At the other side of the canal was the Willow Walk, a raised road leading from the Monster Gardens to Rochester Row, with market gardens and low swampy ground running right down to the river on one side, and the canal on the other. In winter I have seen snipe, teal and wild duck shot on the ground at the west end of Chelsea. Just over Stamford Bridge stood Stamford House, once the residence of Nell Gwynn, now occupied by the Gas Company’s engineer, and just beyond, through a farm yard, was a public footpath right through the orchards and market gardens alongside of the river right away to a riverside tavern, with a lane bringing you out by Parson’s Green. In the orchards was grown some of the choicest fruit to be found in the country. There were some old walls with fruit trees that appeared to have stood there for centuries. This district was known as Broom-house, and was owned and occupied by the Bagleys, Steels, Matters, and Dancers, market gardeners and fruit growers. Higher up the river at Hammersmith, Chiswick and Isleworth were the strawberry gardens that supplied London with that delicious fruit. They were carried to Covent Garden Market twice a day by women in large round baskets on their heads. You would meet them along the road of a morning about seven, and again about three with a second picking, always on the trot, in gangs of as many as twenty. The strawberries were packed in small tapering baskets called pottles, holding about two-thirds of a pint, and then in large baskets called rounds, containing seventy-two pottles; these rounds containing seventy-two pottles would sell at from twelve to sixty shillings, according to the season and quality of the fruit. This was considered a very profitable industry as both pickers and the carriers were much better paid than the ordinary employees. It was quite a harvest, and lasted from three weeks to a month. The lying in state of the Duke of Wellington was held in the dining hall of Chelsea Hospital. There was a raised platform at the west end beautifully draped in black velvet and white silk, with silver cords and tassels. The coffin was attended by four officers, generals, as chief mourners, and the gangway that the public passed along was lined with guardsmen. During the ten days for which the body was on view the crowd was immense, and on about the third day there were two women trampled to death, and a great number injured, owing, it was supposed, to a number of artillerymen marching up in a body and trying to force their way through the crowd. Steps were immediately taken to erect barricades, and police officers were stationed to regulate the crowd. As it extended three parts of the way up Ebury Street, some had to wait from five to six hours, only a certain number being allowed to pass round at a time, and there were many taken out of the crowd that could not stand the crush and had fainted.