Twickenham

Captain Mayonnaise on 17 Jan 2003   Link to this

Twickenham, on the bank of the Thames to the west of London, is the home of the English Rugby Football Union. The magnificent stadium plays host to rugby matches as well as pop concerts. Twickenham was also home to Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744).

Eric Walla on 17 Jan 2003   Link to this

So are you suggesting Sam is off to a rugby match?

anglophilus on 17 Jan 2003   Link to this

Twickenham was the site of several large homes owned by the literati and nobility -- as this (http://www.richmond.gov.uk/depts/chiefexec/poli...) web site says, "Twickenham was the 18th century equivalent of Beverley Hills."

In particular see this history of York House from the Bourough of Richmond and Thames: (http://www.richmond.gov.uk/depts/opps/eal/leisu...) which mentions the connection to Pepys.

hazel-mary on 17 Jan 2003   Link to this

Twickenham's setting by the Thames was much admired by Renaissance gardeners and many famous houses were built there. Pope settled there because of its riverside setting and because at 12 miles from London it was on the edge of the 10 mile radius from the city inside which Catholics (Pope was a Catholic) were not allowed to live.There is a ferry still from Marble Hill Park on the Twickenham bank to Ham House on the Surrey side of the river. Ham House was built in the early seventeenth century house by the Earl of Dysart, a Royalist and former whipping boy of Charles I. It was a hotbed of Royalist politics during most of the seventeenth century. His heiress Elizabeth Murray married Sir Lionel Tollemache of Suffolk in 1648 and the two were leading lights in the Society of the Sealed Knot. Elizabeth was also rumoured to be on intimate terms with Cromwell during the Protectorate. After the Restoration Charles II made Elizabeth the title of Countess of Dysart in her own right and in 1672 she married for the second time to the former Scottish covenanter turned Royalist, John Maitland who in 1673 was made Duke of Lauderdale and later became a member of the CABAL government.

Andrew Hamilton on 29 Oct 2003   Link to this

A rather bare tunnel under Cross Deep Road in Twickenham is known as Pope's Grotto. It runs between St. Catherine's School(where I have a granddaughter) and the boy's St. James's on the Thames side -- both Catholic schools, appropriately. The schools are located on Cross Deep just upstream from (of course) Grotto Rd.