Hammersmith to Goldhawk Road walk

Hammersmith station serves as a major transport hub for the area. It opened on Beadon Road on 13 June 1864 as part of a western extension of the Metropolitan Railway – the station was moved south to its present location in 1868. When the station opened, Hammersmith was a relatively small settlement outside London.

The Hammersmith population grew from 10 000 in 1801 to 250 000 in 1901, and a lot of that was due to the railway connecting the area to the rest of the city and enabling its rapid growth. As the population of Hammersmith swelled in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the station underwent several renovations and improvements to accommodate the increasing demand for transport.

As you exit the station and are facing the “other” Hammersmith station, turn left and follow the road left again into Shepherd’s Bush Road, a main road. On its left, you’ll walk past the former site of the Hammersmith Palais.

With a large branch of Tesco’s in sight, Brook Green, a serene little park equipped with a notable pub (The Queen’s Head) and tennis courts.

Take time to explore Brook Green but rejoining Shepherd’s Bush Road, turn left into Lena Gardens. Follow this and then Sulgrave Road.

To get to Goldhawk Road station, follow the Tube line down a path that’s easy to overlook from Sulgrave Road, passing the railway arches leading to the London United Shepherd’s Bush Depot. The station is situated on the south side of the bridge over Goldhawk Road..

During their early days, The Who performed at the Goldhawk Social Club located in Goldhawk Road, where they gained a loyal following of ‘Mod’ enthusiasts. Their first hit single, “I Can’t Explain,” propelled them to stardom and established them as favourites on the new TV show, Ready, Steady, Go!. The streets of Goldhawk Road witnessed the sale of Vespas and Lambrettas, which were often embellished with additional mirrors, a long aerial, and a fake tiger tail at the back, reflecting the distinct mod culture of the 1960s.

The 1979 film, Quadrophenia, presents a fictional but accurate portrayal of the Mod culture of the 1960s. The movie features several scenes shot in different locations, including Shepherd’s Bush Market, Goldhawk Road (which includes Cooke’s Pie & Mash shop and Ashken’s grocery), Uxbridge Road, Latimer Road, and the Wormholt Estate.

 





Soho

The name “Soho” first appears in the 17th century. Most authorities believe that the name derives from a former hunting cry. James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, used “soho” as a rallying call for his men at the Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July 1685, half a century after the name was first used for this area of London. The Soho name has been imitated by other entertainment and restaurant districts such as Soho, Hong Kong; Soho, Málaga; SOHO, Beijing; SoHo (South of Horton), London, Ontario, Canada; and Palermo Soho, Buenos Aires. SoHo, Manhattan, gets its name from its location SOuth of HOuston Street, but is also a reference to London’s Soho.

Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation as a base for the sex industry in addition to its night life and its location for the headquarters of leading film companies. Since the 1980s, the area has undergone considerable gentrification. It is now predominantly a fashionable district of upmarket restaurants and media offices, with only a small remnant of sex industry venues.

Soho is a small, multicultural area of central London; a home to industry, commerce, culture and entertainment, as well as a residential area for both rich and poor. It has clubs, including the former Chinawhite nightclub; public houses; bars; restaurants; a few sex shops scattered amongst them; and late-night coffee shops that give the streets an “open-all-night” feel at the weekends. Record shops cluster in the area around Berwick Street, with shops such as Phonica, Sister Ray and Reckless Records.




Sloane Square to Victoria walk

This walk will cover the non-Belgravia history of the area

Exit the Royal Court Theatre way into Holbien Place which is exactly on top of the Westbourne.

Whitaker Street, cross Bourne Street and into Chester Row.

27 Eaton Terrace is the site of the Fivefields Chapel.

Down Eaton Terrace the other way to reach Ebury Street (Five Fields Row).

Semley Place is the ex Ebury Farm.

Along Buckingham Palace Road (Grosvenor Canal) to Victoria

New Southgate

Before 1815 most of the houses in what became New Southgate lay in either Hertfordshire or Edmonton. This was apart from Betstile House, which stood on the corner of Friern Barnet Road and Oakleigh Road. By 1846 others stood north of the road, on the site of the former Friern great park. The former Friern Little Park in Oakleigh Road had been divided into plots with cottages. Since the mid 19th century, the small settlement of Betstile has been better known as New Southgate.

