Victorian London - Districts - Areas of London - Chelsea

Chelsea has been famed for its Buns since the commencement of the last century. ... The Bun-house was also much frequented by visitors to Rangelagh, after the closing of which the bun-trade declined. Notwithstanding, on Good Friday, April 18, 1839, upwards of 240,000 buns were sold here. Soon after, the Bun-house was sold and pulled down; and at the same time was dispersed a collection of pictures, models, grotesque figures, and modern antiques, which had for a century added the attractions of a museum to the bun celebrity. Another bun-house was built; but the olden charm of the place had fled.

John Timbs, Curiosities of London

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Chelsea, once a quiet village, three miles from London is now a densely populated locality, and lies between the Brompton-road and the Thames, Sloane-st being its eastern boundary, while its western boundary is indeterminate, as it is still growing. It gives its name to a parliamentary borough, which includes the Kensington and Hammersmith parishes. Chelsea contains a great population of the working class. Chelsea is Radical, while Kensington may be looked upon as Conservative; Hammersmith being a mixed parish. St. Luke's, Chelsea, is one of the finest parish churches in London. It is remarkable also inasmuch that the parish clerk must be a priest in orders, and the post was held for some rime by the Rev. Charles Kingsley, whose father was for many years the rector of St. Luke's. The principal public buildings are the Barracks, Chelsea Hospital, and the Military Asylum. NEAREST Railway Stations, Sloane-square and Chelsea; Omnibus Routes, Sloane-street, King's-road, and Fulham-road

Charles Dickens (Jr.), Dickens's Dictionary of London, 1879