By
the Regency period Chelsea had lost any pretension to a rural
character. Its streets were both crowded and numerous. An early nineteenth
century historian wrote "the general architecture of Chelsea is
extremely various; and dwellings are often pressed on each other for
support, which appear truly unable to stand alone ... but there are
certain favoured spots, and here are seen detached villas, elegant,
capricious, and adorned by a fine spread of home scenery."
The
parish of Chelsea was bounded on the north by Fulham Road, which separated
it from Kensington; and on the east by a rivulet, which separated it
from St George's, Hanover Square, and which entered the Thames near
Ranelagh. On the west, a brook, which rose near Wormholt Scrubs, and
which entered the Thames facing Battersea church, divided the parish
from Fulham parish. On the south, Chelsea was bounded by the Thames.
The old
church of Chelsea was so small that in the 1820s a new church,
St Luke's, was built for the village's expanding population.
In
the Regency period Chelsea was noted for its Royal
Hospital for soldiers and the Royal
Military Asylum, which educated the children of soldiers.
The
engraving shows a general view of Chelsea from the Thames c. 1815.
