London’s Alleys: Canning Passage, W8

This narrow back lane in Kensington looks like a back passage for the houses that back onto it, but in fact, it predates the main roads around it.It originally shows up as part of a much longer path called Love Lane, when all around here was fields and nurseries. By the 1820s, the area that’s closest to Canning Passage was known as Malcolm’s Nursery and continued as farmland until 1847 when some of the area was developed for shabby housing.
Greenwood map of 1828
When the Great Exhibi