Hammersmith, Fulham and Putney

by G. E. Mitton; John Cunningham Geikie

West of this as far as the common many alterations have taken place in the last few years, and now the market-gardens and fields are covered with street after street of small two-storied cottages stretching in straight lines from the Lower Richmond Road to the river. The same applies to the district between here and the Upper Richmond Road as far west as the London boundary at Northumberland Terrace. Here stood until recently prolific gardens and orchards, but now the site is covered with streets arranged as closely as possible, and filled with a rather better style of dwellings than those to the northward.

Passing west, we come at length to the gateway of the Ranelagh Club at Barn Elms. From this entrance, with its large gates and porter's lodge, the private road runs over the Beverley Brook, and, swerving to the west, enters the park proper. This manor was given by Athelstane to the Canons of St. Paul's, and is still held by them. The mansion of Barn Elms was formerly in the possession of Sir Francis Walsingham, and here in 1589 he entertained Queen Elizabeth. Pepys and Evelyn both make mention of this place in their diaries, and it was here that the duel was fought—January 16, 1678—between the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Duke of Buckingham. The meetings of the Kitcat Club were held here in a room specially built for the purpose by Jacob Tonson, the bookseller, who lived in a house formerly known as Queen Elizabeth's Dairy, and died there November 25, 1735. At present Ranelagh rivals Hurlingham as a social outdoor club, and the merits of the respective grounds are a matter of opinion.

On the Lower Common, standing out by themselves, are two old houses, Elm Lodge and West Lodge, in big gardens sliced off the common. The houses are fancifully painted, and half hidden behind a privet hedge and a row of elms. The common to the south is bare of bushes, but to the north there are still big clumps of gorse and brambles, with many straggling trees between. Putney Cemetery is on the common, and further west that of Barnes is seen. At the beginning of the Mill Hill Road is an old cottage hidden behind closely-trimmed trees and a high hedge, the residence of the cattle gate-keeper, whose duty it was in former years to prevent the straying of animals from the parish of Barnes into that of Putney. The gate has been removed, but the place marks the London boundary, which follows the line of the big ditch due south across the Lower to the Upper Richmond Road.

On the south side of the Lower Common stands a long row of staring Queen Anne cottages, and at the east end of them the Church of All Saints, in the Early English style, erected in 1874, with schools close by. Hidden away behind the church is an old wooden farmhouse, the last of many that formerly dotted these fields.

Passing eastwards, the Upper Road leads to the Charlwood Road, and across the railway-bridge the new streets, Norroy and Chelverton Roads, have been made as far as the High Street through the grounds of The Lawn, an old house which stood next the Spotted Horse. To the west short roads have been pushed out into the market-gardens, and north, at the angle, stands the Quill Inn, behind which Quill Alley, a narrow paved passage skirting the backs of the houses, leads into a labyrinth of small streets set at all angles and of all degrees of respectability. There are many newly-built flats on either side of Quill Alley. Every foot of ground is taken up, and from the Coopers' Arms to Gardeners' Lane the district is compact with small houses and shops. Here in Walker's Place, a square of old houses, with gardens in front, under the shadow of an enormous brewery, was formerly a little wooden tumbledown inn known as the Coat and Badge. This has been rebuilt; it was so called from the insignia of the actor Doggett's annual prize for Thames watermen. At the end of this lane stands an old hostelry, the Coopers' Arms, and at the end of Gardeners' Lane was another, the Bull and Star, also rebuilt recently. Gardeners' Lane leads through a closely built up settlement to the Whirlpool, and here the last remnant of the market-gardens is to be found.

In the High Street, which is fast altering its character, there are one or two old houses, but the greater number are modern. The Public Library, which is situate in Disraeli Road, leading off the High Street, was first established in 1887. It is only since 1899 that it has occupied its present building, which, with the site, was the gift of Sir George Newnes, Bart., M.P., and was opened by the late Lord Russell of Killowen, Lord Chief Justice of England.

To the east of the High Street the residential part of Putney is built up of new, clean streets, laid out on the market-gardens and orchards that till recently occupied most of this district.

In Northfield Square stood several fine old houses, one of which, Fairfax House, made way for the Montserrat Road at its High Street end; and another, Grove House, said to originally have been a convent, and associated by tradition with the name of Oliver Cromwell, disappeared when the western end of Disraeli Road was made. The railway-station adjoining occupies the site of some very old houses, and in the railway-cutting the workmen came upon a sewer, in which were discovered some silver spoons of ancient date. A Baptist chapel in the Werter Road, Oxford Congregational Chapel in the Oxford Road, and Emanuel Church in the Upper Richmond Road, supply the religious needs of the neighbourhood.

Passing along the Putney Bridge Road from the High Street, Brewhouse Lane runs north to the waterside; on one side are rows of new shops, on the other a swimming-bath. This lane was formerly one of the principal landings for ferry passengers to Putney, but to-day is almost deserted. An engraving of Fulham by Preist in 1738 is evidently taken from the steps, and shows the bridge and Fulham Church. From this landing a fine view is to be had of Putney Bridge; upstream and downstream is seen the big iron lattice bridge that carries the District Railway over from Fulham on its way to Wimbledon. A soap-boiler's establishment with several smaller yards makes the lane busy, but there are still a lot of small cottages—some very old—of a poor type, and rented for the most part by labourers.

Passing on, the almshouses founded by Sir Abraham Dawes are on the south side. He was a farmer of the Customs, an eminent loyalist of the reign of Charles II., and one of the richest commoners of the time. Originally built for twelve almsmen and almswomen, they have been latterly occupied entirely by women. The north side of the road is here substantially built up, and the Deodar, Florian, and Merivale Roads on the Cedars Estate are comparatively new. Two old houses, Cedar Lodge and Crest House, remain, with Park Lodge at the corner of the Atney Road, newly fronted, but below the grade of the road. To the railroad arch which spans the road are built on the north side a row of new cottages with shops opposite. Beyond the arch at the bend of the road, which is here narrowed by an old house encroaching on the footpath, is a fine old mansion, Moulinere House.