The Poetry Society

The gate I use today

in nineteen ninety nine

to enter Ladbroke Square

was the way, before the square

was built, into the Hippodrome.

 

 

Not the same gate - but

in eighteen thirty seven

a shrewd entrepreneur

had an inspiration

and knew that the meadows

on the slopes of Notting Hill

(the one called Pond Field -

springs near its top hedge

would flood new-dug cellars

only a decade later -

is now Ladbroke Square)

were the ideal site to build

a Hippodrome for flat-

racing and steeple-chasing

and best of all, a grandstand

with a clear view from the summit -

 

 

though the fence around the course

blocked the public path

from Kensington to Kensal

Green (a safer route and much

preferred by local folk

to Pottery - or Cut-Throat - Lane).

 

The Hippodrome, about 1840

 

 

**

 

 

Jane and her two cousins -

up from the country -

were soon part of a throng

pressing through that gate

for the inaugural ceremony.

Later, she read in the Times

which she found in Father's study

that society notables

like the Earl of Chesterfield

and Alfred, Count D'Orsay,

'graced it with their presence'.

Near the track there are open

carriages of laughing women

in vivid satin with dogs

on their laps and by their sides

dandies with top-hats tipped forward,

striped marquees 'with all

their flaunting accompaniments'.

She is entranced.

 

 

But then, to Jane's - and general -

alarm, a demonstration of

pig-keepers, brick-makers

and potters from Notting Dale

at the foot of the hill (where

open sewers and pools of fetid

water bred cholera

and life expectancy

was less than twelve years)

pushed through the gate, and claimed

the right of free entry.

 

 

When they opened bottles of beer

began to sing and swear and

kiss their laundress sweethearts

though she wanted to stay and see

what happened next, her cousins -

one tall boy at each side

forcing a way through the crowd

and ignoring her protests - marched her

back to the gate and out.