Coordinates: 51°30′13.25″N 0°9′59″W / 51.5036806°N 0.16639°W
Rotten Row is a broad track running along the south side of Hyde Park in London, leading from Hyde Park Corner to the west. In its heyday in the 18th century, Rotten Row was a fashionable place for upper-class Londoners to be seen.[1] Today it is maintained as a place to ride horses in the centre of London, but it is little used.
Rotten Row was established by William III at the end of the 17th century. Having moved court to Kensington Palace, William wanted a safer way to travel to the previous St. James's Palace. He created the broad avenue through Hyde Park, lit with 300 oil lamps in 1690– the first artificially lit highway in Britain.[2]
“Rotten Row” is a common street name in towns and villages on England and Scotland – there are at least 15 examples as far afield as Lewes, East Sussex and Elie, Fife. It describes a place where there was once a row of tumbledown cottages infested with rats (raton) and goes back to the 14th century or earlier.[3] Other historians have speculated the name might be a corruption of rotteran (to muster),[4] Ratten Row (roundabout way), Route du roi (French) or rotten (the soft material with which the road is covered).[5]
In the 18th century, Rotten Row became a popular meeting place for upper-class Londoners. Particularly on weekend evenings and at midday, people would dress in their finest clothes in order to ride along the row and be seen.[1] The adjacent South Carriage Drive was used by society people in carriages for the same purpose.[1]
The sand-covered avenue of Rotten Row is still maintained as a bridleway and forms part of Hyde Park's South Ride. It is particularly convenient for the Household Cavalry, stabled nearby at Hyde Park Barracks in Knightsbridge, who exercise their horses there. Members of the public also ride there, although few people have stables close enough to make use of it. However, there are commercial stables nearby, Hyde Park Stables, that offer horse hire and riding lessons to the public.
References
- ^ a b c Dunton, Larkin (1896). The World and Its People. Silver, Burdett. pp. 30–31.
- ^ "Hyde Park: History and Architecture". The Royal Parks. 2003-12-15. http://www.royalparks.gov.uk/parks/hyde_park/history.cfm. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ Cameron, Kenneth (1959). The Place-Names of Derbyshire. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society. pp. 435, 449.
- ^ Edward Walford. 'Hyde Park', Old and New London: Volume 4 (1878), pp. 375-405. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45205. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
- ^ E Cobham Brewer. 'Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Henry Altemus, 1898; Bartleby.com, 2000. http://www.bartleby.com/81/14534.html. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
External links
- The Fashionable Hour in Hyde Park—description of 18th century parading on Rotten Row.
- Poem by Frederick Lampson on Rotten Row.
- Hyde Park and Kensington Stables and Ross Nye Stables-possibly the only two remaining stables near Hyde Park.
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