THE POPE’S CORNER
Catholics and communists in Hammersmith, London’s rebel river village
Republican painter William Turner lived here. Aggrieved Queen Caroline attracted a following
of vociferous anti-Royalists. Catholic Queen Catherine of Braganza quietly founded a nunnery
here in the heart of protestant England – centuries later Catholic Hammersmith attracted
the Irish escaping the potato famine, giving the village the nick-name, the Pope’s Corner.
Hammersmith went on to become a hot bed of socialism and home to radical artists like
William Morris. By the late 19th century, it became a citadel of the Labour party in
London, starting a tradition that goes on to Tony Blair and beyond
Meet:
The Roman Road to Bath (it’s still in use) / Gustav Holst (composer of The Planets)
William Morris, Utopian socialist artist, the first to lead the charge against
modern mass production – the inspiration for the Arts and Crafts movement
The Queen who died of grief, the man who won 5 Olympic Gold Medals - consecutively
- and the wallpaper designer who predicted the Perfect Society would emerge in ... 2003
Visit:
Where the founder of Singapore, explorer Stamford Raffles, had his first geography lesson
The prettiest stretch of London’s riverside (grandstand for the annual
University Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge universities)
What Hitler’s V1 rockets could do to a street (London was the
first city in the world to be attacked by ballistic missiles)

Further links:
William Morris Gallery