Old Oak Lane

Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 10 Aug 2013

I first noticed the sign saying 'Railway Cottages' (by the down-pipe on the building nearest the camera) many years ago - and because they're not far from the old GWR's main London depot at Old Oak Common, I assumed it was the Great Western which had built them. But - on this visit I looked more closely, and found that the first opening on the right leads to Webb Place, the second to Stoke Place, the third to Crewe Place. Crewe was - of course - a railway town, but the railway which built it was the London & North Western; Francis Webb was chief engineer at Crewe Works from 1871 to 1903; the Stoke conurbation was very much part of LNWR territory. Local sources give the date of the development as 1889. I would have guessed that the little terraced cottages in the 'Places' were older - but the fact that Mr Webb's name is commemorated makes that unlikely. The part of the old railway estate on this side of the main road has been designated a conservation area by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. See also ceridwen's contribution: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1773429

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