RAINVILLE ROAD, LONDON

(Click on thumb nail photos for larger views.)

Geoff wrote that he had come across a reference to Rainville Road, London.  As he said, what are the odds?  Our name's unusual enough that we were intrigued.  (Maybe if it was Smith or Jones, we wouldn't have immediately started to plan the trip.)

It turned out that Rainville Road is located in a very pretty part of West London in the borough of Hammersmith/Fulham.  We had another place we wanted to visit in the area of King's Cross, which was the nearest tube stop, so it made a great day.

And, wow!  "Our" street runs parallel to, and just a building's width away from, The River Thames --  it's east, across the river, from the new Chelsea Stadium.

It's a mixed use street, starting with some stores, a couple of good restaurants and a pub, and a nicely located architectural office.  There's a block of flats -- Rainville Court -- that have views of the river on the back side.   We walked through a little alley pointing to Dorset Wharf to get to the River Side of the street.    In the alley, we saw this little sign.  We're not usually fans of graffiti, but since it was Rainville Road, we thought it was really interesting to see our 9 year old grandson's name right there. 

This one's for you, Ryan:

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Below are some views of the street and river side of Rainville Road.   These flats, according to a fellow we met who lives there, are worth 5-7 hundred thousand pounds. Nice name, nice neighborhood!   

                               

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Sure wish we had more information on the  history of the road's name -- we haven't yet been able to find out anything more about it.  Maybe if we have time, we'll go back to the Borough and see what we can learn.

Comments

[Geoff]

Right after I suggested going there I started getting worried it was in a really bad part of London. So huge sigh of relief. If you go back, knick the sign for me.

[Pete]

I bet Rainville Road comes from the time of William the Conqueror.
It would make sense, We are from Normandy. As a matter of fact the largest Cemetery from D-Day, mainly Canadian and British Dead is called the Cemenar-de-Rainville.(Or however you spell it in French).