A LITTLE LOCAL RETAIL HISTORY

A new member, Mr Orman, has contributed this youtube video that tracks the site of Hurlingbookshop over the years. It is a charming and well researched piece that is quite long for youtube but well worth a view.

A bit of unashamed advertising too!

Maybe you have a local vignette of potted history too?

Parson’s Green

The new publication by Sue and Lance Pierson on the ‘irregular triangle’ in Fulham has just been published, and is available for £6.00 plus postage and packing. CheckPublications page for full details

Why not puchase the new edition of Hammersmith Bridge £10.00at the same time and save on postage and packaging

OLD OAK LODGE

More from the ever resourceful Peter Trott in one article it encapsulates the speed of change in LBHF at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. For context here is John Rocque’s map of 1771.

John Rocque’s map 1771

From a few big houses admist fields and orchards to city in 150 years!

Old Oak Lodge

At one time Rosebank Road led to Old Oak Lodge, but now any archaeological evidence of the Lodge lies beneath Galloway Road in Shepherd’s Bush.

There is no record of when Rosebank Road was named but it may have been built as a driveway to the Lodge. I have not discovered when the lodge was built. It is not shown on John Salter’s 1830 map but it is named on James Wyld’s map of 1848.

John Wyld’s map of 1848

It may have been built before 1841 but unfortunately the census for that year mainly consists of names and only a few premises are actually listed. In the 1851 census Henry Cressweller and his family are listed as the residents and by 1861 market gardener George Cutts was living there. Shortly afterwards engraver William Henry McQueen moved in with his family. William died in the Lodge in 1867.

In 1881 Old Oak Lodge was listed as standing between the Vicarage of St. Luke’s Church and The British Queen public house. Shortly after that the Lodge was numbered as 390 Uxbridge Road. In 1886 William’s wife Jane also died in the Lodge. Her unmarried daughter Jane Harriot McQueen was the sole beneficiary and became the owner of the Lodge.

The 1891 census shows Jane living there with a cook and housemaid. There were adjoining stables with rooms occupied by a coachman and his family and a gardener and his family.

1893 – 96 OS map

By 1901 Jane was living there with her niece Jane Braithwaite and her husband plus their three children, a servant, a coachman, his wife and two children, and a gardener and his daughter plus her family.

Postcard sent to Jane’s niece in 1904

Jane was still on the electoral roll for 390 Uxbridge Road in 1906, which was around the time that there were plans to demolish the Lodge and build a new road. On 15th May 1907 there was an application for the proposed new road to be named Galloway Road. This coincided with the change of numbering on the Uxbridge Road and the 1907 electoral roll lists Jane at 444 Uxbridge Road. The Lodge was probably demolished before the electoral roll was published. Jane moved to Yiewsley, 1 Cumberland Road, Acton and first appears on the electoral roll in 1913. She died two years later and was buried in the large private family grave at Brompton Cemetery.

This article (with several errors) appeared in The West London Observer on 22 January 1915:

‘A very old inhabitant of Shepherds Bush has passed away in Miss Jean Harriet McQueen, who died at Yewsley, Cumberland Road, Acton on the 13th January in her 85th year. Miss McQueen was the surviving child of the late Mr W H McQueen of the Old Oak Lodge, Uxbridge Road where he brought up his family in the middle of the last century. Mr McQueen was one of the partners in the well-known firm of sporting print sellers whose series of racehorses, jockeys and race courses were so popular some years ago. The firm also engraved for a great many mid-Victorian artists. Miss McQueen was a loyal supporter of St Luke’s Church, Uxbridge Road from the time when the church was first built until she sold her own estate and went to live in Acton. The site of the Old Oak Lodge and its grounds is now occupied by Wormholt Road. The funeral took place at Acton Parish Church on Monday and she was interred at Brompton Cemetery.’

1910 Inland Revenue map

The above map from the Layers of London website shows the newly built Galloway Road superimposed on the 1893 – 96 OS map with the position of Old Oak Lodge clearly visible.

ONLINE ACTIVITY WHILST THE VIRUS RAGES

Those yearning for the days when we had regular visits and talks might want to have a look at Emery Walker’s House website for their Virtual Events. Not the same but interesting while we wait. I wasn’t aware of the T.E. Lawrence connection. Do have a look, their members get a discount.

