Fields at Bayswater, looking towards Craven Hill

Paul Sandby moved to St George’s Row in 1772 overlooking Hyde Park and frequently walked to Bayswater from there. He often called on his friend William Beechey who lived at Craven Hill to which this perspective looks. This watercolour depicts Bayswater which was renowned for its water in streams, springs and reservoirs for drinking, washing and watercress fields.

The Bayswater Tea gardens appear in a series of Sandby’s sketches and here they seem part of the fields and paddocks on which cattle graze, their parameters marked by palings and fences. The Westbourne stream is seen in the middle ground and on the far left is likely to be Kensington Gardens marked by the ornamental trees. The road on the far side of the stream is the toll road leading to the turnpike gate, a favourite subject of Sandby.