (1688-1767) by Archibald Campbell, Earl of Ilay (later third Duke of Argyll)

1724
Whitton Park is extended to 26 acres and planted with exotic trees and shrubs.

1725
An aviary and a 'Green House' designed by James Gibbs are built in Whitton Park.

1725
Pope constructs a tunnel under the road, Cross Deep, connecting riverside Pope's Villa with 5 acres of land, and he decorates the cellars of his villa and the tunnel to create a grotto.

1726 North aisle of St Mary's Church
North aisle of St Mary's Church is built, with vaults beneath, and school room (earlier building for Hampton School) and vestry room attached

1726
The original vertical sundial is affixed to the centre of the front of Dial House.

1728 Queen Caroline leases 'Dutch House'
Queen Caroline leases 'the Dutch House' while her husband, George II, is extending Richmond Gardens.

1729 Marble Hill House is completed
The building of Marble Hill House is completed. The house is designed in the Palladian style and built under the supervision of Roger Morris. The grounds are laid out by Charles Bridgeman.

1729
Lady Kneller dies and Kneller Hall passes to Sir Godfrey Kneller's grandson.

1731 Prince Frederick moves to Kew
Frederick, Prince of Wales, buys Kew Park, which with 19 acres is the only large estate in Kew not yet bought or leased by his parents.

1732
Frederick Prince of Wales takes a lease of a house at the west end of Kew Green opposite Kew Palace and instructs William Kent to remodel it. It becomes known as the White House.

1733
Pope adds a portico to Pope's Villa to the design of William Kent.

1734-1735 Prince Frederick acquires trees and shrubs for Kew
Prince Frederick spends nearly £1000 on trees and shrubs, acquired from the local nurseryman Richard Butt for his estate in Kew

1735
A Palladian villa designed by Roger Morris is built in the eastern quarter of Whitton Park, and this new house becomes known as Whitton Place.

1737 Prince Frederick marries Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
Prince Frederick marries Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, and together they develop an increasing interest in botany and their gardens in Kew

1738 Star and Garter tavern is built
John Christopher builds the ‘Star and Garter’ tavern at the top of Petersham Common

1740 Boxing academy opens in London
Jack Broughton, champion of England, opens an academy to teach 'the mystery of boxing, that wholly British art'

1741
John Robartes extends and remodels Radnor House in the gothic style.

1742
Grove House is built in Ham Street, Ham

1742
Charity schools, one for boys and one for girls, are opened briefly on Kew Green, supported by local subscribers led by Prince Frederick

1744
Churchwardens of St Mary's, Sir Godfrey Kneller and Thomas Vernon, raise funds and the church is rebuilt in red brick to a design of John James.

1744
Alexander Pope is buried in St Mary's Church.

1744
Alexander Pope dies and Pope's Villa and grounds are bought by Sir William Stanhope.

1747 Horace Walpole rents Chopp'd Straw Hall
Horace Walpole rents a small house, known locally as Chopp'd Straw Hall, with 5 acres of land.

1747
Cambridge Park is enlarged by Martha Ashe the property having been in the Ashe family since 1657.

1749 Horace Walpole buys Chopp'd Straw Hall
Walpole buys the house and grounds which the deeds call Strawberry Hill.

1750 Horace Walpole begins Strawberry Hill
Horace Walpole begins to create his own Strawberry Hill, a neo-Gothic fantasy, on the banks of the Thames west of London

1750-97 Walpole begins to create Strawberry Hill
Horace Walpole forms a 'Committee of Taste' with friends John Chute and Richard Bentley, and creates his 'little Gothic castle' over the next 50 years, giving rise to the style 'Strawberry Hill Gothic'.

1750 A bridge is opened at Westminster
A bridge is opened at Westminster

1751
Richard Owen Cambridge, after whom the house is named, buys Cambridge Park.

1753 Library and Refectory at Stawberry Hill
Walpole adds the library and refectory or great parlour to Strawberry Hill.

1753 First Hampton Court Bridge
The first, highly decorative, Hampton Court Bridge with seven steep sided arches opens and replaces the ferry and the ford used in the drier season

1754 David Garrick leases a villa in Hampton
David Garrick, famous Shakespearian actor, leases and then buys what was known as Hampton House, now Garrick's Villa, as a country retreat and place to entertain friends

1754
Richard Hoare moves into Barn Elms, beginning a long period of close involvement of the famous banking family in the affairs of Barnes

1755-1756 Garrick's Temple is built
Garrick's Temple, designer unknown but possibly modelled on Lord Burlington's temple at Chiswick House, is built by David Garrick to entertain friends and house his Shakespeare mementos

1757 Walpole founds Strawberry Hill Press
Walpole founds a printing press, the Strawberry Hill Press.

1757 Botanical gardens established at Kew
After the death of Prince Frederick in 1751, his widow Princess Augusta establishes the botanical gardens at Kew.

