Visit Knightsbridge Places

Welcome to Visit Knightsbridge Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Knightsbridge

  

Knightsbridge Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Knightsbridge

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Knightsbridge history

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Knightsbridge was a hamlet located primarily in the parish of St Margaret (detached) and partly in St Martin in the Fields (the part that later became St George Hanover Square). It also extended into the parishes of Kensington and Chelsea. It was therefore divided between local authorities from a very early time. In the time of Edward I, the manor of Knightsbridge appertained to the abbey of Westminster. It was named after a crossing of the River Westbourne, which is now an underground river. It is recorded that the citizens of London met Matilda of England at the Knight’s Bridge in 1141. From 1885 to 1887, as a result of the opening of trade between Britain and the Far East, Humphreys’ Hall in Knightsbridge hosted an exhibition of Japanese culture in a setting built to resemble a traditional Japanese village. The exhibition was very popular, with over 250,000 visitors during its early months. Japanese artisans illustrated “the manners, customs and art-industries of their country, attired in their national and picturesque costumes. Magnificently decorated and illuminated Buddhist temple. Five o’clock tea in the Japanese tea-house. Japanese Musical and other Entertainments. Every-day Life as in Japan”. W. S. Gilbert and his wife attended the exhibition, which is said to have inspired him to write The Mikado. When the Mikado requests of Ko-Ko the address of his son (Nanki-Poo) after Ko-Ko tells the Mikado that Nanki-Poo has “gone abroad”, Ko-Ko replies that Nanki-Poo has gone to Knightsbridge.

Knightsbridge economy & business

Property

The district and the road itself, which is the only definitive place within it, is small, which assists its cachet: more than half of the zone closest to its tube station (and nearer to no others) is Knightsbridge Underground station. Knightsbridge had in its park side, east and west gold-coloured blocks of exceptional wealth in philanthropist Charles Booth’s late Victorian Poverty Map, formerly excluding Brompton Road to the west but extending well into Piccadilly, St James’s to the east. Knightsbridge is home to many of the world’s richest people and has some of the highest property prices in the world. In 2014 a terrace of 427m sold for £15,950,000, a home in Montpelier Square. The average asking price for all the properties in slightly wider SW7 was £4,348,911 (as at Autumn 2014). On-street parking spaces have sold for as much as £300,000 for a 94-year lease. Fourteen of Britain’s two hundred most expensive streets are in the neighbourhood, as defined by The Times. In February 2007, the world’s most expensive apartment at One Hyde Park, sold off plan for £100 million, bought by a Qatari prince, and another apartment at the same place in February 2009, at almost the same price, was bought by a Qatari prince. Apartments of this secure, optimum specification, address equate to in excess of £4,000 per square foot (£43,000 per square metre). In 2014, a 16,000 ft two-storey penthouse in One Hyde Park sold for £140 million. Land in Knightsbridge is for the most part identified by City of Westminster (and by the RBKC, where former Brompton parts are included) as strengthened planning law-governed Conservation Areas: ‘Albert Gate’, ‘Belgravia’, ‘Knightsbridge’ and ‘Knightsbridge Green’. Properties must be offered here by developers as refurbished flats or houses meeting the enhanced architectural demands in the local Conservation Areas policy of the Local Plan. Within each many buildings are covered by the similar but separate requirements of being listed. Growing demand has since 2000 persuaded the authority to revise its planning policies to permit roof terraces and basement extensions, for residential facilities from leisure suites to private nightclubs, a degree of economic liberalisation documented by a non-tabloid paper in 2008. The underlying landowners of the few streets making up, without any dispute, Knightsbridge are the Duke of Westminster, Lord Cadogan and the Wellcome Trust with a minority of the freeholds to houses in each street sold to others. Red-brick Queen Anne revival buildings form most of the Cadogan Estates, whereas white stucco-fronted houses are mostly found on the Grosvenor Estate, designed by architect Thomas Cubitt. The Brompton Oratory, a place of Catholic worship, marks one of the transitions into Kensington, but Belgravia and Brompton have competing mapped neighbourhood status in the east and south of the neighbourhood, and as they have no eponymously named tube stations or historic parish boundaries, their limits are arbitrary and the triangular salient of Brompton, administratively in Kensington, as part of South Kensington, once coloured mid-wealth by Charles Booth, is now blurred with ‘Knightsbridge’, into which it long projected. Brompton is only used when the postcode and/or Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is being emphasised, rather than the modern Central London ‘district’ definitions, which suggest Knightsbridge or South Kensington, either tube station, being at most 350 m away and thus can be easily found on all maps.

