During the latter period, it became known as the Great White City due to the white marble cladding used on the exhibition pavilions. At the extreme north end of the borough is Kensal Green Cemetery which is partly in this borough and partly in the adjacent London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The parish church stands on the original site but it is rather dwarfed by the nearby Hammersmith Flyover which carries the A4 on giant concrete supports just a few yards from the tower of the church.
In these thoroughfares, time seems to stand still. There is relative peace and tranquillity due to the fact that most of the connecting streets do not permit any through traffic. The heavy traffic thundering by on the elevated Hammersmith Flyover is well away from earshot as you take a leisurely stroll beside the river. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account.
Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Know Your London. A good place to find out about the history of Inner London. In former times a fair was held here annually in May, lasting three days. At the eastern end of the green is a group of Roman Catholic buildings, the chief of which is the Church of the Holy Trinity.
This is a spacious stone edifice of the Early Decorated style of architecture, and has a lofty tower and spire at the northeastern corner.
The first stone of the building was laid in , by Cardinal Wiseman. The external appearance of this church derives some additional interest from its contiguity to the scarcely less beautiful almshouses of St. Joseph, the first stone of which was laid by the Duchess of Norfolk, in May, The almshouses are built in a style to correspond with the church, and form together with it a spacious quadrangle.
They provide accommodation for forty aged persons, and are managed by the committee of the Aged Poor Society. On the opposite side of the road stands St. Mary's Normal College, built from the designs of Mr. Charles Hansom, of Clifton, in the Gothic style of architecture. It contains a chapel, and is capable of accommodating seventy students.
Near at hand are a Roman Catholic Reformatory for boys and another for girls. The former is located in an ancient mansion, Blythe House. This house, Faulkner informs us, was reported to have been haunted; "many strange stories," he adds, "were related of ghosts and apparitions having been seen here; but it turned out at last that a gang of smugglers had taken up their residence in it, supposing that this sequestered place would be favourable to their illegal pursuits. At all events, Mr.
Lewins, in his "History of the Post Office," reminds us that in , the boy who carried the mail for Portsmouth happening to dismount at Hammersmith, about three miles from Hyde Park Corner, and to call for beer, some thieves took the opportunity to cut the mail-bags from off the horse's crupper, and got away undiscovered. The plunder was probably all the more valuable, as there was then no "money-order office," and even large sums of money were enclosed in letters in the shape of bank-notes.
At that time nearly all the land in the outskirts of Hammersmith was under cultivation as nurseries or market gardens, whence a large portion of the produce for the London markets was obtained. Bradley, in his "Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature," published in , tells us that "the gardens about Hammersmith are famous for strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, and such like; and if early fruit is our desire," he adds, "Mr.
Millet's garden at North End, near the same place, affords us cherries, apricots, and curiosities of those kinds, some months before the natural season.
Lee's nursery garden here enjoyed great celebrity towards the close of the last century; and it is said that they were the first who introduced the fuchsia, now so common, to the public. Their nursery was formerly a vineyard, where large quantities of Burgundy wine were made. To store the wine a thatched house was built, and several large cellars were excavated. The rooms above were afterwards in the occupation of Worlidge, the engraver, and here he executed many of the most valuable and admired of his works.
It was close by Lee's nursery that Samuel Taylor Coleridge stayed frequently with his friends the Morgans, who lived on the road between Kensington and Hammersmith. Crabb Robinson, in his "Diary," under date July 28, , tells us how he "after dinner walked to Morgan's, beyond Kensington, to see Coleridge, and found Southey there.
The region northward of the main thoroughfare through Hammersmith is being rapidly covered with streets, many of the houses being of a superior class, particularly in the neighbourhood of Ravenscourt Park. In Dartmouth Road is the church of St. John the Evangelist, a large and lofty edifice, of Early-English architecture, built in , from the designs of Mr.
Close by St. John's Church is the Godolphin School, which was founded in the sixteenth century under the will of William Godolphin, but remodelled as a grammar school, in accordance with a scheme of the Court of Chancery, in The buildings of this institution are surrounded by playgrounds, about four acres in extent; the school is built, like the adjoining church, of brick, with stone mullions and dressings, and it is in the Early Collegiate Gothic style, from the designs of Mr.