1757
John Robartes dies and Radnor House passes through various ownerships.

1758 Reynolds fashionable in London
Joshua Reynolds, by now the most fashionable portrait painter in London, copes with as many as 150 sitters in a year

1758 Garrick commissions a statue of Shakespeare
Garrick commissions from Roubiliac a statue of Shakespeare for a large niche in the Temple at Hampton. The original is now in the British Museum and an exact is replica in Garrick's Temple

1758
Stanhope remodels and extends Pope's Villa.

1758 Stubbs moves to London
Liverpool-born artist George Stubbs sets up in London as a painter, above all, of people and horses

1759
The first (wooden) toll bridge at Kew, built by Robert Tunstall, is inaugurated by the Prince of Wales (later George III).. At this time it is the only bridge between Fulham and Kingston

1760 Asgill House built
Asgill House, designed by Robert Taylor, is completed for Sir Charles Asgill, recently the Lord Mayor of London (1757-8)

1760 Garrick opens new theatre in Richmond
A new theatre opens in Richmond, with a prologue written for the occasion by David Garrick

1760-61 Gallery and Round Tower at Strawberry Hill
Walpole adds the Gallery, round tower, great cloister and cabinet to Strawberry Hill.

1760 Hampton Court ceases to be royal dwelling
Hampton Court is effectively abandoned by George III as a Royal dwelling and gradually becomes occupied by "Grace and Favour" residents

1761 Orangery completed in Kew Gardens
Designed by Sir William Chambers, the Orangery in Kew Gardens is completed. It bears the arms of Princess Augusta, for whom it was built, and her husband Prince Frederick.

1762 England has its own Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach's youngest son, Johann Christian, moves to London and becomes known as the English Bach

1762 Pagoda completed in Kew Gardens
The Pagoda, designed by Sir William Chambers, is completed in Kew Gardens. The roofs are covered with varnished iron plates and there are 80 carved golden dragons on the corners of the roofs

1763
Elliot Bishop buys the 8-acre estate in the south east corner of Ham Common (the site of the future Cassel Hospital)

1763 Boswell meets Johnson
James Boswell meets Samuel Johnson for the first time, in the London bookshop of Thomas Davies

1763
Some of Whitton Park's finest specimen trees and shrubs are transferred to the newly created botanical gardens at Kew.

1763 Benjamin West moves to London
American artist Benjamin West settles in London, where he becomes famous for his large-scale history scenes

1765
The first mention of brewing in Mortlake describes two small adjacent breweries, in separate ownership, occupying between them about two acres

1766
George Gostling buys Whitton Park, converts the greenhouse to a mansion and divides the estate, selling or leasing Whitton Place.

1767 Earl of Buckinghamshire inherits Marble Hill
Lady Suffolk dies and the Marble Hill estate passes to her nephew the Earl of Buckinghamshire. He lives occasionally in the house but also rents it out.

1768 Britain's Royal Academy
The Royal Academy is established in London, with Joshua Reynolds as its first president

1769 Robert Mylne completes his new bridge at Blackfriars
Robert Mylne completes his new bridge at Blackfriars

1770 Great North Bedchamber at Strawberry Hill
Walpole adds the Great North Bedchamber to Strawberry Hill.

1770 Boy poet's suicide
17-year-old Thomas Chatterton, later hailed as a significant poet, commits suicide in a London garret

1770 Church on Kew Green greatly enlarged
King George III pays for the church on Kew Green to be greatly enlarged. It is expanded again in 1810 and further additions are made in later years.

