The Lost Church Row

This is a sketch by Will Owen of the first of a number of beautiful old houses known as Church Row drawn before they were demolished in the 1930s. They extended from the Library to the old Parish Church, which he called 'a quaint old village church standing in an ancient graveyard and almost hidden by trees,' and continued '"It is a dull and uninteresting street, with here and there the decaying relic of a glorious old house and one Ancient Inn - "The Red Lion" - trying vainly to look young; and at the end comes a row of early eighteenth century houses, built of that rich red brick that grows richer with age, with pretty porches creeper-covered and this is Church Row."

From ' Old London Town ', by Will Owen, 1921,
a delightful little book of sketches and comments about London after the First World War.

The rear of the Church Road houses

Church Row and that 'The Red Lion' building, have both been demolished. In recent years the Conservation Area has preserved much of what was left.

The 1734 and 1814 maps