FULHAM AND HAMMERSMITH HISTORICAL SOCIETY TOUR OF MARGRAVINE CEMETERY

By our Guide Robert Stephenson

On an evening in July about twenty FHHS members had a tour of Margravine cemetery, adjacent to Barons Court Tube station. This 16½ acre cemetery is not on a main road and is almost completely surrounded by tall brick walls with the gardens of Victorian housing beyond. Its potential to become a forgotten backwater is countered by the nearby Tube station from which issues a stream of patients bound for Charing Cross Hospital at the opposite end of the cemetery.

Despite being the final resting place of over 83,000 Hammersmith residents it is sparsely populated with headstones except along the central avenue where the larger monuments congregate. The explanation is that in 1951 it was designated a Garden of Rest and huge numbers of the older and more derelict monuments were removed. Since then it has been managed as a park, although in the last few years a small number of burials have been allowed in the space where two impressive lines of elm trees once stood either side of the central avenue. A favoured activity of the Friends group, since its formation a dozen years ago, has been to plant trees, each one with official permission, and some areas have more trees than headstones. In 1985 the cemetery became part of the local conservation area and being a well-kept open space it has been awarded the Green Flag for several years.

It was originally opened in 1869 as Hammersmith Cemetery but about seventy years ago it was renamed Margravine Cemetery to honour a remarkable local resident, the would-be actress, travel writer and firebrand, Lady Craven (1750-1828). After the death of Lord Craven, by whom she had had six children by the age of thirty, she married a former beau His Serene Highness the Margrave of Brandenburg, Anspach and Bayreuth. She thereby acquired the title of Margravine and the couple took up residence in Brandenburg House near the cemetery. Here they hosted magnificent soirees in their grounds beside the Thames where a theatre was built for her spirited dramatic performances.

All the disagreeably overcrowded churchyards in Hammersmith were rightly closed in 1854 in accordance with the Metropolitan Burials Act of 1852. However, the protracted gestation period that followed to open a compensatory cemetery is a story of farcical incompetence. The burial board took another fifteen years to open a cemetery, an abysmal effort considering contemporary maps show the surrounding area was mostly open countryside. In the intervening years residents were forced to pay elevated fees for burial outside the borough.

All the cemetery’s buildings, which included two chapels, three lodges and a Reception House, were the work of local architect George Saunders. His Anglican Chapel was demolished in 1953 but the smaller Non-conformist Chapel survives and its Gothic exterior was inspected by members.

The Chapel

The cemetery possesses a modest number of interesting graves. Top of the list would once have been Sir Emery Walker (1851-1933) who joined forces with William Morris on a number of printing enterprises and whose house by the river is still open to the public. His cremated remains were interred in his parents’ grave as still stated on their headstone. However, some years ago they were removed to Sapperton in the Cotswolds, a sad loss for a cemetery guide. Nevertheless, we still have Roy Byford (1873-1939), who was a large and very popular actor, who played the rumbustious roles in Shakespeare. His performances can be judged from a dozen films he made towards the end of his career. A humble family headstone tells the sad tale of a mother and her nine-year-old son who perished in the Princess Alice disaster on the Thames in 1878 when over 600 day trippers were drowned. Nearby is a much grander monument in bronze commemorating George Broad (1840-1895), a Hammersmith foundry owner who cast the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus, a very early use of aluminium for sculpture. His own self-cast monument is a splendid example of the artistry of the notable Italian sculptor Aristide Fabbrucci. Also on the central avenue is the grave of George Wimpey (1855-1913) who founded the building contractors responsible for the 1908 Olympic Games stadium and the famed White City. His monument is a broken column of finely polished granite, a debateable choice for a builder. A few yards further on is a large white marble cross to Abe Smith (1845-1923), who spent time in New South Wales prospecting for gold. On its base is a dear little carving of him sitting in his prospector’s hut dreaming of Hammersmith. Opposite is the cemetery’s only mausoleum, created by the Young family in 1883 following the devastating death of their son, Frederick, aged just eighteen. Next to this stands the War Memorial of J. Lyon’s & Co, which had its headquarters in Hammersmith. The monument was removed from the company’s former playing field at Greenford and re-erected here in 2002.

The most recent monumental restoration was funded by Historic England from a budget set aside for centenary commemorations of the First World War. A new sign tells how a few days before the Armistice in 1918 an explosion at W. E. Blake’s munitions factory in Wood Lane killed 13 people. This was unwanted news at a time of universal euphoria and received little press coverage. Local MP, mayor and later cemetery resident, Henry Foreman (1853-1924), felt that this was unfair on the victims and paid for a communal grave marked by a rugged granite cross. Because of its local historical significance it was listed Grade II in 2017, one of six listed monuments in the cemetery.

FHHS Members taking refreshment after their tour

Margravine cemetery’s Reception House is an attractive octagonal building with a steeply pitched roof and its purpose was to store coffins prior to burial. It owes its existence to a survey of urban burial practices published in 1843 by Edwin Chadwick (1800-1890). This discovered that 20,000 families in London were living in single rooms and when a death occurred they had nowhere else to store a coffin. Chadwick was appalled and his proposals to alleviate such problems were incorporated into the Metropolitan Interments Act of 1850. The Reception House was listed Grade II in 2016 and is the only free-standing example of its type in a London cemetery and the reason for this is that shortly after its construction undertakers began providing chapels of rest. As the evening shadows lengthened FHHS members entered the dimly lit interior to see the stone slabs around the walls capable of accommodating five coffins. Finally attendees were invited to partake of drinks under a yew tree kindly provided by the Friends of the cemetery.

CHARLES CONINGHAM TUBBS AND THE CONINGHAM ARMS PUB

This is another Shepherd’s Bush article by Peter Trott – the pub theme is getting quite strong – enjoy, there are more.

Charles Coningham Tubbs was born in Sussex in 1838, to wealthy parents Charles Tubbs Esquire and Lucy Coningham, the daughter of Daniel Coningham, Major General of the Bengal Army. Charles was only eight when his mother Lucy died in 1846 and twenty three when his father Charles died in 1861.

Between 1856 and 1860 Charles Coningham Tubbs was listed as living in Worthing but was shown as the owner of land occupied by a tenant named John Gorton on the Uxbridge Road, Shepherd’s Bush. The 1861 census lists John as a ‘cow keeper’ living at Oaklands Dairy. After his father died Charles was listed as living in the family home at 16 Pall Mall London and still shown as owning freehold land on the Uxbridge Road in Shepherd’s Bush.

Sometime between 1865 and 1870 Charles changed his surname to Coningham and was recorded on a polling list as Charles Coningham Coningham of Pall Mall. He was shown as the owner of freehold land and houses listed as 1 to 16 Coningham Road, Shepherd’s Bush. The road was officially named in 1865. In 1871 his tenant John Gorton was living on the Uxbridge Road at 1 Coningham Villa. The Coningham Arms was also listed on the 1871 census indicating it was probably built sometime between the 1861 and 1871 censuses, on land owned by Charles.

His mother’s Coningham ancestors can be traced back to 1750 when earlier records become less clear. However, the name Coningham dates back to at least the twelfth century and is derived from the Scottish Clan Cunningham.

The pub has been called The Coningham Arms since it was built but confusingly mid twentieth century photos of the pub show a hanging sign with three crouching rabbits. That was in fact the Coat of Arms of the Coningsby family which had no connection to the Coningham family. I can only assume that someone made a schoolboy error and used the wrong Coat of Arms.

The sign was later replaced with the Coningham Coat of Arms which pictured a shakefork in the shape of a stylised ‘Y’. The accompanying motto ‘over fork over’ refers to the time when Macbeth killed Duncan and sent his men to kill Duncan’s son Malcolm Canmore. Malcolm took refuge in the barn of farmer Malcolm the son of Friskin. The farmer called out to his companion “over, fork over,” as they used shakeforks to cover the Prince with hay. By doing so the farmer saved the Prince’s life and he was later rewarded with the Thanedom of Cunninghame.

The Old Pub Sign

On 1 June 1871 Charles married Margaret Tremenheere, the daughter of Major General George Borlase Tremenheere of the Bengal Engineers. The marriage certificate showed his name as Charles Coningham Coningham a Gentleman living in Isleworth. In the autumn of 1873 they had a son named Charles Stuart Coningham. Tragically on 19 April 1874, within three years of his marriage, Charles Coningham Coningham died whilst staying at the Belle Vue Hotel in San Remo Italy. His body was brought home for burial at Heston. His Will gave his address as Ellingham Hall, Norfolk. By a cruel twist of fate their son Charles Stuart also died in Italy in March 1896 aged only 22.

In the same year that Charles married, the census listed Alfred Palmer as the Licensed Victualler of The Coningham Arms. James Watt was listed in 1874 followed by Samuel Riches the same year. Samuel actually died on the premises in 1881 and his widow Charlotte became the Publican. In 1891 George Towerzey and his wife Clara were in charge and by the end of WW2 the pub had changed hands at least another five times.

Originally the pub had one entrance door facing the Uxbridge Road, adjacent to an existing door that leads to the premises above. There was another entrance door facing Percy Road. These doors may have once been entrances to a Public Bar and a Saloon Bar. A smaller door further along Percy Road may have been an Off Licence. The current entrance on the corner of Uxbridge Road and Percy Road was once a display window.

The red brick extension on Percy Road appears to have been built sometime between 1896 and 1915. It was probably then that the outside men’s toilet in Coningham Mews was added. Post war there was also a wooden stall on the corner of the Mews that served hot meat pies and mugs of tea.

For many decades it has been known locally as an Irish pub and the pub is still a firm favourite with supporters of Celtic FC. The pub also has a strong following of Queen’s Park Ranger supporters. Occasionally Celtic travel to Shepherd’s Bush to play friendlies with Rangers and all the fans happily mingled together at the pub.

Conningham Arms Today

The pub survived the war unscathed and over the years the interior has changed very little. However, the exterior colour scheme has changed from brown and cream, to light green and cream and then dark green and cream. During the first lockdown in 2020, it was repainted ‘Rangers’ blue.

As with several of the local pubs the management has changed many times in recent years. The lease was put up for sale in 2008 and again in 2011 when Enterprise Inns put it up for auction with a rent of £85,000. Around 5 years ago a more generic Coat of Arms appeared and the ‘shakefork’ link to the Coningham family disappeared. In spite of all the changes The Coningham Arms has avoided gentrification and that is borne out by on line reviews such as ‘a proper pub’ and ‘this is one of the last old pubs in the area’.

Recent Pub Sign

There’s an interesting postscript to this story which relates to the naming of two further roads in Shepherd’s Bush. Ellingham Road joins Findon Road which in turn joins Coningham Road. Coningham Road was named in 1865 but Ellingham Road and Findon Road were both named in 1879 which was five years after Charles Coningham Coningham died. Records show that Charles was born and baptised in Findon, Sussex. And when he died his home address was Ellingham Hall, Norfolk. So very probably the two roads were named to commemorate Charles.

THE HISTORY Of CLIFTON HOUSE (127 Uxbridge Road)

A research Post by Peter Trott

When I started researching Clifton House I had no idea of just how complex and interesting it would be. The following is quite accurate but still several questions remain unanswered:

If we go right back to 1745 John Roque’s map shows two or three buildings on the south side of the North Highway (Uxbridge Road) mid-way between Starch Green (Becklow Road) and Shepherd’s Bush Green. Two buildings are much clearer on Salter’s map of 1830. One is directly opposite a small road (now Bloemfontein Road) and the other is next to it on the right. Take special note the field and garden boundaries south of the houses as they are still evident today.

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  John Roque’s Map

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  Salter’s Map

Around that time the author and printer Samuel Bagster the Younger moved out of London due to ill health. He set up home in Shepherds Bush which he described as a village principally surrounded by cow pastures. With his wife Elizabeth and two spaniels he lived in the cottage on the right, which he named Aldine Cottage after the 1494 Italian printers The Aldine Press. As well as keeping poultry he was passionate about bees and set up an apiary in the large garden. In 1834 he printed and published his own book ‘The Management of Bees’ and in the book he gave a description of his invention ‘The Ladies Safety Hive’.

He died, at the young age of 34, on 1^st July 1835 in his bedroom overlooking the garden. In the years following Aldine Cottage was occupied by the Blewit family, Matthew Faulkner, George Bridge and Hobart Moore. In 1870 Hobart Moore, a print seller and picture dealer, was made bankrupt and after that I found no further mention of Aldine Cottage.

John Wyld’s map of 1848 shows both cottages but only names Old Oak Villa next door. In 1871 Old Oak Villa is occupied by the Hunt family but close by are two unoccupied premises named Stanley Villa and Clifton Villa. One possibility is that after Hobart’s bankruptcy Aldine Cottage was sold off and demolished and these two villas were in the process of being built. This is partly corroborated by the 1869 OS map that shows a very different shaped building to the one shown on the 1893 OS map.

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Maps above by Wyld 1848 & OS 1969

I have not found a date for the construction of Clifton Villa nor any clue as to why the Prince of Wales feathers appear on the top of the building. I’m sure that if it was connected to the Prince of Wales it would be well documented. Without any royal connection that might explain why the words ‘Ich Dien’ are not present on the carving. Another possibility is that the owner was from Wales but I have found no Welsh links to the property. Rather oddly between 1873 and 1882 I only found two people attached to the premises and the actual name of the building changed too. In 1873 an A. Phillips is listed in an art catalogue alongside the address Clifton Villa, and from 1880 to 1882 Mr Stevens Tripp (solicitor) is shown living at Clifton Lodge.

On 9^th May 1874 Major General Archdale Wilson of Delhi died and at the age of 55 his widow Ellen Frith became Dowager Lady Wilson. Nine years later on St Luke’s Day 1883 she opened the ‘Home of the Good Shepherd’ in Aldine House, Uxbridge Road, Shepherd’s Bush (possibly reverting to the earlier name in recognition of Samuel Bagster who was a very religious man). It is even possible that the three feathers were added at this time due to the religious connections to the Fleur-di-Lis.

Surprisingly, Lady Wilson lived in the house, which accommodated 30 girls who had gone astray but desired to return to an honest and industrious life. By 1884 the number of girls had risen to 38. On 1^st February 1886 the Bishop of London opened a chapel, laundry and infirmary adjacent to the Aldine House. The contemporary report added that the inmates were given thorough industrial training and employed in needlework, dressmaking and the laundry. A new altar for the chapel was dedicated in 1889.

The 1891 census shows that 23 ‘penitent’ women, seven staff and Lady Wilson were living there. The last positive record of her at Aldine House is in 1892, by which time she would have been 73 years old. Possibly she retired and moved to Surrey where she died on 1^st January 1916, just short of her 97^th birthday. The last positive records I could find for Aldine House was on the 1894 and 1895 electoral rolls which listed Lady Lucy Cavendish. Also known as Lady Frederick Cavendish she had helped Lady Wilson set up the home. She was a pioneer of women’s education and Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge was named in her honour in 1965. It seems that the home closed down and remained empty for at least a year (a later report dated 1908 stated the home was abandoned due to increasing problems with the residents).

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OS Maps above 1893 & 1912

The first Church Army Home for the homeless was opened in London in 1890. In 1897 The Church Army opened a Magdalen Home which could accommodate 38 ‘fallen women’ in Aldine House (now renamed Clifton Home) and for the first time the building was listed as 127/129 Uxbridge Road. Number 127 is the current address and probably 129 was the extension opened in 1886. In 1901 there were 9 staff in charge of 37 inmates.

In 1911 numbers 127 and 129 are listed as The Church Army Home with 42 staff and residents and number 131 next door is shown as a hostel with 14 staff and residents. Probably number 131 was the original Old Oak Villa or a later building on the same site. For the 15 years leading up to WW2 Church Army Captain Arthur Stroud was in charge of the home. In 1938 Clifton House was listed as a home for youths and young men in need of protection and guidance, some of which were noted as being orphans. The 1939 register shows that all the residents were men.

It appears that the Church Army vacated the premises sometime towards the end of the war as the 1945 electoral roll show the building occupied by families, all with the same address as 127 Uxbridge Road. It was not until around 1960 that the building was given the individual flat numbers of 1 to 12. For many years Tom Morris the former Mayor of Hammersmith (1970/71) lived at number 2 until mobility problems caused him to move out. He died in 2002 aged 100.

1935 OS

Postscript: In the 1920s the telephone exchange was built on this site of 131 Uxbridge Road. Interestingly in 1911 number 131A is shown as Brilliant Sign Co. Ltd., which was built on the old gardens of Old Oak Villa. Clifton House is still numbered 127 Uxbridge Road but the Telephone Exchange and later extension are now numbered 143 (which would have been the last house on the Uxbridge Road before Coningham Road).

Photo P Trott

It just shows what you can find out with a little research in LBHF archives – opening soon. Perhaps you have a little article from your research don’t be shy get in touch fhhslist@gmail.com

TWO PUBS NO BEER

The General Smuts and the Springbok by Peter Trott

The General Smuts

The area where the White City Estate now stands was once fields. Farm buildings occupied the land which is now the junction of Bloemfontein Road and South Africa Road. The area to the north east was cleared to build the Franco British Exhibition which opened in 1908. Further exhibitions followed but the 1914 Anglo American Exposition closed abruptly when WW1 broke out. During the war the site was used for military purposes but then lay neglected until the mid 1930s when it was cleared to build the Estate.

Construction began in 1938 and in that year there were also proposals to build a public house on Bloemfontein Road. The road had been named in 1881, after Bloemfontein the judicial capital of South Africa. The literal translation of the name from Afrikaans is ‘Fountain of Flowers’ although it is now known as the ‘City of Roses’. The new pub would be leased to Watney Combe Reid and apparently would replace an earlier Watney’s House. This is somewhat of a mystery bearing in mind it would have been within the boundary of the exhibition site. In fact the location was close to where the exhibition’s Canadian Scenic Railway stood. I have been unable to find any records of an earlier pub on Bloemfontein Road, however a 1939 aerial photograph of the partly completed Estate appears to show a building close to that spot. It was probably just a site hut but if it was a pub it must have been very temporary. All construction work stopped when war broke out and that area became a dump for bomb rubble.

When it was finally built the pub was named The General Smuts after Jan Smuts who had served in the Second Boer War. He later went on to be Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa (1919 – 1924 and 1939 – 1948). An interesting fact is that he was the only person to sign both peace treaties that ended the First and Second World Wars. At the time there were some concerns about using his name and alternative names of The Greyhound or The Hare were considered. Bloemfontein Road had been named in 1881which was the year that the First Boer War ended. Jan Smuts died in 1950 and the pub opened in 1952. That year was the 50^th anniversary of the end of the Second Boer War, so possibly for continuity and in his honour they decided to keep his name.

Built at a cost of £67,000 it was a very large detached building made up of the pub, a function room, a restaurant and living accommodation. There was a suggestion that the comedian Charlie Drake opened the pub. It is possible as he had not long turned professional and was starting on a long and successful career with the BBC.

It was the first pub to be built on the White City Estate and became the local for the residents. On match days it became popular with Queens Park Rangers supporters as it was the closest to the ground. Unfortunately, as hooliganism crept into football the pub was occasionally targeted by visiting fans. Even on non-match days it experienced quite a bit of trouble both in the bars and the function room. Problems spiralled in the 2000s due to the poor management who were continually flouting licensing laws.

There was a 99 year lease dated from 25 March 1951 which stated the premises could only be used as a public house. This created a problem for the council as the police were pressing for it to be closed down. The pub appears to have closed around 2008 but about the same time a bar called Marines opened on the Commonwealth Avenue side of the building. It later became the Smuts Bar which closed around 2015. It was replaced by the White City Musalla in 2016.

Around 2008 the front part of the building was operating as an East African restaurant named Zizinia Gardens. On 1 May 2010 it opened as a community centre and restaurant named The Egyptian House. Because of all the problems associated with the lease it was not until 2011 that the licence to sell alcohol on the premises was finally revoked. From that date the premises could only operate as a restaurant and function room. Since 2017 The Egyptian House premises has included The Little Egypt Lounge in Commonwealth Avenue and Bro’s Burgers on the corner of Bloemfontein Road.

Prior to the proposal to build the General Smuts the White City Stadium had hosted the British Empire Games in 1934 (the forerunner of the Commonwealth Games). South Africa Road was planned as one of the perimeter roads of the White City Estate and it was officially named in 1939 (the same year than Jan Smuts became Prime Minister for the second time).

White City Pubs (from OS Map)

The Springbok

After the war work recommenced on the building of the Estate which was extended beyond South Africa Road to include Batman Close. The tennis courts of Hammersmith Park opened in 1954 and the rest of the park the following year. The Springbok Pub was to be built in a vacant plot south of the park between Batman Close and South Africa Road. That location was on the site of the 1908 Exhibition’s Decorative Arts Palace.