1773 Stock Exchange in coffee house
The London brokers who meet to do business in Jonathan's coffee house decide to call themselves the Stock Exchange

1773 She Stoops to Conquer
Oliver Goldsmith's play She Stoops to Conquer is produced in London's Covent Garden theatre

1774   April Richmond tontine launched
A tontine is launched in Richmond to raise money for the construction of a bridge across the Thames

1774 Gainsborough moves to London
Thomas Gainsborough moves from Bath to set up a studio in London

1775 Copley settles in London
John Singleton Copley, already established as America's greatest portrait painter, moves to London

1776 Beauclerk Tower at Strawberry Hill
Walpole adds the Beauclerk Tower and hexagonal closet to Strawberry Hill.

1777   January Richmond Bridge opens to traffic
Richmond Bridge, designed by James Paine and Kenton Couse, opens to traffic (and is now the oldest bridge in London)

1777 School for Scandal
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's second play, The School for Scandal, is an immediate success in London's Drury Lane theatre

1777
Samual Prime inherits Kneller Hall from his father, Sir Samuel Prime, and enlarges the house and estate.

1778 Second Hampton Court Bridge
The second wooden Hampton Court Bridge, of sturdier construction than the first bridge, opens and is 350 feet long, 18 feet wide, and has ten arches raised on piles

1779 London Bridge at risk from waterworks blaze
London Bridge at risk from waterworks blaze

1779 Royal Naval Hospital at Greenwich damaged
The Royal Naval Hospital at Greenwich is damaged in a fire

1780
Elizabeth, Countess of Pembroke, rents Hill Lodge (formerly the mole catcher’s cottage) from Thomas Hill, the gamekeeper of Richmond Park.

1780 Gordon riots terrorize London
Six days of riot in London are triggered by Lord George Gordon leading a march to oppose any degree of Catholic emancipation

1780
The Taylor family inherit the manor of East Sheen and West Hall, and move into Brick Farm

1781 George III makes 'Dutch House' a family home
George III makes the 'Dutch house' in Kew Gardens the private home for his family.

1782 Mrs Siddons triumphs at Drury Lane
The English actress Sarah Siddons, already well known in the province, causes a sensation when she appears in London at Drury Lane

1784 Mail coach leaves Bristol
The first mail coach leaves Bristol for London, introducing a new era of faster transport

1787 Londoners aim to abolish slave trade
The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade is founded in London, with a strong Quaker influence

1788 Gainsborough buried in Kew
Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) is buried in St Anne's churchyard in Kew.

1789
Robert Tunstall builds a replacement stone bridge at Kew, designed by James Paine. It is opened by King George III driving over ‘with a great concourse of carriages’

1790 Haydn heads for London
Joseph Haydn sets off for England, where impresario Johann Peter Salomon presents his London symphonies

1791
After centuries as a chapel of Kingston, and 22 years in which it shared a parish with Kew, St Peter’s is established as a parish in its own right.

1791 The Albion Mills burn
London's Albion Mills burn

1793 Henrietta Hotham inherits Marble Hill
Lord Buckingham dies and the Marble Hill estate passes to Lady Suffolk's great niece Henrietta Hotham. She lives in the house briefly and then rents it out, living some of the time in Little Marble Hill, a house built in the grounds.

1796
York House has various owners and tenants, being bought by Count, later Prince, Starhemberg, Austrian Ambassador who instals a private chapel.

1797 Walpole dies, leaving Strawberry Hill to his niece
Horace Walpole dies and the Strawberry Hill estate is left to his niece, Anne Seymour Damer, a well-known sculptress, for her lifetime.

1797 Duke of Clarence and Dora Jordan in Bushy House
The king's son, William, Duke of Clarence, becomes Keeper (or Ranger) of Bushy Park and establishes his mistress, the actress Dora Jordan, in Bushy House

1797
George Gostling II inherits Whitton Park and commisions Humphrey Repton to landscape the grounds.

1798
Captain George Vancouver, who discovered Vancouver Island and retired to live in Petersham, is buried in St Peter’s

1798 Mary born to Dora and Duke of Clarence
Dora gives birth in Bushy House to Mary, the first of seven children of the Duke of Clarence to be born in the house in the following nine years

1799
The Queen’s Head pub is built in the orchard of John Dee’s house

1800 Telford proposes a bold new London Bridge
Telford proposes a bold new London Bridge

1800 First electric battery
Italian physicist Alessandro Volta describes to the Royal Society in London how his 'pile' of discs can produce electric current

1802
The family of John Henry Newman (later Cardinal Newman) move to Grove House (now Grey Court House), where they stay for five years

1802
King George III has the White House at Kew demolished and instructs James Wyatt to build a castellated palace by the river, which was never completed.

