King Street Walk

Why King Street?

If the aim is to uncover the unique spirit of Hammersmith why begin with King Street with its shabby shopfronts and constant traffic?

William Morris, artist, designer and socialist, one of our most famous residents, called Hammersmith ‘this shabby suburb’.

In his utopian novel, News from Nowhere, his hero tries to imagine how life would be after the Revolution. As he leaves the train station to go to his home by the river, he mutters to himself, ‘If I could but see it! If I could but see it! Then, as he reaches the river, he suddenly feels transported ‘all that discontent and trouble seemed to slip off him’.

Walking down King Street may not have the same inspirational effect but it can begin to open our eyes as to why Hammersmith is such a special place and why so many radicals, revolutionaries and artists made their home here.

Things To Know

The Route

Starting outside Bradmore House, this self-guided walk takes you out through the shopping centre to The Broadway. Crossing over to The Swan Hotel at the top of King Street, you go past the Lyric Square and Marks and Spencer. Continuing down the street until you reach the Town Hall then past The Hampshire Hog and onto Ravenscourt Park where this walk ends.

Duration:

  • 30 minutes, with an option to extend your walk in Ravenscourt Park

Start:

  • Hammersmith Broadway Tube Station (Piccadilly/District Line)

End:

  • Ravenscourt Park Tube Station (District Line)

Essential Info:

  • The walk is primarily on a busy shopping street

  • There are plenty of places to stop for refreshments along the way

  • Bring a water bottle with you

 

The Backstory

The Brentford Turnpike

The Brentford Turnpike was one of two major highways feeding Hammersmith’s growing prosperity, the other being the river Thames.

In 1717, when the Brentford Turnpike Trust was created, King Street formed part of the main route to King George 1’s Palaces at Hampton Court and Windsor. The road had become dangerous particularly in winter through potholes made by so many heavy carriages using the route.

The Turnpike Road system was created to finance improvements to the roads by levying a toll or tax. There were two tollgates on the route. One was where Olympia is today near the junction with North End Road. The other was near Hounslow where the road split into two, one branch going to Exeter, the other to Bath.

By the early 19th Century, the road was in frequent use by stage coaches, mail coaches and private vehicles, together with heavily laden wagons carrying wool, cloth, malt and grain from the West Country who joined others carrying fruit, vegetables and flowers from Hammersmith’s market gardens to Covent Garden.

In the churchyard of St Mary’s West Kensington beside the Turnpike is a gravestone to a man killed by the Bath Mail Coach. The inscription is hard to decipher but his first name seems to be John and the year 1811.

Bren Simson