Hammersmith, Fulham and Putney

함
Hammersmith, Fulham and Putney, by

Geraldine Edith Mitton and John Cunningham Geikie This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Hammersmith, Fulham and Putney The Fascination of London
Author: Geraldine Edith Mitton John Cunningham Geikie
Editor: Sir Walter Besant
Release Date: January 7, 2007 [EBook #20310]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAMMERSMITH, FULHAM AND PUTNEY ***

Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

THE FASCINATION OF LONDON
HAMMERSMITH FULHAM AND PUTNEY

IN THIS SERIES.
Cloth, price 1s. 6d. net; leather, price 2s. net each.
THE STRAND DISTRICT.
By SIR WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.
WESTMINSTER.
By SIR WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.
HAMPSTEAD AND MARYLEBONE.
By G. E. MITTON. Edited by SIR WALTER BESANT.
CHELSEA.
By G. E. MITTON. Edited by SIR WALTER BESANT.
KENSINGTON.
By G. E. MITTON. Edited by SIR WALTER BESANT.
HOLBORN AND BLOOMSBURY.
By SIR WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.
HAMMERSMITH, FULHAM, AND PUTNEY.
By G. E. MITTON and J. C. GEIKIE.
MAYFAIR, BELGRAVIA, AND PIMLICO.
In the press.

[Illustration: FULHAM PALACE.]

The Fascination of London
HAMMERSMITH, FULHAM AND PUTNEY
BY G. E. MITTON AND J. C. GEIKIE
EDITED BY SIR WALTER BESANT
LONDON ADAM & CHARLES BLACK 1903

PREFATORY NOTE
A survey of London, a record of the greatest of all cities, that should preserve her history, her historical and literary associations, her mighty buildings, past and present, a book that should comprise all that Londoners love, all that they ought to know of their heritage from the past--this was the work on which Sir Walter Besant was engaged when he died.
As he himself said of it: "This work fascinates me more than anything else I've ever done. Nothing at all like it has ever been attempted before. I've been walking about London for the last thirty years, and I find something fresh in it every day."
Sir Walter's idea was that two of the volumes of his survey should contain a regular and systematic perambulation of London by different persons, so that the history of each parish should be complete in itself. This was a very original feature in the great scheme, and one in which he took the keenest interest. Enough has been done of this section to warrant its issue in the form originally intended, but in the meantime it is proposed to select some of the most interesting of the districts and publish them as a series of booklets, attractive alike to the local inhabitant and the student of London, because much of the interest and the history of London lie in these street associations.
The difficulty of finding a general title for the series was very great, for the title desired was one that would express concisely the undying charm of London--that is to say, the continuity of her past history with the present times. In streets and stones, in names and palaces, her history is written for those who can read it, and the object of the series is to bring forward these associations, and to make them plain. The solution of the difficulty was found in the words of the man who loved London and planned the great scheme. The work "fascinated" him, and it was because of these associations that it did so. These links between past and present in themselves largely constitute The Fascination of London.
G. E. M.

HAMMERSMITH
The parish of Hammersmith is mentioned in Doomsday Book under the name of Hermoderwode, and in ancient deeds of the Exchequer as Hermoderworth. It is called Hamersmith in the Court Rolls of the beginning of Henry VII.'s reign. This is evidently more correct than the present spelling of the name, which is undoubtedly derived from Ham, meaning in Saxon a town or dwelling, and Hythe or Hyde, a haven or harbour, "therefore," says Faulkner, "Ham-hythe, a town with a harbour or creek."
Hammersmith is bounded on the south by Fulham and the river, on the west by Chiswick and Acton, and on the east by Kensington. Until 1834 it was incorporated with the parish of Fulham, and on Ascension Day of that year the first ceremony of "beating the bounds" took place. The West London Railway runs in the bed of an ancient stream which rose north of Wormwood Scrubs and ended at Chelsea Creek, and this brook was crossed by a bridge at the place where the railway-bridge now stands on the Hammersmith Road. The stream was evidently the determining factor in the old parish boundary line between Kensington and Hammersmith, but Hammersmith borough includes this, ending at Norland and St. Ann's Roads. On the south side it marches with Fulham--that is to say, westward along the Hammersmith Road as far as St. Paul's School, where it dips southward to include the school, and thence