A plaque, erected
on a post in the church grounds, tells the passer-by:
Royal Borough of
Kensington and Chelsea
St. John's Church
was built in 1845 in the early English
Gothic style by John Hargrave Stevens and
George Alexander. This site on the summit
of Notting Hill had formerly been a view-
point for spectators at the centre of the
Hippodrome race course.
Wikipedia [visit link] tells
us about the race course:
"The Kensington Hippodrome was a racecourse built in Notting Hill,
London, in 1837, by entrepreneur John Whyte. Whyte leased 140 acres (0.57 km2)
of land from James Weller Ladbroke, owner of the Ladbroke Estate, and proceeded
to enclose "the slopes of Notting Hill and the meadows west of Westbourne Grove"
with a 7-foot (2.1 m) high wooden paling. Unfortunately, the race course was not
a financial success and it closed in 1842, the land being developed soon
afterwards, as Ladbroke began building crescents of houses on Whyte's former
race course.
Whyte's race course was an ambitious venture, his intention being to
build a rival to the well established race courses of Epsom and Ascot. On its
opening, The Times described it as a "disgusting...petty botheration" and cried
"shame upon the people of Kensington" for permitting it. Sporting magazine was
however more charitable, its correspondent describing the venture as "the most
perfect race-course I have ever seen", and as "an emporium even more extensive
and attractive than Ascot or Epsom."
The stables and paddocks were situated alongside Pottery Lane. The
Notting Hill grassy knoll (now surmounted by St John's church) was railed in as
a "natural grandstand", from which spectators could watch the
races.
Unfortunately, because the racetrack bordered on the "Potteries and
Piggeries" of Pottery Lane, (then a notorious slum known as "cut-throat lane")
the race meetings were easily accessed by some of the poorer inhabitants of the
neighbourhood. These were not the sort of customers that Whyte had in mind, and
The Times correspondent complained of "the dirty and dissolute vagabonds of
London, a more filthy and disgusting crew ...we have seldom had the misfortune
to encounter." A public footpath traversing the land enclosed by Whyte's fences
made it difficult to eject these less than appealing visitors, whose "villainous
activities" were a continual source of trouble.
Another serious problem was the heavy clay soil characteristic of the
neighbourhood (high quality clay was dug for brick making at nearby Pottery
Lane), making for poor drainage, as a consequence of which the training ground
became waterlogged and was unusable for long periods. From 1837 to 1842 just 13
meetings were held, with many jockeys refusing to take part, claiming that the
heavy clay ground made riding too dangerous.
Two stewards of the Hippodrome, Lord Chesterfield and Count D'Orsay,
attempted to improve the deteriorating image of the racecourse by changing its
name to "Victoria Park, Bayswater", but to no avail. The Kensington Vestry was
unimpressed, and petitioned Parliament for the closure of the
racecourse.
Whyte eventually moved the entry of the racecourse to comply with the
right of way, and promised free entry to the public on Sundays and "special
holidays". However, his financial position continued to deteriorate and in 1842
he gave up the struggle, and relinquished his lease back to James Weller
Ladbroke, who shortly thereafter resumed the development of the Ladbroke Estate,
building crescents of houses on Whyte's circular race
track."