Knightsbridge toponymy

Knightsbridge was historically known in Saxon and Old English as Cnihtebricge (c. 1050); Knichtebrig (1235); Cnichtebrugge (13th century); and Knyghtesbrugg 1364, that is “bridge of the young men or retainers,” from Old English cniht (genitive case plural –a) and brycg. The original bridge was where one of the old roads to the west crossed the River Westbourne. The allusion may simply be to a place where cnihtas congregated: bridges and wells seem always to have been favourite gathering places of young people. Cniht in pre-Norman days did not have the status meaning of a minor noble, but simply described a youth. However, there is possibly a more specific reference to the important cnihtengild (‘guild of cnihtas‘) in 11th-century London and to the limits of its jurisdiction (certainly Knightsbridge was one of the limits of the commercial jurisdiction of the City in the 12th century). There is also the theory that the bridge may have been used by wealthy residents, the “knights and ladies” rather than the common folk, and that the area was used as a meeting place for local youths – where “knight” was a slang term for “lad”. Even the original name of the area has come under scrutiny with some arguing it was called Knightsbrigg while others believe it was Kynesbrigg.

Knightsbridge geography / climate

Knightsbridge is east of Exhibition Road and west of Sloane Street. Brompton Road, Beauchamp Place and the western section of Pont Street serve roughly as its southern border together with their adjacent gardens and squares such as Ovington Square, Lennox Gardens and Cadogan Square. South of this area, the district fades into Chelsea while Belgravia lies to the east and South Kensington to the west.

You can visit Knightsbridge places with Walkfo Knightsbridge to hear history at Knightsbridge’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Knightsbridge has 2895 places to visit in our interactive Knightsbridge map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Knightsbridge, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Knightsbridge places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Knightsbridge & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 2895 audio facts unique to Knightsbridge places in an interactive Knightsbridge map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Knightsbridge Places Map
2895 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Knightsbridge historic spots	Knightsbridge tourist destinations	Knightsbridge plaques	Knightsbridge geographic features
Walkfo Knightsbridge tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Knightsbridge

  

Best Knightsbridge places to visit

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Knightsbridge has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Knightsbridge’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Knightsbridge’s information audio spots:

Kronenburgerpark The Kronenburgerpark is a park in the center of Nijmegen . It is close to the Central Railway Station and the Lange Hezelstraat . It touches the Parkweg are the remains of the medieval walls with the Kruittoren (powder tower)

Great Pilgrimage The Great Pilgrimage of 1913 was a march in Britain by suffragists campaigning non-violently for women’s suffrage, organised by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). Women marched to London from all around England and Wales and 50,000 attended a rally in Hyde Park.

Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk is a 7-mile (11 km) long circular walking trail in central London, England, dedicated to the memory of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Royal Parks Half Marathon The Royal Parks Half Marathon, first held in 2008, takes place each October, starting and finishing in Hyde Park. It is the only half marathon that travels through central London and four of the Royal Parks and is one of London’s largest half marathons, with over 16,000 participants.

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October 1851. It was the first in a series of World’s Fairs, exhibitions of culture and industry that became popular in the 19th century. The event was organised by Henry Cole and by Prince Albert, husband of the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria. Famous people of the time attended the Great Exhibition, including Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Michael Faraday (who assisted with the planning and judging of exhibits), Samuel Colt, members of the Orléanist Royal Family and the writers Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, George Eliot, Alfred Tennyson and William Makepeace Thackeray. The opening music, under the superintendence of William Sterndale Bennett, was directed by Sir George Smart. The world’s first soft drink, Schweppes, was the official sponsor of the event.

Japanese Village, Knightsbridge The Japanese Village in Knightsbridge, London, was a late Victorian era exhibition of Japanese culture located in Humphreys’ Hall, which took place from January 1885 until June 1887. The exhibition employed around 100 Japanese men and women in a setting built to resemble a traditional Japanese village.

Bowater House Bowater House was a 17-floor office block at 68 Knightsbridge in London SW1, completed in 1958. The building occupied a site between Knightsbridge and South Carriage Road, at the southern edge of Hyde Park. It was demolished in 2006 and redeveloped by Candy & Candy to create One Hyde Park.

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End.

Bulgari Hotel and Residences The Bulgari Hotel and Residences is a luxury hotel in Knightsbridge, London. When it opened in 2012, it was the most expensive hotel in London.

Royal Cornwall Yacht Club Situated on the waterfront setting of the Greenbank area in Falmouth, the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club (RCYC) was formed in 1871, and is the 15th oldest “Royal” yacht club in England.

Visit Knightsbridge plaques