New Southgate is now situated across three current-day London Boroughs – Barnet, Enfield, and a northern corner of Haringey. It has become a residential suburb which merges into Bounds Green. The area’s first church, established in 1873, adopted the newer name, New Southgate, over the older hamlet name, Colney Hatch.

This transition in nomenclature reflects a societal shift and the social stigma associated with a significant residential institution, specifically the Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum, built in 1851. The asylum served Middlesex and continued to cater to a considerable portion of London even after the establishment of the London County Council in 1889. The mental health hospital eventually closed its doors in 1993, leading to the redevelopment of the site into two housing estates: Princess Park Manor and Friern Village in New Southgate.

The railway station was built in 1851 as Colney Hatch & New Southgate or Colney Hatch changed its name five times such as from New Southgate for Colney Hatch to New Southgate and Friern Barnet on 1 May 1923; its current name dates to 1971.



Victoria to Sloane Square walk

Cross Buckingham Palace Road into Lower Belgrave Street. The Plumbers Arms pub is at 14 Lower Belgrave Street.

Thomas Cubitt, leasing land from Lord Grosvenor, was planning to remove and redevelop the temporary ale house which was here. A group of plumbers rose to block the plan.

The Plumbers Arms was the 1974 venue which witnessed Lord Lucan’s wife bursting in distress over finding their nanny dead in her home.

Turn left into the far side of Eaton Square

Eaton Square was designed by Thomas Cubitt in the Palazzo style. Born in Norfolk in 1788, he was a ship’s carpenter before setting up as a speculative builder in 1811. One of three garden squares built by the Grosvenor family, it is named after Eaton Hall, Cheshire, the family’s principal seat.

Construction of the Square began in 1826 but wasn’t completed until 1855. During the layout of Belgravia, Cubitt lived nearby at 3 Lyall Street. The long construction period is reflected in the variety of architecture in the square.

The grand façades with Corinthian-style column capitals overlook private gardens, part of the 16 acres of gardens within Grosvenor’s Belgravia and Mayfair Estates. Eaton Square was originally the beginning of the royal route (the King’s Road) from St James’s Palace to Hampton Court.

Past residents of the Square include Stanley Baldwin, Lord Boothby, Neville Chamberlain, Vivien Leigh and Lord John Russell.

At the east end of the square is St Peter’s Church, designed by Henry Hakewill and built between 1824 and 1827. The first church was destroyed by fire in 1836 and rebuilt by Hakewill.

Turn right into Lyall Street. Lyall Street extends southward from Chesham Place to Eaton Square, transitioning into Elizabeth Street at Eaton Square.

The street’s construction dates to 1838 and is credited to the master builder Thomas Cubitt, whose headquarters were at 3-4 Lyall Street. The street was named in honour of Charles Lyall, who served as a trustee of the Lowndes Estate.

Notably, John Aspinall, associated with the prominent Aspinall’s gaming club, resided at No. 1 Lyall Street.

Take a peak along Eaton Mews North and after that left into Eaton Place.

Eaton Place is an extension to the square, developed by Cubitt between 1826 and 1845. The scientist William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin lived here, as did the Irish Unionist Edward Carson. Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet was assassinated by Irish Republicans in 1922 as he was leaving No. 36.

More cheerfully, the fictional Bellamy family from Upstairs Downstairs lived here at number “165”.

On the corner of West Eaton Place and Eaton Place stands the house where Frederick Chopin gave his first London performance in 1848.

Take West Eaton Place and Eaton Terrace into Sloane Square.

Sloane Square holds historical significance as it serves as a boundary between two major aristocratic estates in London—the Grosvenor Estate and the Cadogan Estate. The square was named after Sir Hans Sloane, an Anglo-Irish doctor who, along with his appointed trustees, owned the land when the square was laid out in 1771.

In the 1980s, Sloane Square gained additional cultural recognition as it became associated with the rise of yuppiedom and the term “Sloane Rangers,” a concept popularised by Peter York. While the square has seen changes in its clientele over the years, with Ralph Lauren and Tiffany stores catering to a different demographic, it still maintains a certain level of exclusivity. The area is known for luxury shopping, and despite the shifts in cultural associations, it continues to attract attention for its upscale character, complete with high-end stores and occasional appearances of marauding Range Rovers.

South Lambeth

The origins of the name of Lambeth come from its first record in 1062 as Lambehitha, meaning ’landing place for lambs’, and in 1255 as Lambeth.