The buildings include a large school-room, capable of accommodating boys, several class-rooms, a dining-hall, dormitories for forty boarders, and a residence for the head-master. Ravenscourt Park, at the north-western extremity of Hammersmith, marks the site of the ancient manor-house of Pallenswick, which is supposed to have belonged to Alice Perrers, or Pierce, a lady of not very enviable fame at the court of Edward III.
The survey of the manor, taken about that time, describes it as containing "forty acres of land, sixty of pasture, and one and a half of meadow. Down to nearly the close of the last century, the manor-house was surrounded by a moat, and Faulkner describes it as "of the style and date of the French architect Mansard.
Tradition," he adds, "has assigned the site of this house as having been a hunting-seat of Edward III. His arms, richly carved in wood, stood, till within these few years, in a large upper room, but they fell to pieces upon being removed when the house was repaired; the crest of Edward the Black Prince, which was placed over the arms, is still preserved in a parlour, and is in good preservation.
It is very probable that this piece of carving was an appendage to the ancient manor-house when it was in the possession of Alice Pierce. A little to the north of Ravenscourt Park, and leading up towards Shepherd's Bush, on the Uxbridge Road, lies Starch Green, which—like Stanford Brook Green and Gaggle-Goose Green, in the same neighbourhood, mentioned by Faulkner as "two small rural villages"—is now being rapidly covered with houses, and is one of those places which is fortunate enough not to have a history.
The ancient high road from the west to London commenced near the "Pack-horse" inn, at Turnham Green, which lies at the western extremity of Hammersmith, and of which we shall speak presently.
At the beginning of this century it was very narrow and impassable, though large sums of money had been spent in its repair. The road, which is now in part lined with houses, skirts the north side of Ravenscourt Park, and joins the Uxbridge Road at Shepherd's Bush. At the junction of the two roads formerly stood an ancient inn, where all the country travellers stopped in their journeys to or from the metropolis. This is supposed to have been the house that Miles Syndercombe hired for the purpose of carrying out his proposed assassination of Cromwell, in January, , while on his journey from Hampton Court to London.
Dull, dreary, and uninteresting as this part of Hammersmith may have been in former times, it appears to have possessed at least one curiosity; the portrait of a quaint old pump, in Webb's Lane, with a sort of font in front of it to catch the water, figures in Hone's "Every-Day Book," under September 10th, but apparently little or nothing was or is known of its history.
It's made of wood, And pours its water in a font So beautiful that, if he don't Admire how such a combination Was formed in such a situation, He has no power of causation, Or taste, or feeling, but must live Painless and pleasureless, and give Himself to doing—what he can, And die—a sorry sort of man! Retracing our steps to the Broadway, we enter Queen Street, which passes in a southerly direction to the Fulham Road, from the junction of the Broadway and Bridge Road.
On the west side of this street stands the parish church, dedicated to St. It was originally a chapel of ease to Fulham, and is remarkable as the church in which one of the last of those romantic entombments known as heart-burials took place. The church was built during the reign of Charles I. Bowack thus describes this church in —"The very name of a chapel of ease sufficiently points out the causes of its erection, and indeed the great number of people inhabiting in and near this place, at such a great distance from Fulham Church, made the erecting of a chapel long desired and talked of before it could be effected; but about the year the great number of gentry residing hereabouts being sensible of the inconvenience, as well as the poorer people, began in earnest to think of this remedy; and after several of them had largely subscribed, they set about the work with all possible application.
The whole number of inhabitants who were willing to enjoy the benefit of this chapel voluntarily subscribed, and were included within the limits belonging to it upon the division, so that a very considerable sum was secured.
About the year the foundation of the chapel was laid, and the building was carried on with such expedition, that in the year it was completely finished and consecrated; though, at the west end, there is a stone fixed in the wall with this date, , which was placed there when the said end was built, probably before the inside was begun.
The whole building is of brick, very spacious and regular, and at the east [west] end is a large square tower of the same with a ring of six bells. The inside is very well finished, being beautified with several devices in painting. It was likewise very well paved, and pewed with wainscot, and made commodious and beautiful within; the whole charge of which was about two thousand and odd pounds.
