Twickenham

Twickenham
Twickenham is a village in the London Region of Richmond upon Thames, situated south west of London. The suburb is famous for Twickenham Stadium which is the headquarters for the Rugby Football Union.

In the recent years many public houses and restaurants have opened up in the nearby stadium area. Twickenham is also popular for being the home of the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall. The village is also home to Harlequins.

Historically, the village was named Tuiccanham and Twittenham. The Twickenham provides many opportunities for recreation such as the York House Gardens, Marble Hill House and the Orleans House Gallery.

Geography
The town is surrounded on the south-eastern side by River Thames and Eel Pie Island. The land adjacent to the river, from Strawberry Hill in the south to Marble Hill Park in the north, is occupied by a combination of private houses, formal gardens, public houses and a newly built park and leisure facility.

Attractions
Marble Hill HouseMarble Hill is the last survivor of the elegant villas with beautiful gardens. This house was started in 1724 for the remarkable Henrietta Howard, mistress of King George II when he was Prince of Wales. This house and surrounding gardens was planned by experts.

The villa is set on 66 acres of land near a riverside. The villa has a fine collection of early Georgian paintings, including portraits of Mrs Howard and her circle. A new display recreates the Chinese wallpaper Henrietta Howard hung in the Dining Room in 1751. Using historical references and motifs, a unique paper has been designed to fit the room, each sheet different and, like the originals, hand painted by Chinese artists.

Museum of Rugby
This museum has the worlds largest collection of rugby memorabilia. The displays depict how the old schoolboy game gained so much popularity that it became an internationally renowned professional sport. The museum contains archives and paintings of the popular matches.

The displays bring the games vibrant history to life thus providing an interactive experience for the whole family. The museum also boasts a Rugby Store which sells a wide range of sports items.

Orleans House Gallery
This gallery is built in the secluded woodland gardens and has the architecture of the 18th century. The art gallery attracts huge crowd of visitors, which number to over 40,000 visitors a year. The gallery also hosts workshops for children at the Orleans House. A Pub is located around the corner from the Gallery, which is easily accessible from London. The Orleans House has a rich and vibrant history. The house has the famous baroque Octagon room which was designed by the renowned architect James Gibbs.

The Pottery Cafe
The Pottery cafe boasts a wide range of exclusive pottery shapes and all materials. The cafe is built with unique ideas and provides a collection of coffee cups, mugs with title of best dad in the world etc.

Kilmorey Mausoleum
Kilmorey Mausoleum is building with unique architecture depicting colorful history. This Mausoleum was built in the early 1850s by the Earl of Kilmorey for his mistress, Priscilla Hoste. The Mausoleum has been designed in the Egyptian style by the famous architect HE Kendall.

The Mausoleum has received a lot of attention since the Environment Trust offered to maintain and develop the grounds. The site was opened to the public on several occasions, attracting hundreds of visitors on each occasion.The Trust has planted silver birch trees and various forms of amelanchier, buddleia, viburnum, ferns, wild rose bushes and narcissus, wild flower meadows, and laid a path of bark chippings. All of the work is done by volunteers, led by a Kew-trained conservation gardener.

Strawberry Hill House
The Strawberry Hill is Britain's finest example of Georgian Gothic Revival architecture and interior decoration. It began life in 1698 as a modest house, built by the coachmen of the Earl of Bradford. It was transformed into 'a little Gothic castle' by Horace Walpole, man of letters and the son of England's first Prime Minister. Between 1747 and 1792 Walpole doubled its size, creating Gothic rooms and adding towers and battlements thus bringing life to his dream.

Further additions were made by the Countess Waldegrave in the 19th Century. Strawberry Hill was already a famous tourist site in its own day. It has miraculously survived till this day, its rural surroundings gone, but its still the same. The fireplaces and gilded ceilings like mediaeval tombs and vaults, painted glass with rustic and biblical scenes and heraldry.

Walpole was a compulsive collector. He collected a huge range of work of arts and antiques. The historical buildings remain distinctive alongside later developments, as inspiring and visionary today as in the 18th century.

Twickenham Museum
This museum was founded in 2002 and is based in an 18th century cottage facing the river and covers the history of Twickenham, Whitton, the Hamptons and Teddington.

Conclusion
Twickenham boasts proud historical origins dating from Neolithic times. Twickenham has been internationally recognized as the home of the English Rugby Union. Twickenham was the 18th century equivalent of Beverley Hills, popular with the leading artisans.

The streets have elegant houses. The Henrietta Howard, mistress of George II, had the popular Marble Hill House built for her and regularly entertained the greatest poets and wits of the day. The famous English poet Alexander Pope lived most of his life in Twickenham, west of London on the Thames River.