It was geographically split into two: North Lambeth (which is the Lambeth of today) and South Lambeth is recorded as Sutlamehethe in 1241.

Noel de Caron, Lord of Schoonewale in Flanders, held most of the freehold land in Vauxhall Manor at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1581, he was elected to the States General of the United Provinces, demonstrating his loyalty to the Prince of Orange. Caron played a crucial role in the negotiations between the States General and Queen Elizabeth I in 1585. Over time, he developed a strong affinity for England, and spent much of his time living there.

Caron acquired property in South Lambeth through two transactions. In 1602, he purchased a substantial house with a dairy house and around 70 acres from Thomas Hewytt of St Andrew Undershaft. Later, in 1618, Caron expanded his estate by acquiring additional land from William and Catherine Foster. Catherine had inherited this property from her grandfather, Laurence Palmer.

Despite his extensive property holdings, Caron continued his diplomatic career as an ambassador until his death in December 1624. He was buried in St Mary’s, Lambeth, in January of the following year.

Noel de Caron erected a large mansion house on the site of the “greate howse” he purchased from Hewytt. This mansion house took several years to build and was surrounded by a large park, well watered by Vauxhall Creek (the River Effra) and adorned with trees. In the Commonwealth period, the house was owned by Alderman Francis Allen, one of the Commissioners appointed to try Charles I.

In 1666, the house and park were granted to the Lord Chancellor, Edward, Earl of Clarendon, for an annual rent of 10 shillings. After Clarendon, the estate passed to Sir Jeremy Whichcott (Whichcote) of Hendon, who had served as Solicitor-General to the Prince Elector Palatine. In 1677, Sir Jeremy’s son, Sir Paul Whichcott, was noted as the owner of Caron House and park. By 1685, Caron House itself was demolished, but its name persisted.

In 1725, the estate was acquired by Edward Lovibond, and it remained in the Lovibond family until 1797 when it was sold to Sir Charles Blicke. Blicke likely had Carroun House built as his residence. The plan of Blicke’s estate covers the area from Lawn Lane to the backs of houses in Heyford Avenue, extending east to a line drawn from the rear of Vauxhall Park to the junction of Meadow Road and Fentima Roads. This plan is based on a drawing from 1838 and reflects the land granted to Clarendon in 1666. Sir Charles Blicke was admitted as a tenant for additional pieces of land in 1806 and 1808.

The area known as Carroun House and gardens, north of Fentiman Road, including buildings known as The Lawn, was later covered by Vauxhall Park. In 1889, eight and a half acres of this land were purchased by the Lambeth Vestry for £43,500 to create a public park. The London County Council and the Charity Commissioners also contributed to the purchase, and landscape gardener Fanny R. Wilkinson, associated with the Kyrle Society, designed the layout of the park. The opening ceremony took place on 7 July 1890, attended by Octavia Hill and performed by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.

The site where the house once stood, which was demolished for the park’s formation, now features an artificial stone statue. The statue, created by George Tinworth at Doulton’s manufactory, was unveiled on 7 June 1893. The raised terrace running northward from the statue follows the same line as the paved way in front of The Lawn.

The area south of the current Vauxhall Park was rural – apart from a vinegar factory – until the mid nineteenth century after which it urbanised rapidly.

South Lambeth is now the heart of the London Borough of Lambeth’s Portuguese community.




Arnos Grove

It was originally a medieval estate of the Arnold family in Middlesex. Its natural grove, much larger than today, was for many centuries the largest woodland in the chapelry of Southgate. It became associated with Arnolds (Arnos) Park when its owner was permitted to enclose much of its area from common land to create the former park.

The modern district of Arnos Grove is centred on the western end of Bowes Road. The Arnos Grove estate was centred on the modern Morton Crescent.

Arnos Grove station opened on 19 September 1932 as the terminus on the first section of the Piccadilly line extension from Finsbury Park to Cockfosters. Services were further extended northward on 13 March 1933. The station was designed by architect Charles Holden, is Grade II listed, and has been described as a significant work of modern architecture.




South Ealing to Acton Town walk

We start off in Maytrees Rest Garden, opposite South Ealing station. “May Tree” is an old name for the native Hawthorn tree, which starts flowering in May. A rest garden is a local Ealing feature – there’s another one at Warwick Dene – a place for “Those Requiring Rest”.