Notwithstanding the ill usage this chapel has met with, it is still in very good condition; beside this, adorned with several stately monuments now standing. Such, then, was the condition of this church within three-quarters of a century of its erection. Since that time it has undergone extensive repairs on different occasions, and in the year it was restored and enlarged. Although the edifice is constructed of brick, it is covered throughout with stucco; and, architecturally, it is of little or no interest, excepting as a fair specimen of the corrupt style in vogue at the date of its erection.
The building consists of a nave, aisles, short transepts, and chancel; the tower is surmounted by a small octagonal bell-turret.
The church, which has galleries on either side and at the western end, will accommodate about 1, worshippers. The altarpiece is somewhat peculiar in its construction, and occupies nearly the whole eastern wall of the chancel: it may perhaps be best described as an upright "baldachino," the canopy of which is ornamented with a number of candlesticks containing imitation candles, the flames of which are represented in gilding; beneath the canopy are festoons in carved oak, said to be the work of Grinling Gibbons.
This baldachino—which is of a heavy Italian style—is of interest, as having been erected by Archbishop Laud. A picturesque avenue of old trees leads to the north door of the church, whilst the footpath is lined on each side by several rows of tombs, some bearing foreign names, probably of the Walloons employed in the tapestry works, or of persons who were domesticated at Brandenburgh House during the residence there of the Margrave of Anspach and his widow.
Within the church are the tombs of many persons famous in history. Among them may be mentioned one of black and white marble, to the Earl of Mulgrave, who commanded a squadron against the Spanish Armada, and was afterwards President of the North under James I.
A tomb, with bust of Alderman James Smith, who died in ; he was the founder of Bookham Almshouses, and "the father of twenty children. Thomas Worlidge, the painter, whose unrivalled etchings are choice gems of the English School of Art, is commemorated by a tablet; as also is Arthur Murphy, the dramatic writer and essayist, and friend of Dr.
As we have intimated above, however, the most remarkable monument in Hammersmith parish church is that of Sir Nicholas Crispe, of whom Faulkner speaks as "a man of loyalty, that deserves perpetual remembrance.
Hall, in his "Pilgrimages to English Shrines," "is the broad principle of his humanity: he honoured and revered Charles I. Yet his loyalty shut not up his heart against those who differed from him in opinion; his sympathies were not conventional, they were not confined to a class, but extended to all his kind. When himself in exile, he made his private misfortunes turn to public benefits; he investigated all foreign improvements and turned them to English uses; he encouraged the farmers of Middlesex in all agricultural pursuits; through his knowledge, new inventions, as to paper-mills, powder-mills, and water-mills, came into familiar use; he discovered the value of the brick-making earth in his immediate neighbourhood, and the art itself, as since practised, was principally, if not entirely, his own.
On the pedestal is inscribed: "Within this urn is enclosed the heart of Sir Nicholas Crispe, Knight and Baronet, a loyal sharer in the sufferings of his late and present Majesty. He first settled the trade of gold from Guinea, and then built the Castle of Cormantin. He died 28th of July, , aged An amusing account of an impostor named John Tuck, who was afterwards transported for other frauds, officiating and preaching in this church as a clergyman in the year , will be found in the "Eccentric.
Near the church are the Latymer Schools, which were founded in the seventeenth century by Edward Latymer, who, by his will, dated , bequeathed thirty-five acres of land in Hammersmith, "the profits of which were to be appropriated to clothing six poor men, clothing and educating six poor boys, and distributing in money. At the present time thirty men are recipients of Latymer's charity, whilst clothing and education is now afforded to boys and fifty girls. Latymer directed in his will that the clothes of the men should be "coats or cassocks of cloth of frieze to reach below their knees; those of the boys doublets and breeches; all of them to wear a cross of red cloth on their sleeves, called 'Latymer's Cross.
In Queen Street, nearly opposite the church, is a large brick mansion, which formed part of a house once the residence of Edmund Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave and Baron of Butterwick, who died here in the year In the house and premises, then known as the manor-house and farm of Butterwick, were conveyed to the family of the Fernes, by whom the old mansion was modernised and cut up into two.