As well as being the nickname for the South African rugby team the Springbok (springing buck) is the national animal of South Africa. Springbok is also the largest town in the Namaqualand area in the Northern Cape Province, which interestingly was originally called Springbokfontein.

Although it doesn’t appear to have been reported it is claimed that Paddington born boxer Terry Downes opened the pub on 6 November 1957. Terry had been discharged from the American Marines in 1956 and returned to the UK where he turned professional in January 1957. So it’s quite possible that he was being promoted by his manager at the opening of the pub.

When the pub first opened it was operated by Mann, Crossman & Paulin but the following year they merged with Watney Combe Reid and became Watney Mann Ltd. The pub kept the same name until sometime in the late 1980s when it became McQueens. It returned to the Springbok a few years later but was given the present name of The Queen’s Tavern in 2016. The pub’s crest is based on the Queens Park Rangers crest which the club had dropped ahead of the 2016 – 2017 season. Similar to The General Smuts the pub also had its fair share of trouble and possibly the changes of name and management were attempts to improve its image. Before the Covid pandemic the pub only opened for fans on match days and on other days the bar could be hired for private functions.

The majority of the building is now The Queen’s Hostel which advertises on many room booking websites. It has a large number of dormitories each decked out with bunk beds. So at the moment it looks very unlikely that it will ever reopen as a traditional pub.

SHEPHERD’S BUSH – SAWLEY ROAD SCHOOL

An area that doesn’t always get the attention it deserves nevertheless there is plenty for us to consider in Shepherd’s Bush.  The next few articles have been written by Peter Trott who you may have seen recently on BBC talking about a very narrow house. 

This is about a new school at the turn of the last century.

Sawley Road LCC Temporary School

Sawley Road was officially named in 1904 and the road was laid out in the following years. In 1909 proposals were put forward to build a recreation ground on Sawley Road which would be named either Oaklands Park, Old Oak Park or Wormholt Park. Confusingly council minutes referred to it as Sawley Road Park but eventually it opened as Wormholt Park on 27 June 1911.

When the park opened there were actually no houses built on Sawley Road but work on the Old Oak Estate west of Wormholt Road was in progress. Ellerslie Road School had opened in 1894 but the amount of new homes being built to the west meant further schools were needed. So probably just before the park opened a temporary school was built on Sawley Road close to the junction of Bloemfontein Road and opposite the proposed park gates.

Although it was officially named the Sawley Road LCC Temporary School it was nicknamed the tin school. Temporary schools of that period were usually part constructed of corrugated iron and one or two rare examples still exist in
the UK. At the time of writing this I have found very little information about the school itself. It was certainly in use by 1912 and is shown on the 1915 OS map.

An aerial photograph taken in 1921 (Britain From Above) clearly shows the school which appears to consist of three large buildings. They may have been separate schools for seniors, juniors and infants. There appears to be some small buildings at the rear which were probably toilets and sheds. The photo also shows that there were still no houses on Sawley Road which suggests that all building worked stopped when WW1 broke out.

The war started in July 1914 and in September the school held a sports day in
Wormholt Park. On 11 September 1914 The West London Observer reported:

‘It is difficult in these days of international turmoil and excitement for one to turn
one’s thought, even for a brief period, exclusively to social events – such as are
in progress – let alone organise such a thing as a sports meeting and to carry it
through with phenomenal success’

And further wrote:

‘Undoubtedly the handsome prizes which were offered for competition
provided a stimulus to the children, and among the awards was a handsome doll
which had been dressed by the girls of the top class. Eileen Talbot, a little girl of
10 years of age, whose father is serving with the colours at the front, set her
heart upon winning the doll, and although smaller than many of her competitors,
she ran pluckily in the event that the doll was a prize in, and won a splendid
race. She was heartily cheered for her achievement’

At that time the Headmaster was listed as Mr A Saywell who was also the
president of the National Association of Head Teachers.

WW1 ended in 1918 and the following year work commenced on the
construction of Wormholt Park School. Eventually it would accommodate the
children from the proposed East Acton Estate. In 1921 there was a children’s
fancy dress party held at the hall at Lime Grove Baths and over 1,000 dancers &
spectators attended from eight schools, including Sawley Road School.