1803 A horse-drawn railroad opens between Wandsworth and Croydon
A horse-drawn railroad opens between Wandsworth and Croydon

1803 Trevithick demonstrates steam carriage in London
Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick drives a steam carriage in London, from Holborn to Paddington and back

1803 Star and Garter established
James Brewer doubles the site and establishes the Star and Garter as a major hotel

1807 Turner buys plot in Twickenham
J M W Turner, the artist, buys a plot of land in Twickenham. The site is bounded by what are now Sandycombe Road and St Margaret's Road. Turner also buys a separate plot nearby.

1807
Baroness Howe acquires Pope's Villa.

1808
Baroness Howe demolishes Pope's Villa, earning herself the sobriquet Queen of the Goths, and builds a new house next door. The demolition is recorded by J M W Turner in his painting 'Pope's Villa at Twickenham'.

1809 The destruction of Drury Lane Theatre lights up the night sky
The destruction of Drury Lane Theatre lights up the night sky

1810 Waldegrave family inherit Strawberry Hill
Mrs Daymer finds Strawberry Hill too expensive to keep up and relinquishes the estate to the eventual heir, Laura Countess of Waldegrave, the grand-daughter of Horace Walpole's brother Edward.

1810 Zoffany buried in Kew
Johann Zoffany (1733-1810) is buried in St Anne's churchyard in Kew.

1811
Mortlake’s two small breweries merge as a single business

1811 Dora Jordan leaves Bushy House
Dora Jordan is forced to leave Bushy House after being abandoned by her royal lover, the Duke of Clarence

1812
Augustus Welby Pugin is born in London, the son of the architectural illustrator Augustus Charles Pugin

1812 Today's Drury Lane Theatre opens
Today's Drury Lane Theatre opens

1812 Turner builds Sandycombe Lodge
Turner completes the building of his villa. Initially called Solus Lodge, the name is changed to Sandycombe Lodge a year later.

1813 Asgill House copper beech planted
A copper beech is planted in the garden of Asgill House, which survives into the twenty-first century in good health and at a magnificent size

1813 Fry campaigns for women prisoners
Quaker philanthopist Elizabeth Fry, appalled by the condition of female prisoners in London's Newgate gaol, begins campaigning on their behalf

1814 London has its last frost fair
A cold February freezes the Thames and makes possible the last of London's famous frost fairs

1814 The Custom House burns, just upstream of the Tower of London
The Custom House burns, just upstream of the Tower of London

1815
Louis Philippe, Duc D'Orléans rents during his exile the house in Twickenham that becomes known as Orleans House.

1816 Marble Hill estate is sold
Henrietta Hotham dies and the Marble Hill estate is sold to Timothy Brent then living at Little Marble Hill. The house subsequently has a number of owners.

1816 London's first iron bridge is completed at Vauxhall
London's first iron bridge is completed at Vauxhall

1817 John Rennie's new bridge commemorates a recent victory
John Rennie's new bridge commemorates a recent victory, over Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815

1818 'Dutch House' in Kew Gardens is closed
Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, dies and the 'Dutch house' in Kew Gardens is closed.

1819
Kew bridge is sold to George Robinson for £22,000

1819 John Rennie completes a cast-iron bridge with the world's longest span
John Rennie completes a cast-iron bridge with the world's longest span, crossing the Thames at Vauxhall

1820 Constable moves to Hampstead
English painter John Constable acquires a house in Hampstead, a region of London that features frequently in his work

1821 Kean gives snuff box to admirer
Edmund Kean gives his snuff box to an admirer, as a souvenir of his Richard III

1822 Star and Garter fashionable
Under Joseph Ellis the Star and Garter hotel expands still further to become the fashionable watering place for royalty and literary figures, including later in the century Dickens and Thackeray

1823
By an Act of Parliament George IV encloses the western end of Kew Green up to the present Ferry Lane and closes the road across the Green.

1823 Roubiliac statue of Shakespeare in British Museum
After the death of Eva Garrick, David Garrick's widow, in 1822 the contents of Garrick's Villa are auctioned and the Roubiliac statue from the Temple goes to the British Museum

1824
George IV lays the foundation stone for a school on the north east side of Kew Green and gives £300 on condition that the school be called the King’s Free School. Later Queen Victoria permits the school to be called The Queen’s School.

1824
The King’s Free School is established in a small Gothic building near the pond, with George IV as a major subscriber

1824
The Cambridge Park estate is divided and Meadowbank is built in the southern part.

1824 Dickens blacks boots
12-year-old Charles Dickens works in London in Warren's boot-blacking factory

1825 Plans are made for another horse-drawn railroad
Plans are made for a horse-drawn railroad into the East India Docks, but it is not built

1825 Younger brother of Peel buys Marble Hill
Jonathan Peel, younger brother of Sir Robert Peel, buys Marble Hill. He lives here until his death in 1879 and his widow stays on until her death in 1887.

1825-1828 New bridge at Kingston authorised
An act of 1825 authorises the building of a new Kingston Bridge, fifty yards upstream, which is designed by Edward Lapidge

1826   June 19 Turner sells Sandycombe Lodge
Turner sells Sandycombe Lodge after his father moves to Turner's central London house in Queen Anne Street. The buyer is Joseph Todd, a retired haberdasher of Clapham, who pays £500.

1826 Weber's Oberon
Carl Maria von Weber's opera Oberon has its premiere (in London, at Covent Garden)

18267
J.M.W. Turner paints two views of the terrace at Mortlake belonging to the Limes, for its owner William Moffatt

1827
William Cobbett leases the Home Farm of the Barn Elms estate

1827 London's first suspension bridge opens at Hammersmith
London's first suspension bridge opens at Hammersmith

182731
William Cobbett engages in experimental farming methods on the Barn Elms farm, and the publicity generated by his activities causes it to become known as Cobbett’s Farm

1828 Kingston Bridge opened
The new Kingston Bridge is opened by the Duchess of Clarence on 17 July 1828 and the new approach road is named Clarence Street in her honour

1829 'Bobbies' in London
The Metropolitan Police, set up in London by Robert Peel, become known as 'bobbies' from his first name

1829-1830 Old St Mary's Church demolished
Old St Mary's Church is demolished but many monuments are transferred to a new Church on the same site and the vaults continue to be used under the new building

1831 Kean takes lease on Richmond theatre
Edmund Kean takes a lease on the theatre and acts here until his death in 1833

1831 Old London Bridge demolished
Old London Bridge is demolished after more than six centuries, ending the chance of frost fairs on the Thames

1831 New St Mary's Church iin Hampton
New St Mary's Church opens, designed by Edward Lapidge, in white brick with stone dressings in Gothic revival style and with sqare pinnacled tower at the west end

1831 St John's Church completed in Hampton Wick
The Church of St John's, dedicated to St John the Baptist and designed by Edward Lapidge, is completed in Hampton Wick

1832 Mendelssohn's Fingal's Cave
Mendelssohn's concert overture The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) has its premiere in London's Covent Garden

1832 Britain suffers first cholera epidemic
Britain suffers first cholera epidemic

1833
Edward Collins buys the Richmond Friary Site, stretching to the river Thames and St Helena Wharf

1833 Brunel joins Great Western railway
27-year-old Isambard Kingdom Brunel wins his first major appointment, as chief engineer to the Great Western railway

1833 Robert Stephenson joins London Birmingham railway
30-year-old Robert Stephenson is appointed chief engineer to the London and Birmingham railway

1834 New parish of St John's in Hampton Wick
St John's, originally a daughter-chapel of St Mary's Hampton, is declared an independent parish and the chapel is given the status of a Church

1834 Parliament burns in London
In London a great fire destroys most of the Palace of Westminster, including the two houses of parliament

1835
Edward Collins builds ten brick-arch boathouses on St Helena Wharf in Richmond, replacing the previous wooden boatsheds

1835
The St Helena Boathouses are mostly let to the three major Richmond lightermen families of Downs, Jackson and Wheeler, for storage of freight and coal

1835 St Helena Terrace is built beside Thames
St Helena Terrace is built beside the Thames, on land sold by the Crown in 1833

1835
Henry Bevan buys Cambridge Park with 30 acres of land and enlarges the mansion which becomes known as Cambridge House.

