Esoteric London

Hammersmith Town Hall, Great West Road, London, W6. Photo © Roger Dean 2010

Flanking the steps of the rear, formally the front, entrance to Hammersmith Town Hall are two colossal carved heads of Father Thames. When the architect E. Berry Webber designed the Town Hall which was built in 1938-9 he incorporated the heads in commemoration of the fact that the building stands astride the old Hammersmith Creek. The Creek was an outflow river of the Stamford Brook and was still in use for river traffic until 1930 with much industry including malt houses and boat builders lining its banks. It was filled in during 1935-6. R.D.