Hammersmith may mean "(Place with) a hammer smithy or forge",[2] although, in 1839, Thomas Faulkner proposed that the name derived from two 'Saxon' words: the initial Ham from ham and the remainder from hythe, alluding to Hammersmith's riverside location.[3] In 1922, Gover proposed that the prefix was a personal name, Heahmaer or Hæmar, and stating that the suffix must be Anglo-Saxon from -myðe,[4] meaning the junction of two rivers, as Hammersmith Creek merged with the Thames here.[5]: 36 The earliest spelling is Hamersmyth in 1294, with alternative spellings of Hameresmithe in 1312, Hamyrsmyth in 1535, and Hammersmith 1675.[6]
The district was a chapelry of the ancient parish of Fulham, but became a fully independent parish in 1631.[7] In the early 1660s, Hammersmith's first parish church, which later became St Paul's, was built by Sir Nicholas Crispe who ran the brickworks in Hammersmith.[8] It contained a monument to Crispe as well as a bronze bust of King Charles I by Hubert Le Sueur.[9] In 1696 Sir Samuel Morland was buried there. The church was completely rebuilt in 1883, but the monument and bust were transferred to the new church.
In 1745, two Scots, James Lee and Lewis Kennedy, established the Vineyard Nursery, over six acres devoted to landscaping plants. During the next hundred and fifty years the nursery introduced many new plants to England, including fuchsia and the standard rose tree.[10][11]
1804 saw the trial of Francis Smith for the murder of Thomas Millwood in Beaver Lane, Hammersmith. Called the Hammersmith Ghost murder case, it set a unique standard in English legal history.[12]
In 1868, Hammersmith was the name of a parish, and of a suburban district, within the hundred of Ossulstone, in the county of Middlesex.[13] Major industrial sites included the Osram lamp factory at Brook Green, the J. Lyons factory (which at one time employed 30,000 people). During both World Wars, Waring & Gillow's furniture factory, in Cambridge Grove, became the site of aircraft manufacture.
Hammersmith is located at the confluence of one of the arterial routes out of central London (the A4) with several local feeder roads and a bridge over the Thames. The focal point of the district is the commercial centre (the Broadway Centre) located at this confluence, which houses a shopping centre, bus station, an Underground station and an office complex.[citation needed]
Stretching about 750 m (820 yd) westwards from this centre is King Street, Hammersmith's main shopping street. Named after John King, Bishop of London,[15] it contains a second shopping centre (Livat Hammersmith), many small shops, the town hall, the Lyric Theatre, a cinema, the Polish community centre and two hotels. King Street is supplemented by other shops along Shepherds Bush Road to the north, Fulham Palace Road to the south and Hammersmith Road to the east. Hammersmith's office activity takes place mainly to the eastern side of its centre, along Hammersmith Road and in the Ark, an office complex to the south of the flyover which traverses the area.[citation needed]
Riverside Studios is a cinema, performance space, bar and cafe. Originally film studios, Riverside Studios were used by the BBC from 1954 to 1975 for television productions.[30] The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is just off King Street.
Hammersmith Apollo concert hall and theatre (formerly the Carling Hammersmith Apollo, the Hammersmith Odeon, and before that the Gaumont Cinema) is just south of the gyratory.
