In Ludovic Kennedy's book, upon which the film was based, he states "You will not find Rillington Place on any street map of London now, for it has long been demolished." That was the 3rd paragraph of Chapter 1. The book was written in 1961.
So who's wrong Kennedy or everyone who says It was filmed in Rillington Place in 1971? If Kennedy, how could he make such a blatantly untrue statement on the first page of a book he cared so deeply about?
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Not according to the Where exactly was it filmed thread. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066730/board/thread/45644314
Almost everyone on that disagrees with Ludovic.
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Perhaps what Mr. Kennedy meant was that the street NAME had changed in 1954 to Ruston Close, presumably to deter sightseers, which it didn't. The actual street itself was demolished in 1974. The whole area was very run-down and probably been scheduled for demolition for years. Now Notting Hill is, I beleve, an expensive and affluent area, a far cry from the time Christie lived there.
shareI have a copy of the 1961 hardback edition of 10 Rillington Place. In that edition the third and fourth paragraphs of the first chapter read as follows:-
"You will not find Rillington Place in any street map of London now, for as a result of the fearful things that happened there, it has changed its name to Ruston Close. It is a mean shabby cul-de-sac of ten houses on either side. Although the houses have three floors, they are small, almost miniature houses, and their most striking characteristic is peeling paint and rotting stucco. The street is bounded at one end by St Mark's Road and at the other by the wall of Rickards Transport Depot for Coaches and Vans. Originally Rickards was Bartlett's Iron Foundry, and the foundry chimney still stands. It rises, as it were, from the centre of the boundary wall, and its squat pear-shaped form seems to dominate the street.
Just beyond the houses on the north side lies the Metropolitan Railway Line, and the sounds of the trains coming and going are part of the lives of the people who live there. The main difference between the residents then and now is that whereas they were formerly poor white people, now they are mostly poor black people. Many of them live two and three to a room. On summer evenings the children play in the street and on the pavements, and the parents sit at the open windows watching the world go by. No. 10 is the last house on the south side, hard up against Rickards' wall and beneath the shadow of the foundry chimney. It differs from the other houses in that whereas they are all grey and shabby, No. 10 is now bright with indigo paint. It is as if it were trying to shake off its hideous past, to become reformed and respectable."
The text above would have been accurate in 1961 when the book was first published, although Kennedy makes a couple of mistakes:-
1) It was Bartle's Iron Foundry rather than Bartlett's. I believe it was founded by a James Bartle in the 19th century and was known as the Western Iron Works. Apparently, many of the manhole covers in the Notting Hill area were cast there. The present Bartle Road which is more or less on the site of Rillington Place was probably named after James Bartle.
2) It was the Hammersmith and City Line rather than the Metropolitan Line which ran behind the north side of Rillington Place, and now runs behind Bartle Road.
I used to have a 1982 paperback edition of Ten Rillington Place in which the text of the third paragraph was that quoted in the first posting. In all editions printed after 1971, when the street was demolished, the text would have been revised to take account of this.
Incidently, I believe that Rillington Place was named after the village of Rillington in North Yorkshire, which I understand was the home of the St Quinten family who owned the land on which the street was built in the 1860s. It was renamed Ruston Close after the village of Ruston Parva with which the family were also associated. I think there was some correspondance in the Daily Mail about this a few years ago.
In one of the many bizarre coincidences connected with this case, Ethel Christie's had relations called Bartle! although her maiden name was Waddington. I first thought they'd renamed the street after her.
share>>>2) It was the Hammersmith and City Line rather than the Metropolitan Line which ran behind the north side of Rillington Place, and now runs behind Bartle Road.
Wrong. H&C Line is a re-naming only done a few years ago, 1990. That line was indeed the Metropolitan line at the time and for years afterwards.
Right, i didn't know that. So, what was the present Metropolitan Line called then??
shareI wasn't aware of that either concerning the Metropolitan Line.
Check out the website www.10-rillington-place.co.uk for a good deal of interesting information concerning the street and the case.
There is some film footage on the british pathe website showing the demolition of Rillington Place in 1971. Still very hard to watch knowing what took place there.
www.britishpathe.com
Read the book, seen the film...
now the Graphic Novel... http://10rillingtonplace-tgn.blogspot.com/
Both were just the Metropolitan line.
shareThe book by Ludovic Kennedy on which the film is based was published in 1961. Shortly after the terrible events in Rillington Place happened the local authority renamed the area Rushton Close. It remained with that name until the houses were demolished shortly after the filming for the 1971 film was completed. So in that respect Kennedy is accurate. You might also have been reading a re-issue of the book. There was a reprint with Attenborough on the cover to promote the film.
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