Editing Twickenham (section)

==Geography ==
Twickenham is bounded by the River Thames on the south and the land is relatively flat though it does rise gently to the west as it approaches Whitton.  The land is fertile and was home to numerous market gardens before housing became the predominant land use with the coming on the railways in the mid nineteenth century.

[[Image:Twickenham-map.jpg|right|thumb|A map of most of the town of Twickenham]]
[[File:Alexander Pope's house wall plaque Twickenham.jpg|right|thumb|A memorial plaque to Pope's Grotto]]
[[File:Houseboats - Richmond, London, UK.jpg|thumb|[[Houseboat]]s on river [[Thames]], in the [[St Margarets, London|St Margarets]] locality]]
[[File:Twickenham Park House.jpg|thumb|220px|right|The former [[Twickenham Park]] House]]
The town is bordered on the south-eastern side by the [[River Thames]] and [[Eel Pie Island]]&nbsp;– which is connected to the Twickenham embankment by a narrow footbridge, the first of which was erected in 1957. Before this, access was by means of a hand-operated ferry that was hauled across using a chain on the riverbed. The land adjacent to the river, from [[Strawberry Hill, London|Strawberry Hill]] in the south to [[Marble Hill House|Marble Hill Park]] in the north, is occupied by a mixture of luxury dwellings, formal gardens, public houses and a newly built park and leisure facility.

In the south, in Strawberry Hill, lies [[St Mary's University, Twickenham]] historically specialising in [[sports studies]], [[teacher training]], [[religious studies]], the [[humanities]], [[drama]] studies and [[English literature]]. Strawberry Hill was originally a small [[cottage]] in two or three acres (8,000 or 12,000&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup>) of land by the River Thames. [[Horace Walpole]], a son of the politician [[Robert Walpole]], rented the cottage in 1747 and subsequently bought it and turned it into one of the incunabula of the [[Gothic revival]]. The university shares part of its campus with Walpole's [[Strawberry Hill House|Strawberry Hill]]. On adjacent land were the [[Pope's villa|villa and garden]] of the poet [[Alexander Pope]]. The villa was demolished in 1808/09 following the orders of [[William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe|Lady Howe]], who became irritated with the large number of tourists who visited the place.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21587468|title=The man who demolished Shakespeare's house|author= Winterman, Denise|work= [[BBC News]]|date= 7 March 2013|access-date= 7 March 2013}}</ref> The grotto which formed the basement survived. A memorial plaque was placed on the site in remembrance in 1848.

A road just north of the campus is named Pope's Grove, and a local landmark next to the main road is the ''Alexander Pope Hotel'' (previously known as ''Pope's Grotto''), a [[public house]] and hotel where Pope's landmark informal garden used to be. Near this hostelry lie St Catherine's school for girls and Radnor House School, in a building on the site of Pope's white stucco villa and the location of Pope's original&nbsp;– surviving&nbsp;– [[grotto]].

There are a large number of fine houses in the area, many of them [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]]. The open space known as [[Radnor Gardens]] lies opposite Pope's Grotto.

Not far from Pope's Grotto is the Roman Catholic [[Church of St James, Twickenham|Church of Saint James]], which has a memorial window in the form of the [[Coat of arms of Portugal#Notable depictions|Royal Arms of Portugal]] and memorials to [[Manuel II of Portugal|Manuel II]], Portugal's last king, who worshipped here and died in nearby [[Fulwell, London|Fulwell Park]] in 1932.

Twickenham proper begins in the vicinity of Pope's Grotto, with generally large period houses to the west, the [[Anglicanism|traditional]] definition of which is ''Twickenham Green'', and similar housing in the east all the distance to [[Richmond Bridge, London|Richmond Bridge]] typically largest near the Thames. The town centre is not actually in the centre of the town, rather in the south-eastern corner, as Twickenham was built up moving away from the Thames. [[Whitton, London|Whitton]] lies further to the north and west.

The districts of East Twickenham and St Margarets lie to the north-east of central Twickenham on the west side of [[Richmond Bridge, London|Richmond Bridge]], the shortest bridge on the [[Tideway]]. These are popular for their attractive tree-lined residential roads and an eclectic range of shops and [[café]]s. St Margarets is the location of [[Twickenham Studios]], one of Greater London's major film studios.

East Twickenham abuts the River Thames at Richmond Bridge and St Margarets has its river frontage immediately to the north. The great estate of Cambridge Park, home of [[Richard Owen Cambridge]], the 18th-century satirical poet, was located here.

===Nearest places===
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Fulwell, Middlesex|Fulwell]]
* [[Ham, London|Ham]]
* [[Hampton, London|Hampton]]
* [[Hampton Hill]]
* [[Hampton Wick]]
* [[Hounslow]]
* [[Isleworth]]
* [[Kingston upon Thames]]
* [[Richmond, London|Richmond]]
* [[St Margarets, London|St Margarets]]
* [[Teddington]]
* [[Whitton, London|Whitton]]
{{Div col end}}