The former Hammersmith Palais nightclub has been demolished and the site reused as student accommodation.[31]
The Polish Social and Cultural Association is on King Street. It contains a theatre, an art gallery and several restaurants. Its library has one of the largest collections of Polish-language books outside Poland.[32][33][34][35][36]
The Dove is a riverside pub with what the Guinness Book of Records listed as the smallest bar room in the world, in 2016 surviving as a small space on the right of the bar.[37] The pub was frequented by Ernest Hemingway and Graham Greene; James Thomson lodged and likely wrote Rule Britannia here.[38] The narrow alley in which it stands is the only remnant of the riverside village of Hammersmith, the bulk of which was demolished in the 1930s. Furnivall Gardens, which lies to the east, covers the site of Hammersmith Creek and the High Bridge.[39]
Leisure activity also takes place along Hammersmith's pedestrianised riverside, home to the pubs of Lower Mall, rowing clubs and the riverside park of Furnival Gardens. Hammersmith has a municipal park, Ravenscourt Park, to the west of the centre. Its facilities include tennis courts, a basketball court, a bowling lawn, a paddling pool, and playgrounds.[40]
The area is on the main A4 trunk road heading west from central London towards the M4 motorway and Heathrow Airport. The A4, a busy commuter route, passes over the area's main road junction, Hammersmith Gyratory System, on a long viaduct, the Hammersmith Flyover.[43]Hammersmith Bridge closed in August 2020 to pedestrians, cyclists and road traffic, severing the link with Barnes in the southwest. Its cast iron pedestals that hold the suspension system in place had become unsafe.[44]
The centre of Hammersmith is served by two London Underground stations named Hammersmith: one is served by the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines and the other is served by the Piccadilly and District lines. The latter station is part of a larger office, retail and transport development, locally known as "The Broadway Centre". Hammersmith Broadway stretches from the junction of Queen Caroline Street and King Street in the west to the junction of Hammersmith Road and Butterwick in the east. It forms the north side of the gyratory system also known as Hammersmith Roundabout. The Broadway Shopping Centre includes a major bus station. The length of King Street places the westernmost shops and offices closest to Ravenscourt Park Underground station on the District line, one stop west of Hammersmith itself.[citation needed]
Repair works to the bridge footings, showing air-conditioning and sensors
The first Hammersmith Bridge was designed by William Tierney Clark and opened in 1827 and was the first suspension bridge crossing the River Thames. It was redesigned by Joseph Bazalgette, and reopened in 1887.[8][45] In August 2020, it closed to pedestrians, cyclists and road traffic as the cast iron pedestals that hold the suspension system in place became unsafe. Work began to improve the structural integrity of the bridge in 2022.[44]
In 1930, Gustav Holst composed Hammersmith, a work for military band (later rewritten for orchestra), reflecting his impressions of the area, having lived across the river in Barnes for nearly forty years.[48] It begins with a haunting musical depiction of the River Thames flowing underneath Hammersmith Bridge. Holst taught music at St Paul's Girls' School and composed many of his most famous works there, including his The Planets suite. A music room in the school is named after him.[49] Holst dedicated Hammersmith: "To the Author of "The Water Gypsies".[50]
^Alonso, Carlos Prado; Lorido, Rodrigo Pérez; Rodríguez-Puente, Paula (2020). Of ye olde Englisch langage and textes: new perspectives on Old and Middle English languages and literature. Frankfurt a.M. p. 32. ISBN9783631817957.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Frederic A Youngs Jr, ed. (1979). Guide to the Administrative Units of England. Vol. 1, Southern England. Royal Historical Society. p. 325. ISBN0-901050-67-9.
^ ab"Hammersmith". Royal Thames Guide. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company. pp. 9–11, page 11. OCLC47982768.
^"Muzea, Archiwa, Biblioteki Polskie na Zachodzie". Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) of the Standing Conference of Polish Museums, Archives and Libraries
^ abDesmond, Ray (1994). "Kennedy, Lewis". Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists. CRC Press. pp. 396, 421. ISBN978-0-85066-843-8. Contains biographical entries concerning the Lees and Kennedys.
^"Francis Ronalds". Grace's Guide. Retrieved 4 April 2022. By 1814, with the encouragement of Jean André de Luc, Ronalds began practical experiments in transmission of electricity in the garden of his house, later known as Kelmscott House, in Upper Mall, Hammersmith.
^"10 Hammersmith Terrace". Emery Walker's House. Retrieved 3 September 2021. No. 10: Inhabited by FG Stephens, a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood