d
westward was Little Chelsea, a small hamlet in fields, situated by
itself, quite detached from London, separated from it by the dreary
heath, that no man might cross with impunity after dark.

The Boltons is an oval piece of ground with St. Mary's Church in the
middle. The church was opened in 1851, and the interior is surprisingly
small in comparison with the exterior. It was fully restored about
twenty years after it had been built. The land had been for many years
the property of the Bolton family, whose name impressed itself on the
place.

Returning to the Fulham Road, and continuing westward, we pass the site
of an old manor-house, afterwards used as an orphanage; near it was an
additional building of the St. George's Union, which is opposite. There
is a tradition that Boyle, the philosopher, once occupied this
additional house, and was here visited by Locke. The present Union
stands on the site of Shaftesbury House, built about 1635, and bought by
the third Earl of Shaftesbury in 1699. Addison, who was a great friend
of the Earl's, often stayed with him in Shaftesbury House.

Redcliffe Gardens was formerly called Walnut-Tree Walk, another rural
reminiscence. At the eastern corner was Burleigh House, and an entry in
the Kensington registers, May 15, 1674, tells of the birth of "John
Cecill, son and heir of John, Lord Burleigh," in the parish. There is no
direct evidence to show that Lord Burleigh was then living in this
house, but the probability is that he was. To the east of this house
again was a row of others, with large gardens at the back; one was
Lochee's well-known military academy, and another, Heckfield Lodge, was
taken by the brothers of the Priory attached to the Roman Catholic
church, Our Lady of Seven Dolours, which faces the street. The greater
part of this church was built in 1876, but a very fine rectangular porch
with figures of saints in the niches, and a narthex in the same style,
were added later. The square tower with corner pinnacles is a
conspicuous object in the Fulham Road.

Among other important persons who lived at Little Chelsea in or about
Fulham Road were Sir Bartholomew Shower, a well-known lawyer, in 1693;
the Bishop of Gloucester (Edward Fowler), 1709; the Bishop of Chester
(Sir William Dawes), who afterwards became Archbishop of York; and Sir
Edward Ward, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, in 1697. It is odd to read of
a highway murder occurring near Little Chelsea in 1765. The b