Earls Court
Before the Gunters
Old Brompton Road divides the Gunter Estate into north and south portions. The north portion runs from Old Brompton Road up to Cromwell Road and from the Earls Court Road in the east to just short of Gloucester Road in the west. The south portion runs from Old Brompton Road down to Fulham Road in the south and from Brompton Cemetery in the east to The Boltons in the west.
In the 18th century this was all mainly farmland, with just a few houses strung along the Earls Court Road. Much of the land was used for nurseries, particularly for propagating roses. There was also a substantial gravel pit in Goodwin’s Field (now Coleherne Court and Harcourt Terrace).
The northern portion was known just by field names. Most of the later estate was built on Great Court Field. The present site of Wetherby Gardens was Little Court Field. The field on the corner of Old Brompton Road and Earl’s Court Road was locally known as Home Field (now Bolton and Bramham Gardens). Above that, was Four Acre Court Field (now the site of Hesper Mews). Then there were 7½ acres of land on which Bina and Gledhow Gardens came to be built which had no name at all.
For most of the 17th century the Arnold family owned and farmed all the land north of Old Brompton Road. In 1656 the estate passed by marriage to the Greene family who owned a brewery in Westminster. The land stayed in the Greene family for most of the 18th century. In 1793 they sold most of it to a local surgeon, John Hunter. (However, they kept the land nearest Old Brompton Road). After only a few months, John Hunter died.
