An irregularly shaped area of 7,580 acres (31 km), Blockley Township was located on the west side of the
Schuylkill River, north of
Kingsessing Township; bounded on the east by the Schuylkill; extending south from the county line, opposite to, but a little below, the mouth of the
Wissahickon, down to the Nanganesy or
Mill Creek, below the Woodlands; then by the same creek up to Chadd’s Ford Turnpike, known in later years as the
Baltimore Pike; along the same to
Cobb’s Creek; then by the courses of the same to the county line adjoining
Lower Merion Township,
Montgomery County, and along the same to the
Schuylkill River. Within its boundaries were the villages of
Hamilton,
Mantua, West Philadelphia, Hestonville and
Haddington. It was traversed by the Darby Road (today's Woodland Avenue) and Chadd’s Ford or Baltimore Pike, the road to
West Chester, to
Haverford and to
Lancaster. The name is derived from
Blockley, a parish in
England in
Worcestershire (since 1931 in
Gloucestershire) from which the township's founder, William Warner, hailed. In Philadelphia, "Blockley" was synonymous with the
Blockley Almshouse that opened here in 1832. The township also contained
The Woodlands; the former estate of William Hamilton, grandson of
Andrew Hamilton, which was converted in 1840 to
the Woodlands Cemetery. The boundaries and area changed on February 17, 1844, when the area encompassing Mantua and Hamilton were incorporated into the
Borough of West Philadelphia, dividing the remaining township into two almost unconnected sections. The township was incorporated into Philadelphia proper by the 1854
Act of Consolidation. ==References==