KENSINGTON, a western metropolitan borough of London, England, bounded north-east by Paddington and the city of West minster, south-east by Chelsea, south-west by Fulham, north-west by Hammersmith, and extending north to the boundary of the county of London. Pop. (1931 ) 180,681. It includes the districts of Kensal Green (partly) in the north, Notting Hill in the north central portion, Earl's Court in the south-west, and Brompton in the south-east. A considerable area adjoining Brompton is called South Kensington ; but the area known as West Kensington is within the borough of Fulham.
The name appears early as Chenesitun and Kenesitune, and has been connected with a Saxon royal residence (King's town), a family of the name of Chenesi, and the word caen, meaning wood, from the forest which originally covered the district and was still traceable in Tudor times. The most probable derivation, however, finds in the name a connection with the Saxon tribe or family of Kensings. The history of the manor is traceable from the time of Edward the Confessor, and after the Conquest it was held of the bishop of Coutances by Aubrey de Vere. Soon after it became the absolute property of the de Veres, subsequently earls of Oxford. The memory of the manorial courts is preserved in the name Earl's Court. There were also three submanors, one given by the first Aubrey de Vere early in the 12th century to the abbot of Abing don; whence the present parish church is called St. Mary Abbots; while in another, Knotting Barnes, the origin of the name Notting Hill is found.
The period of history for which Kensington is famous may be dated from the settlement of the Court here by William III.
A mansion on the west flank of the present Kensington Gardens had been the seat of Heneage Finch, lord chancellor and after wards earl of Nottingham. It was known as Nottingham House, but when bought from the second earl by William, to avoid residing in London as he suffered from asthma, it became known as Kensington Palace. The additions and alterations made by Wren resulted in a severely plain edifice of brick; the orangery, added in Queen Anne's time, is an example of the same architect's work. Caroline, the wife of George II., formed the lake called the
Serpentine (1733). The palace became open to the public by order of Queen Victoria.
Kensington Square, south of High Street in the vicinity of St. Mary Abbots church, still preserves some picturesque houses. Holland House was built by Sir Walter Cope, lord of the manor, in 1607, and obtained its present name on coming into the posses sion of Henry Rich, earl of Holland, through his marriage with Cope's daughter. General Fairfax and General Lambert are men tioned as occupants after his death, and later the property was let, William Penn of Pennsylvania being among those who leased it. Addison, marrying the widow of the 6th earl, lived here until his death in 1719. During the tenancy of Henry Fox, third Lord Holland (1773-1840), the house gained a European reputation as a meeting-place of statesmen and men of letters.
The parish church of St. Mary Abbots, High Street (an ancient site) was built from the designs of Sir Gilbert Scott in 1869. The oratory of S. Philip Neri is a well-known Roman Catholic church in Brompton Road. South Kensington has become a great centre of museums and institutions of learning, with the British Museum of Natural History, the Victoria and Albert, also called the South Kensington, Museum of the Arts and Crafts, the Science museum, and Library, the Imperial Institute with its museum galleries (within the bounds of Westminster), the Imperial College of Science, the University of London housed in part of the Imperial Institute, the Royal College of Art, the house of the Royal Geo graphical Society, the Albert Hall, etc. Kensington Gardens, laid out in the time of Queen Anne, were the site of the "Great Exhi bition" of 1851. Most of them are within the bounds of West minster. In Holland Park Road is the house of Lord Leighton (d. 1896), given to the nation, and open, with its art collection, to the public.
Kensington is a suffragan bishopric in the diocese of London. The parliamentary borough of Kensington has north and south divisions, each returning one member.