Between Richmond and Kingston is the still charmingly rural-looking village of Petersham, set down in beautiful scenery, for it is protected on the north and east by the park named after it and Ham Common, and is divided from the river by the famous meadows, that will never be built over, known as Ham Walks, beloved of the poet Gay and of his patroness the old Duchess of Queensberry, the 'Kitty' whose praises were sung by him and by Pope and Swift, and who lived in a river-side mansion that was later occupied by Lady Douglas. Referred to as Patriceham or Peter's Dwelling in Doomsday Book, the hamlet of Petersham was for several centuries a dependency of St. Peter's Abbey at Chertsey, and its quaint little sixteenth-century church, that has a picturesque turret surmounted by a low spire, probably occupies the site of a much earlier building, relics of which may possibly have been incorporated in the chancel that is much older than the nave. In the little sanctuary, that can only hold three hundred worshippers, and is soon to be supplemented by a far more imposing-looking building now (1907) nearing completion, {263} rest the remains of George Cole and his wife, whose house and grounds were amongst the properties confiscated by Charles I. for enclosure in the Great Park, and the church also contains a monument to the great navigator Captain George Vancouver, who is buried in the churchyard. There, too, rest Theodora Jane Cowper, the 'Delia' immortalised by her famous poet cousin, and the Misses Berry, the friends of Horace Walpole, who in their lifetime enjoyed some little reputation as authoresses, and resided in the neighbouring Devonshire House, that was also at one time the home of Lady Diana Beauclerck. Adjoining Petersham is the little village of Ham, the history of which, though it is not mentioned in Doomsday Book, can be traced back to before the Conquest, its manor having been given by King Athelstan to his chief alderman, Wulgar. Until quite recently a mere hamlet of scattered cottages, Ham is now growing into a populous suburb, but it still owes its chief distinction to its association with the celebrated Ham House, which is, however, really in Petersham parish, and represents the home of the Saxon thane Wulgar.