Early in the last century the place was sold to Elijah Impey, father of the Indian judge of that name, whose family long resided in it. The old portion of the mansion was pulled down many years ago. The principal front of the house, as it now stands, is ornamented with four stone classic columns, and it is surmounted by a pediment. On the right-hand side of the Fulham Road, which branches off from Queen Street opposite the parish church, stands a large group of brick buildings, designed by Pugin, and known as the Convent of the Good Shepherd and the Asylum for Penitent Women.
The site was formerly occupied by Beauchamp Lodge. This charity was commenced in by some ladies of the Order of the Good Shepherd, who came from Angers, in France, to carry on the work of the reformation of female penitents under the auspices of Dr.
Griffiths, then "Vicar-Apostolic of the London District. Further southward, opposite Alma Terrace, is Sussex House, so named from having been occasionally the residence of the late Duke of Sussex, and where his Royal Highness "was accustomed to steal an hour from state and ceremony, and indulge in that humble seclusion which princes must find the greatest possible luxury.
Billington, the singer, lived here for some time; and it was for many years a celebrated house for insane patients, under the late Dr. Forbes Winslow. In speaking of Sussex House, the Rev. Richardson, in his "Recollections," tells an amusing story of a visit paid to it by Mrs. Fry, the prison philanthropist, whose restless benevolence was by the uncharitable occasionally mistaken for an impertinent propensity for prying into things with which she had no business.
Clarke, son of the traveller, Dr. Clarke," he writes, "was at one time confined in a lunatic asylum. His visit to the place was fortunately but a short one, and he was pronounced perfectly compos mentis. A day or two before he left the place he perceived, from the unusual bustle that arose, that something of consequence was about to happen; and he learnt from one of the subordinates that no less a person than the great Mrs.
Fry, attended by a staff of females, was about to inspect the establishment. Being fond of a joke, Mr. Clarke prevailed upon one of the keepers to introduce the lady to him. This was accordingly done. Clarke assumed the appearance of melancholy madness; the lady and her suite advanced to offer consolation and condolence; he groaned, rolled his eyes, and gibbered; they became alarmed.
He made gestures indicative of a rush at the parties; they retreated towards the door in precipitation; he rose from his seat, and was in instant pursuit. Fry, whose size and age prevented celerity of movement, was upset in the attempt; the sisterhood were involved in her fall; their screams were mingled with the simulated howlings of the supposed maniac; and it was with some difficulty that they were eventually removed from the floor and out of the room.
I believe," continues Mr. Richardson, "that Mrs. Fry did not again extend her researches into the mysteries of lunatic asylums. On the right-hand side of the Fulham Road, nearly opposite Sussex House, and with its gardens and grounds stretching away to the water-side, stood Brandenburgh House, a mansion which in its time passed through various vicissitudes. According to Lysons, it was built early in the reign of Charles I. Sir Nicholas was himself the inventor of the art of making bricks as now practised.
During the Civil War in August, , when the Parliamentary army was stationed at Hammersmith, this house was plundered by the troops, and General Fairfax took up his quarters there; Sir Nicholas being then in France, whither he had retired when the king's affairs became desperate and he could be of no further use.
His estates were, of course, confiscated; but he, nevertheless, managed to assist Charles II. He had, it seems, entered largely into commercial transactions with Guinea, and had built upon its coast the fort of Cormantine. In his old age he once more settled down in his mansion on the banks of the Thames, and dying there, the house was sold by his successor to the celebrated Prince Rupert, nephew of Charles I.
It was settled by the prince upon his mistress, Margaret Hughes, a much admired actress in the reign of Charles II.
It is a major transport hub for west London, with two London Underground stations and a bus station at Hammersmith Broadway. Hammersmith Bridge was first designed by William Tierney Clark, opening in as the first Suspension bridge crossing the River Thames.
Overloading in this original structure led to a redesign by Joseph Bazalgette, which was built over the original foundations, and reopened in It contains a second shopping centre called Kings Mall, many small shops, the Town Hall, the Lyric Theatre, a cinema, the Polish community centre and two hotels. Riverside Studios is a cinema, performance space, bar and cafe.
0コメント