Description
The Church of the Holy Innocents was built in 1890/1, a Gothic style building designed by James Brooks. The reorganisation of the church interior and redevelopment of the old parish hall site as sheltered housing in the late 1980s allowed the churchyard gardens to be redeveloped by Revd. Murray Grant. The garden adjacent to Dorville Crescent contains several mature plane trees, but additional shrubs have been planted. The old west door approach has been planted with colourful perennials and shrubs. The area to the south of the church has been grassed over, and shrubs planted along the wall of the church.
Practical Information
| Site location | Paddenswick Road |
|---|---|
| Postcode | W6 0UB |
| What3Words | ///metals.parade.being |
| Type of Site | Churchyard |
| Borough | Hammersmith & Fulham |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | unrestricted |
| Events | Concerts |
| Public Transport | Tube: Ravenscourt Park (District). Bus: 266. |
| Research Updated | 1 September 2011 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
The Church of Holy Innocents is on the former site of Paddenswick Green, once a small hamlet in what was a rural area until the C19th. By the late C18th Hammersmith had grown to be an important settlement on the Great West Road, originally a Roman road, which led west from London towards Bath. There were a number of small hamlets including those at Paddenswick Green and Starch Green, and grand houses had been built by wealthy people who were attracted by the healthy reputation of the area. It otherwise remained largely rural, with pasture and arable land, nurseries and orchards, until the mid to late C19th when house building began in earnest. In 1869 the London and South Western Railway constructed the line from Waterloo to Richmond with stations opening at what is now Ravenscourt Park (originally known as Shaftesbury Road) and Turnham Green. Holy Innocents Church was among the churches, schools and other facilities provided to serve the growing population, and by the early C20th the area had been built up much as it appears today. Opposite Holy Innocents' Church is John Betts' School, a charity school built in 1859 at the behest of Dr John Betts (1799-1875) whose Almshouses, John Betts House (q.v.) were built in 1964 on land that Betts had bequeathed that the Hammersmith United Charities held as investment property.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ225790 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | Church of England |
| Site Management | Church of England |
| Dates | 1890/1; 1980s |
| Designers | James Brooks (church), Revd Murray Grant (recent planting) |
| Listed Structures | LBII: Holy Innocents Church |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Hammersmith & Fulham |
| In Conservation Area | Yes |
| Conservation Area Name | Ravenscourt and Starch Green |
| Tree Preservation Order | Yes |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | No |
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
Ravenscourt Park opened as a public park in 1888, laid out on the former grounds of the Ravenscourt estate, formerly known as Pallenswick. The moated manorhouse passed through numerous owners including Edward III's mistress Alice Perrers. From 1812 it was owned by George Scott who may have sought Humphry Repton's advice on landscaping of the grounds. In 1887 the house and remaining grounds were acquired by the MBW and Hammersmith Vestry, and opened to the public in 1888. The former stables were converted into the park's Refreshment Rooms, with public toilets added on at the north side. The mansion was used as a public library until it was destroyed by WWII bombing. The park contains remnants of the earlier planting, and the lake was once part of the moat. The park's greenhouses now house a community garden project, Ravenscourt Glasshouses.
Starch Green is so-called as the site was once used for a laundry green. It was a flooded brick pit that was filled by an unnamed stream that flowed from Wormwood Scrubs down the Askew Road. The land was conveyed to the Hammersmith Vestry free of charge in 1894. The pond refilled gradually post-1926 and was planted up with shrubs. Originally entirely surrounded by roads, the north side was paved in the late 1980s. In the early 1990s the end of Ashchurch Grove was closed and paved. A raised bed planted with periwinkle was built and much of the planting is recent although there is one mature London plane tree.
Ravenscourt Park Hospital was designed by architects Sir John Burnet, Tait and Lorne as the Royal Masonic Hospital, a new hospital for the Freemasons. It later became a private hospital, was leased to the NHS in 2002 but has been closed since 2006. The original hospital buildings and gardens were laid out with fine Art Deco detailing, the landscaping in front of the main entrance integral with the design of the boundary wall and entrance. To the south and overlooked on 3 sides, the garden was laid out with lawns, planted with numerous shrubs, conifers and flower beds, with a central elongated rectangular water feature with fountains and lilies.