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Paddington is a place in the City of Westminster. It is a London district situated 2.2 miles (3.5 km) west north-west of Charing Cross.
Meaning of place-name
Paddington means 'estate associated with a man called Padda', from the Old English personal name Padda + ing- + tun, ing- meaning '(place) of' and tun (farm, estate). The name was recorded as Padington in 1056.
Pada is an Old English version of the first name Patrick.
Places of note
Important places in Paddington include Paddington station, St Mary's Hospital (and nurse-training centre) and Paddington Green police station (high-security police station). The IRA bombed the telephone box outside the police station one morning in 1991 as a demonstration to the British security services.
The Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal terminates at Paddington Basin (this canal links Manchester and London).
Famous people
Paddington has several famous sons, notably Alexander Fleming — the scientist who discovered Penicillin (a plaque commemorating this is placed outside his laboratory at St Mary's Hospital on Praed Street) — and Alan Turing (mathematician; there is a plaque on the Hotel where he was born: The Colonnade in Warrington Crescent). More recent natives of Paddington include the musicians Seal, Courtney Pine and Elvis Costello, the footballer Les Ferdinand the actresses Emma Thompson and Rhona Mitra.
An early nineteenth century political rhyme comparing the stature of two politicians goes "London is to Paddington as Pitt is to Addington".
Transport
Paddington station
It boasts a mainline railway station, Paddington station, with commuter service for the west of London (e.g. Slough, Maidenhead, Reading, Swindon) and mainline service to Oxford, Bristol, Bath, Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth, Cornwall and also South Wales including Cardiff and Swansea. There is also an express rail line to Heathrow Airport.
In Paddington Station there is a statue of Paddington Bear, a character of children's fiction who, in the book, is first discovered at this station and hence named after it.
Nearest places
Nearest tube stations
- Edgware Road tube station
- Lancaster Gate tube station
- Paddington station
- Warwick Avenue tube station
See also
- Paddington Bridge
- Paddington Bear
- "Pretty Polly Perkins of Paddington Green"
- Newspad (local publication covering the area and its surrounds)
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"Paddington"