Wormholt School opened in 1922 and some of the first entrants were the pupils
from Sawley Road School which then closed down. A Wormholt School report
from December 1922 stated that Headmistress Miss Howlett, spoke very
encouragingly of the good work already done in the short time since the Schools
were opened and reorganised in June upon vacating the temporary buildings in
Sawley Road.

The old Sawley Road School was still standing in 1923 when William Gordon
Wilson of Galloway Road was charged with being on the enclosed premises in
the yard of the school.

Between 1926 and 1928 the LCC built 783 houses on the Wormholt Estate and
it is probably during that period that the Sawley Road site was cleared and the
houses were finally built. Interestingly when Sawley Road was planned it was
intended that houses would be built on both sides of the road. However in the

interim period Wormholt Park was built where the even numbered houses
would have stood.

The old school site is now occupied approximately by numbers 1 to 17 Sawley
Road, the small triangular green at the junction of Sawley Road and
Bloemfontein Road and numbers 52 and 54 Bloemfontein Road.

Dunraven Road and Collingbourne Road were built in the late 1890s and when
the houses on Sawley Road and the two semi-detached houses on Bloemfontein
Road were completed an alleyway was incorporated to connect the four roads.
Recently a volunteer urban garden group named The Green Project Shepherds
Bush have transformed the triangular green into a delightful garden.

THE FUTURE OF OUR LOCAL ARCHIVES – ACT NOW

We have received an email from Annabelle May that brings news of an imminent decision to vacate Lilla Husset and store the archives elsewhere, as yet unspecified.

Members will know that the FHHS is not at all poitical or even a campaigning society but you will all know that the font of knowledge about the borough is the LBHF Archive.  Although some records are now at the London Metropolitan Archives or The  National Archive the bulk of our history and much of its cultural depth is contained in the Archive.  There is of course the local history and ready access archives of books, photos and some maps in the recently created archives space above Hammersmith Library.  The real gems and source material are contained in the purpose built archive storage at Lilla Husset.  This was a planning gain when its parent building was authorised; the lease has now run out and rent is being charged.

The archive storage is a vital resource for historians and local residents but also provides an important function for many professionals.  Drainage plans and old maps are regularly accessed by architects and planning consultants, residents wishing to make alterations can research their building and the rich history of their immediate location, although not available instantly it can be accessed through the archivist.   Just imagine the rigmarole if this storage is held remotely and even worse if its contents were to be managed and controlled by another organisation.  Even LBHF councillors would find this difficult and may find charges for holding the archives and for accessing them could outweigh the current rent. See the Local Government Acts for their responsibilities. This was an issue under the Conservatives but now recurs under Labour so all politicians appear to be uncaring where their, and our, archives are concerned.

So  please act now.  Write to the leader of the Council, to your local Councillors  of all parties and to your MP and make sure they know that we care about our boroughs’ history and their archives.

Here is Annabelle’s email in full.

Dear All

By now, you will be aware of plans made to move the Archives out of the Borough.

These plans were never officially communicated to the Archives Group or any other part of the community, and have not been consulted on.

Nevertheless a notice has now appeared on the council website under Forthcoming Decisions with the heading Archives Relocation.  This states ‘first published 5/01/21’ and then says  ‘for determination 2/02/21’. They do not convey their intention to move outside the borough, but this is what is now on the table.

 

These proposals seem to have emerged from the finance and property departments, who have decided not to renew the lease of the purpose-built Lilla Huset building. Sadly, they demonstrate their total ignorance of the crucial role of archives and of the council’s legal obligations.  They are also clearly unaware of the huge upheaval across the borough six years ago, when the previous administration attempted to close the Archives altogether, resulting in the much diminished service we now experience. No background papers for these proposals have been published.

 

I intend to write to the Leader Steve Cowan to inform him about this situation and to express our opposition.  In the LBHF  Report for 2020-21 he pledges to find permanent gallery space for the Cecil French collection. But keeping the Archives in the Borough is far more important to the whole community.

 

Meanwhile please inform your local groups, and write to your local councillors to object and to insist that if this move is to go ahead new premises must be found in the borough.  Surely some of the many developers on the scene could contribute?  (The Cabinet Member listed on the website is Cllr Max Schmid – he is Finance – no mention of Education, Arts and Culture, Planning etc etc …)

Happy New Year – we hope.

Annabelle

 

 

Annabelle May

Chair, H&F Archives and Local Studies Group