1836 The London to Greenwich railway opens
The London to Greenwich railway opens

1837
William IV returns a small section of the Green to the inhabitants of Kew.

1837 Euston Station opens for business on the London and Birmingham railway
Euston Station opens for business on the London and Birmingham railway

1837 Barry begins Houses of Parliament
Work begins on Charles Barry's spectacular design for London's new Houses of Parliament

1837
The King's Free School in Kew, changing its name by now according to the sex of the sovereign, becomes the Queen's Free School

1837
The Taylor estate of East Sheen and West Hall passes to the Leyborne-Pophams of Littlecote in Wiltshire

1837 London to Birmingham railway
The first trains run between London and Birmingham on the railway designed by Robert Stephenson

1838 A terminus is built at Paddington for the Great Western railway
A terminus is built at Paddington for the Great Western railway

1838 Hampton Court opened to public
Queen Victoria opens Hampton Court Palace to the public

1838 Kicking and biting disallowed in boxing
The London Prize Ring rules disallow kicking, gouging, head-butting and biting in the sport of boxing

1838
The Public Records Act creates the Public Record Office with headquarters in existing buildings on the Rolls Estate in Chancery Lane, in the City of London

1838 The Royal Exchange, rebuilt after the Great Fire, burns down again
The Royal Exchange, rebuilt after the Great Fire, burns down again

1839
Charles Dickens rents Elm Cottage (later Elm Lodge) in Petersham, while working on Nicholas Nickleby

1839 The London and Croydon railway links with the Greenwich railway
The London and Croydon railway links with the Greenwich railway

1840
St Peter’s, in Petersham, is almost doubled in size, with new galleries and a much enlarged south transept

1840 Boathouses by Richmond Bridge
Four new boathouses are built by Richmond Bridge, to be occupied chiefly by the watermen families of the Chittys, the Peasleys and the Wheelers, for boat-hiring and boatbuilding.

1840
Strawberry Hill passes through the Waldegrave family to John, who marries Frances Braham in 1839, and on his early death to his brother George, the seventh Earl, who marries his brother's widow.

1840 Kew Gardens given to the nation
Queen Victoria gives Kew Gardens to the nation, as a botanic garden of scientific importance

1841-51
Sir William Hooker, the first Director of Kew Gardens, rents Brick Farm and re-names it West Park

1841 Fire demolishes the Armoury in the Tower
Fire demolishes the Armoury in the Tower

1842 32-day sale of contents of Strawberry Hill
The seventh Earl is heavily in debt and sells off the contents of Strawberry Hill. 'The Great Sale' starts on 25 April 1842 and last for 32 days raising over £33,000.

1842
Thomas Young, a tea merchant, builds a new house on the site of the original Pope's Villa.

1843 Topping's Wharf burns
Topping's Wharf burns

1844
Dr Weiss, soon to be followed by Dr Ellis, establishes a hydropathy clinic at Sudbrook Park, which runs for twenty years despite accusations of manslaughter when patients die following the cold water-treatment

1844 A new Royal Exchange opens
A new Royal Exchange opens

1844 Richard Turner to build Palm House
Richard Turner wins the government contract to build a great new glasshouse in Kew Gardens, the Palm House, with Decimus Burton acting as architectural consultant.

1844 YMCA founded
The Young Men's Christian Association is founded in London by British drapery assistant George Williams

1844
Louis Philippe, now King of France, visits Orleans House during a royal visit to Britain.

1845 Sewers are enlarged to carry waste to the Thames
Sewers are enlarged to carry waste to the Thames

1845 Brunel's suspension bridge serves Hungerford market
Brunel's suspension bridge serves Hungerford market

1845-1885 Botanic gardens begin period of steady enlargement
Under Sir William Hooker (director 1845--65) and his son Sir Joseph Hooker (director 1865--85) the botanic gardens are greatly increased in size, prestige and scientific excellence.

1846 April
Work begins on a station at Barnes, which is now the only survivor of the five original stations on the new railway line from Nine Elms to Richmond

1846 July22
The first train on the new London and South Western Railway line from Nine Elms passes through Barnes on its way to a rapturous arrival in Richmond, with a brass band and church bells ringing

1846/7
William Chillingworth, who bought Radnor House in 1842, substantially remodels it in the fashionable Italianate style.

1847
Queen Victoria leases Pembroke Lodge, as a country retreat, to her Prime Minister, Lord John Russell

1847
Frances, Lady Waldegrave, inherits Strawberry Hill on her husband's death in 1846, marries George Granville Harcourt, an elderly Liberal MP, and establishes herself as a leading Liberal hostess.

1847 Communist League founded in London
At a congress in London Engels persuades a group of radical Germans to adopt the name Communist League

1847
Kneller Hall is bought by the Committee of the Privy Council for Education. The house is largely demolished and rebuilt with nothing remaining of Kneller's original house.

