History of Shepherd's Bush
Post war developments included the construction of the Westway and the M41 spur (now the West Cross Route) to the M40 motorway which cut Shepherd's Bush off from Holland Park, and in the process demolished much Victorian housing.
There appears to have been an ancient custom of pruning a hawthorn bush to provide a shelter for shepherds protecting them from the elements as they watched their flocks.
Shepherd's Bush enters the written record in the year 704 when it was bought by Waldhere, Bishop of London as a part of the "Fulanham" estate.
[3] However, the neighbourhood appears to have been of little note until the mid-seventeenth century, when a cottage on the Goldhawk road became the home of one Miles Sindercombe, a disgruntled Roundhead who in 1657 made several attempts to assassinate Oliver Cromwell.
His plan failed, and Sindercombe was sentenced to be hung drawn and quartered, although he managed to avoid his fate, as his sister succeeded in smuggling poison into his cell.
A map of London dated 1841 shows Shepherd's Bush to be still largely undeveloped and chiefly rural in character, with much open farmland compared to fast-developing Hammersmith, and several ponds or small lakes.
[1] In 1846 the philanthropist Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts acquired a house in what is now Lime Grove, which she intended to convert into a home for destitute prostitutes.
Burdett-Coutts was a personal friend of the Duke of Wellington, a generous benefactor and extremely devout - so much so that she dismissed Dickens' appointment as deputy matron on the grounds that she was a dissenter.
Gradually the differences between the pair increased and in 1862 Dickens separated from his wife, causing a public scandal which eventually led to the demise of the Urania experiment.
[12] Residential development of the area began in earnest in the late 19th century, as London's population expanded relentlessly, requiring new housing.
In 1898 the Shepherd's Bush Village Hall was opened on Wood Lane, and the DIMCO buildings were constructed, a red brick structure (Now Grade II listed) originally built as a shed for a London Underground power station, Europe's first electricity generating facility.
One example is Hopgood Street, a typical Victorian terrace of four storey brick buildings, faced with neo-classical stucco enrichments, completed c1899.
[17][18] In 1904 The Catholic Church of Holy Ghost and St Stephen, built in the Gothic style with a triple-gabled facade of red brick and Portland stone, was completed and opened to the public.
[19] The church catered to the spiritual needs of many of Shepherd's Bush's new inhabitants - Irish labourers seeking work and opportunities in London, whose arrival in the capital created fears of urban slums and the spread of disease.
At the turn of the century Hammersmith MP Sir William Bull was appalled to see Shepherd's Bush Green become home to destitute unemployed sleeping rough, gambling, and playing pitch and toss.
After the Olympics, the stadium continued to be used for athletics until 1914, and was later turned into a greyhound racing track, although it was also used for short periods by Queens Park Rangers football club, and for other sports.
It covered an area of some 140 acres (0.57 km2), including an artificial lake, surrounded by an immense network of white buildings in elaborate (often Oriental) styles.
A small area of tiling preserved from the Garden can still be seen inside the main Television Centre site adjacent to the Studio 1 Audience Entrance.
The White City Stadium site, in Wood Lane adjacent to the Westway overpass and once part of the Exhibition, is now occupied by the BBC's Media Village.
[27] Little sign of the exhibition remains, but the Chokushimon (Gateway of the Imperial Messenger, a four-fifths replica of the Karamon of Nishi Hongan-ji in Kyoto) was moved to Kew Gardens a year later, where it still can be seen today.
Part of the rehabilitation process involved putting the recovering patients to work in local shops, a policy which does not appear to have been entirely popular among the soldiers themselves.
The construction of the Westway and the M41 spur (now the West Cross Route) to the M40 motorway cut Shepherd's Bush off from Holland Park, demolishing much Victorian housing including the handsome Royal Hotel, its site being swallowed up by the roundabout.
[44] In 1966 The World Cup was held in England, and White City stadium was once again the location for a major sporting event - albeit just a single match.
The Shepherd's Bush skyline was permanently altered in 1974 when the Labour-controlled Council built four huge public housing towers on the south side of the Green.
[46] The Shepherd's Bush Empire, since 1953 the home of the BBC, was taken over by entrepreneur Andrew Mahler, who spent £2m on refurbishment, restoring the building and turning it into a music venue for concerts and other events, which it remains to this day.
White City One housed most of the BBC's current affairs and factual and learning programmes, such as Panorama, Top Gear, and Watchdog.
In 1993 Lime Grove Studios, where the Beatles recorded, and where Alfred Hitchcock shot sequences for many of his films, was demolished and replaced with residential accommodation.
Its cost was estimated at £1.1bn, built on a site bounded by the West Cross Route (A3220), the Westway (A40) and Wood Lane (A219), and opened on 30 October 2008.
The changes included two new play areas for children, removal of the tennis courts, and the planting of further trees and a general improvement to routes across the Green for both cyclists and pedestrians.
[62] In July 2011 former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone visited the market to add his voice to those opposed to the council's plans for regeneration of the area.