Turning left out of the park, we reach Roberts Alley. Roberts Alley was an ancient lane and, rather than beginning at modern Olive Road as it does now, it was the northern extension of Claypond’s Lane (Clayponds Avenue) running all the way up from Brentford. But this is the final section and it’s still here.

Where Roberts Alley ends, Baillies Walk starts – at St Mary’s Ealing church.

The St Mary’s architect kept the core of a 1740 church when it was rebuilt in 1866. The church tower is very imposing – flanked by smaller pointed cupolas over the side naves, an unusual idea that is inspired by Byzantine churches. It is quite a beautiful spot.

On early 19th century maps, Baillies Walk is marked as Bailey’s Lane – a small road running east from St Mary’s before reaching a fork where the modern path makes a northward turn.

The first stretch of Baillies Walk retains a semi-rural feel. The former market gardens and arable fields between the walk and the Piccadilly Line were turned into the Ascott Allotments. These 12 acres are the second largest allotment site in Greater London. They were set up in 1886 as St Mary’s Allotment.

Ealing boasts a first here: Ealing Dene to the west is the oldest existing allotments in what is now London, created in November 1832.

Ranelagh Road was built parallel to, and to the north of, Baillies Walk during the 1860s and the new houses had generous gardens backing onto Baillies Walk. The end garden walls of the Ranelagh Road houses survive to this day and form the northern boundary wall of the walk.

Baillies Walk turns sharply north at Queen Anne’s Gardens. Until after the First World War, the site of the Queen Anne’s Gardens was a small field between the eastern end of the allotments and the new Ascott Avenue. An ancient path ran southeast from this point and headed to Pope’s Lane. The building of Queen Anne’s Gardens during the 1920s put paid to the existence of this path.

Briefly we’re on Warwick Road before turning right into Ascott Avenue.

After the railway was built, London Transport noticed that whereas South Ealing station was extremely close to Northfields station, that there was a big gap between South Ealing and Acton Town. A plan was developed to close South Ealing and build a new station at the site of the bridge at Ascott Avenue. However, there were so many objections to the closure that the idea was abandoned.

Elderberry Road is the extension of Ascott Avenue south of the bridge.

We cross Pope’s Lane and enter Gunnersbury Park, walking east along the northern edge. We emerge back onto Pope’s Lane, cross it again and reach Gunnersbury Drive. Walk up this and. at the top of it, for no good reason since it’s in a standard house on the busy North Circular, is the North Korean Embassy.

Walk south along the North Circular and cross it into Tudor Drive. To reach Acton Town station, turn right into Carbery Avenue, left into Gunnersbury Gardens, left again into Gunnersbury Crescent and hey presto, you’re at Acton Town.

Amersham to Chalfont & Latimer walk

From the station, Chilton Avenue and Station Road.

Turn right for a footpath into the woods and follow this as it turns left.

Down into Old Amersham. Take a look around before backtracking to the River Misbourne and following a path to Station Road.

Cross into a mews and begin to follow London Road West.

Turn left into Stanley Hill. Follow the path towards the cemetery and then cross country to reach Coke’s Lane. Follow this up to Chalfont and Latimer station.

Brent Cross West

The Brent Cross Cricklewood development is an extensive project encompassing a 14,000,000 square feet area, creating a new town centre in Brent Cross. The development includes the construction of Brent Cross West station, generating approximately 27,000 jobs, building 7,500 homes, expanding Brent Cross Shopping Centre, introducing a new hotel, cinema, bus station and additional roads.

Construction of Brent Cross West began with site clearance in June 2020, followed by foundation construction in November 2020. VolkerFitzpatrick, in collaboration with Barnet Council, undertook the design and construction of the station.

The station is situated on the former site of the Cricklewood Traction Maintenance Depot used by East Midlands Railway and Thameslink. The Thameslink Programme’s expansion enables longer 12-carriage trains, and Brent Cross West station was strategically designed with longer platforms to accommodate these extended train formations.

Looking ahead, there are plans to extend the London Overground network to Hendon via Brent Cross West, known as the West London Orbital. This proposal involves reopening the Dudding Hill Line and operating trains from West Hampstead Thameslink and Hendon to Hounslow via the planned Old Oak Common Lane station.

Brent Cross West station opened on 10 December 2023.