1848 Metternich stays in Trumpeters' House
Metternich and his family leave Vienna, in this year of revolutions, and live in Trumpeters' House until October 1849

1848 First railway bridge across the Thames
Richmond's railway bridge, the first to cross the Thames, is built to continue the line on towards Windsor

1848 Palm House completed
The Palm House, today "the world's most important surviving Victorian glass and iron structure" is completed. Although originally told to hide it among trees, Kew's director William Hooker succeeds in placing it in a prominent position, thanks to support from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

1849 Albert supports Great Exhibition
Prince Albert is the driving force behind the plans for a Great Exhibition in London

1849 Hilditch paints in Richmond
Local painter and photographer George Hilditch sets up his easel under Richmond's new railway bridge

1849 Marx settles in London
Expelled from Germany after the year of revolutions, Marx makes his home in tolerant London

1850
Whitton Place is demolished and the grounds are rejoined with Whitton Park.

1850
The Kneller Hall Training School for the Teaching of Pauper and Criminal Children opens with Dr Frederick Temple as Principal.

1851
Lord and Lady Russell of Pembroke Lodge found the Russell School in Petersham

1851 Crystal Palace built in six months
Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace, built in London in six months, is the world's first example of prefabricated architecture

1851 George Eliot moves to London
Marian Evans (her new spelling of her name) moves to London and gets a job as subeditor of Westminster Review

1851
In London's Great Exhibition numerous examples of Pugin's designs and craftsmanship are displayed by different exhibitors

1851 Six million visitors to Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition attracts six million visitors to London's new Crystal Palace in a period of only six months

1852
After the establishment of the Royal Botanical Gardens, a library and herbarium is opened at Hunter’s House on north-west side of Kew Green.

1852 Metropolis Water Act passed
The first Metropolis Water Act is passed which forbids the taking of water by the water companies from the tidal Thames and this leads to the establishment of what was to become Hampton Waterworks

1852 Victoria opens new House of Parliament
Queen Victoria opens the new Houses of Parliament, designed by Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Pugin

1852
The church of St Mary Magdalen in Mortlake, designed in Gothic style by Gilbert Blount, is completed

1852
The Mortlake brewery, after passing through several hands, is acquired by the Phillips family

1852 Roget's Thesaurus
London physician Peter Mark Roget publishes his dictionary of synonyms, the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases

1854 The Fleet sewer is in need of repair
The Fleet sewer is in need of repair

1854 Herzen moves to Richmond
The Russian revolutionary and exile Alexander Herzen spends much of this year in St Helena Terrace before moving to Twickenham

1854 John Snow links cholera and water
English physician John Snow proves that cholera is spread by infected water (from a pump in London's Broad Street)

1854 Russell of The Times
A London editor decides to send a reporter, William Howard Russell ('Russell of The Times'), to the Crimean front

1855   April George Eliot moves to East Sheen
Calling themselves Mr and Mrs Lewes, Marian and George move into lodgings at 7 Clarence Row in East Sheen

1855   October 3 George Eliot moves into Parkshot
Marian Evans (George Eliot) and G.H. Lewes move into lodgings at 8 Parkshot in Richmond, with Mrs Croft as their landlady

1855-61 Strawberry Hill greatly enlarged
Frances restores and enlarges Strawberry Hill including the addition of the Waldegrave Drawing Room, spending in excess of £100,000.

1855 Hampton Waterworks established
By 1855 the Southwark and Vauxhall, the Grand Junction and the West Middlesex Water Companies have all established works at Hampton and these are now collectively known as Hampton Waterworks

1855 Christmas magazine with colour plates
The Christmas issue of the Illustrated London News includes chromolithographs, introducing the era of colour journalism

1856
The Kneller Hall Training School closes.

1857   October George Eliot begins Adam Bede
In the cramped sitting room that she shares as a study with Lewes, Marian Evans begins writing her first novel, Adam Bede

1857 Herzen and the Bell
Russian exile Alexander Herzen, publishes in London a radical newspaper called Kolokol (The Bell)

1857
The old Cromwell House is demolished and a new one, designed by Robert Philip Pope, is completed by June 1858

1857
Kneller Hall is bought by the War Department and reopened as the Military School of Music, later the Royal Military School of music.

1858
The first block of a new building for the Public Record Office is completed in Chancery Lane, City of London, with further extensions added 1868-1899

1858 London's Great Stink
The stench in central London, rising from the polluted Thames in a hot summer, creates what becomes known as the Great Stink

1858 Chelsea Bridge opens, designed by Thomas Page
Chelsea Bridge opens, designed by Thomas Page