In an old map we see Hale or Cromwell House standing, as above indicated, about the western end of the Museum gardens. Lysons gives little credence to the story of its having been the residence of the great Protector. He says that during Cromwell's time, and for many years afterwards, it was the residence of the Methwold family, and adds: "If there were any grounds for the tradition, it may be that Henry Cromwell occupied it before he went out to Ireland the second time." This seems a likely solution, for it is improbable that a name should have impressed itself so persistently upon a district without some connection, and as Henry Cromwell was married in Kensington parish church, there is nothing improbable in the fact of his having lived in the parish. Faulkner follows Lysons, and adds a detailed description of the house. He says: "Over the mantelpiece there is a recess formed by the curve of the chimney, in which it is said that the Protector used to conceal himself when he visited the house, but why his Highness chose this place for concealment the tradition has not condescended to inform us." In Faulkner's time the Earl of Harrington, who had come into possession of the park estate by his marriage with its heiress, owned Cromwell House; his name is preserved in Harrington Road close by. When the Manor of Earl's Court was sold to Sir Walter Cope in 1609, Hale House, as it was then called, and the 30 acres belonging to it, had been especially excepted. In the eighteenth century the place was turned into a tea-garden, and was well patronized, but never attained the celebrity of Vauxhall or Ranelagh, and later was eclipsed altogether by Florida Gardens further westward (see p. 32). The house was taken down in 1853.