Kensington: name translated as Farmstead associated with Cynesige: in the Domesday Book (1086) it is written as Chenesitone.
One of the old metropolitan boroughs of London, Kensington was granted the status of Royal Borough by King Edward VII in 1901, in recognition his mother, Queen Victoria, who was born there, and lived there as a child. Later the title became: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
The Manor was granted by William Ist to Geoffrey de Montbray (Mowbray), Bishop of Coutances, who gave tenancy to Aubrey de Vere; because of a later revolt by a Mowbray, against King William II (Rufus), the manor was forfeited, then granted as a royal tenancy to de Vere, whose family became the Earls of Oxford, and the region became known as Earl’s Court.
On the west side of Palace Green, in what was formerly called the King’s Garden, Henry VIII. is said to have built a conduit, or bath, for the use of the Princess Elizabeth, when a child. It was a low building, with walls of great thickness, and the roof covered with bricks. The interior was in good preservation when Faulkner wrote his History of Kensington. It is clear, from an entry in the parish books, that Queen Elizabeth, at least on one occasion subsequent to her childhood, stayed within the parish, for the parish officers are rebuked and punished for not ringing “when Her Majesty left Kensington.” On Palace Green were the barracks for foot-soldiers, who still regularly mount guard at the Palace. The Green, called in ancient documents the “Moor,” was the military parade when the Court resided there, and the royal standard was hoisted on it daily.
Kensington Palace
Nottingham House
Heneage Finch (1621-1682) was Lord Chancellor of England and created 1st Earl of Nottingham in 1681. The Nottingham House built for him in Kensington was passed to his son, Secretary of State to King William III of Orange, and the King acquired it from him in 1689, since the he wanted a residence located between Hampton Court which he liked, and Westminster which he did not like but where he had his day job.
Nottingham House morphed into Kensington Palace. Although actually situated in the parish of St. Margaret, Westminster, it is named from the adjoining town, to which it would more naturally seem to belong, and had grounds of about 350 acres.