Hammersmith & Fulham

This area of London is the farthest west you can go before exiting the area of the London County Council. Beyond Hammersmith, you are technically outside of the city and are entering the smaller area of Acton. Hammersmith is just seeing the beginnings of real development as the city is stretching forth along the western artery out of town, Pond Street. The area is a patchwork of old houses and small farms that are gradually being replaced with housing for the middle-class workers and the servants of the great houses in nearby Kensington, Brompton, and Mayfair.

In Hammersmith you can travel on paved roads and see the more modern rows of flats – that great decadent manner of life that is sweeping the city. You can also see glimpses of the not long gone past: small farms in the midst of the creeping growth of new buildings and planned communities. You can find blacksmiths and other artisans working their trade in a manner of their fathers and grandfathers, without the modern conveniences of machines. The poor are less visible here than in the city proper, but they are still here, living in the houses and on the farms of their families, waiting for the offer from the land developer looking to put up a new series of ‘crescents and gardens' for the middle-class and newly wealthy.

The major rail station here is Hammersmith, which has three major lines – Hammersmith North and South, as well as the Metropolitan Railway's Hammersmith. This rail station connects through Victoria Station to nearly all the major routes out of London. It also is the last stop in the city before leaving the city for Richmond.

Location Aspects:

• Bustling streets, quiet nights
• Skeletal structures mid-construction

Fulham

Fulham, like Hammersmith, has seen recent development efforts. Just south of Hammersmith and bounded on three sides by the curve of the Thames, Fulham is far enough up stream as to avoid much of the effluvia and pollution found throughout the great river in town. There area is more upscale than Hammersmith, with commons and heaths still scattered throughout the area. Kings Road runs through the district, and crosses into the working and middle class suburbs of Putney on the south side of the river.

Fulham, like Hammersmith, still has enough of the country feel to make it seem removed from the hustle and dirt of the city. The infamous London Fogs are less concentrated and blow out faster in this area than the rest of the city.

The nearest rail station is Chiswick, which connects to Kew and also south through Barnes Station in Putney to Waterloo in Lambeth. From there, any a connection to any of the major lines is possible.

Hammersmith and Fulham are perfect locales for characters who have recently come into money and are looking for a place ‘out of the way', without being so removed from London as to have a country house. The area is also popular with inventors for their workshops, due to the more spread-out nature of the urban growth. Here you can still blow things up in your basement laboratory without disturbing the neighbours.

Prosperity
Well-to-do

Dominant Social Class
Professional middle-class and gentry; farmers are fading out.

Crime
Low

Police Presence
Low

Dominant Profession or Industry
Brewing, farming, construction

Type

District