Old London: Paddington Green to Seven Sisters - Edward Walford

At the beginning of the 19th century Paddington was still a rural area but London was fast developing and Paddington, Kilburn, St John's Wood, Primrose Hill, Camden Town and Kentish Town were all rapidly expanding. Many of the Georgian houses and terraces built during this time have survived.;Between Paddington and Islington, London's northern railway termini were established, as was the first underground system. The history of the rapid growth of the railways and the vast areas of housing that were demolished to make way for them, is detailed in these chapters. One small township, Agar Town, completely disappeared from the map.;Marylebone saw the building of the first of London's ring roads, now Marylebone Road and Euston Road, and at one time this constituted London's northern boundary. Marylebone was then a place of tea-gardens and taverns where the Londoner took his ease in the summer. The only reminder of that time is Regents Park and there is a chapter on the park and the founding of the Zoological Gardens.;This period saw the first explosion in the growth of modern London, and the disappearance of the small villages to the north of the city that had for centuries been completely separate entities.