Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Aside from the river and the parks, the chief attractions of West London are the
royal palaces and lordly mansions that pepper the riverbanks: textbook Palladian
style at
Chiswick House
, unspoilt Jacobean splendour at
Ham House
and Tudor and
Baroque excess (and the famous maze) at
Hampton Court
. For riverside walks and
pubs, you can't beat the stretch of the river from
Hammersmith
- London's gateway
to the west, by road or tube - and neighbouring
Chiswick
, to
Kew
,
Richmond
and
Twickenham
beyond.
22
Hammersmith
he transport and tra
c interchange hellhole of
Hammersmith
is worth visiting for one
simple reason: the tube station gives easy access to the Wetland Centre (see p.330) and
to the riverside walk to Chiswick. The riverside walk begins a short way southwest of
the tube, down Queen Caroline Street. First off, you pass underneath
Hammersmith
Bridge
, a graceful green-and-gold suspension bridge from the 1880s that the IRA
have tried to blow up three times: first in 1939, as part of their attempt to disrupt the
British war effort, secondly by the Provisional IRA in 1996, and finally four years later
by the Real IRA. From the bridge, you can walk all the way to Chiswick along one of
the most picturesque stretches of riverbank in the whole of London, much of it closed
to tra
c.
The riverside
The first section of the riverside, just west of the bridge,
known as
Lower Mall
, is a
mixture of Victorian pubs, boathouses, Regency verandas and modern flats. An
interesting array of boats huddles around the marina outside the
Dove
, an atmospheric
seventeenth-century riverside pub (see p.398). This started out as a coffee house and
has the smallest back bar in the country, copious literary associations - regulars have
included Graham Greene, Ernest Hemingway and William Morris - and a canopied
balcony overlooking the Thames.
Kelmscott House
26 Upper Mall • Thurs & Sat 2-5pm • Free •
T
020 8741 3735,
W
williammorrissociety.org •
!
Ravenscourt Park
It's strange to think that this genteel part of the Thames was once a hotbed of radicals,
who used to congregate at
Kelmscott House
, where
William Morris
lived and worked
from 1878 until his death in 1896. (Morris used to berate the locals from a soapbox on
Hammersmith Bridge.) From 1885 onwards, the local socialists used to meet here on a
Sunday evening, with Labour leader Keir Hardie, anarchist Prince Kropotkin, writer
George Bernard Shaw and Fabian founders the Webbs among the speakers - their
photos now line the walls.
7 Hammersmith Terrace
7 Hammersmith Terrace • April to mid-Sept pre-booked guided tours only Sat 11am, 12.30 & 2.30pm • £10 •
T
020 8741 4104,
W
emerywalker.org.uk •
!
Stamford Brook
A socialist mate of Morris, the printer Emery Walker lived just down the riverbank at
7
Hammersmith Terrace
,
one of a line of tall Georgian houses built facing the river
THE THAMES BY BOAT
From
Westminster
, from April to October, Westminster Passenger Services (
T
020 7930 2062,
W
wpsa.co.uk) run a scheduled service from Westminster Pier to Kew, Richmond and Hampton
Court. The full trip takes three hours one-way, and costs £15 single, £22.50 return. In addition,
Turks (
T
020 8546 2434,
W
turks.co.uk) runs a regular service from
Richmond
to
Hampton
Court
(April to mid-Sept Tues-Sun; Aug daily; journey time 1hr 45min) which costs £7 single
or £9.50 return. For the latest on
boat services
on the Thames, see
W
tfl.gov.uk.
