The history of Kings Court

An enduring example of classic design and considered living

Origins of the landscape

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The name "Stamford" likely originates from a "stoney ford" or "sandy ford" where prehistoric people crossed the brook. The area immediately surrounding the brook and the nearby Thames was significantly wetter than today. Prehistoric people often settled on small islands or gravel humps that rose just above the marshy water level. Slightly further away from the immediate riverbanks, the higher and drier ground of the area was covered in dense prehistoric forest. This woodland likely consisted of oak, hazel, and birch, providing timber and hunting grounds for Neolithic communities. These forests were home to large wild animals, including wild boars and wolves, which persisted in the region for thousands of years.

If you stood on the site of Kings Court 5,000 years ago you would be close to the stony crossing point of a clear stream (Stamford Brook), with reedy marshes to your south leading to the Thames and thick, ancient woodland rising to your north. Because the Thames was shallower and wider, the low-lying ground around King Street would have been prone to regular flooding, creating a marshy environment of reeds and mudflats. In the Neolithic era the area was a dynamic and varied landscape. King Street follows the path of an ancient route that predates its medieval name. Its most defining feature was the Stamford Brook, which intersected the modern street near the current Hammersmith Town Hall. The first known inhabitants of the area were Neolithic tribes living along the riverside approximately 5,000 years ago.

Artist impression of Thames during Neolithic period (MOLA, 2025)

Neolithic people appear to have viewed the Thames as a significant or sacred river. Many valuable artifacts, including beautifully crafted stone axes made from exotic materials traded from as far as the Italian Alps, seem to have been deliberately placed in the river as votive offerings. Archaeological finds in the wider borough include worked flint from the Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic (roughly 6,000 years ago), indicating the area has been an important site for thousands of years. Over time the landscape slowly shifted into a mosaic of woodland and open heath. Significant Bronze Age remains have been excavated at the mouth of the Stamford Brook. Large caches of bronze metalwork, including axe-heads and spear tips, have been recovered from the river nearby. In the Iron Age the area likely belonged to the Trinovantes or Catuvellauni tribes. Iron Age daggers and coins found in the local Thames mud indicate that the site remained an important navigable corridor in the area long before London was founded.

Small Roman settlements and farming sites have been identified in Hammersmith and Fulham, dating primarily up to the 3rd and 4th centuries. While the heart of Roman London (Londinium) was to the east, the area was vital for transit. Goldhawk Road and Hammersmith Road follow the general lines of Roman routes. Archaeological excavations have uncovered later Saxon dwellings. In 704 CE, the Bishop of London acquired the "Manor of Fulanham" (Fulham), which included the lands of Pallenswick. This is when the name Palingswick or Paddenswick originated. It likely refers to the wick (farm/settlement) of the "Paling" people, a Saxon kinship group. In the Domesday Book (1086) the area is believed to correspond to a five-hide property held by the Bishop of London.

From manor to modern landmark

By 1300, the estate was a functioning manorial farm, with the Stamford Brook likely already diverted to feed the protective moat around the central house. The medieval estate of Pallenswick is officially recorded from the 12th century. It was one of three major manors in the Parish of Fulham, all historically owned by the Bishop of London. In 1373, it was granted to Alice Perrers (the “Sun Queen”), the influential mistress of King Edward III, after the property was seized by the Crown, becoming part of the larger Fulham Manor. The estate featured a moated mansion with halls, chapels, and extensive lands with halls, chapels, kitchens, stables, granges, gardens, and orchards. Rebuilt in 1650, and renamed Ravenscourt by Thomas Corbett in the 18th century (a pun on his name, corbeau meaning raven), and eventually became the public Ravenscourt Park in the late 19th century. King Street is the principal thoroughfare between Hammersmith and Chiswick. It has been a central commercial artery since the 17th century. It was named after John King, Bishop of London, who donated land to the poor in 1620.

Ravenscourt Park narrowly avoided redevelopment through sale to the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1887, with the ultimate aim of turning the land into a public park. By that point it was overgrown and untamed through years of neglect. The London County Council brought it back under control and Ravenscourt was reopened as a public park a year later. What remains of Ravenscourt Park today is remarkably unchanged from its 18th Century layout, as evidenced by maps of the time. So not only is it Hammersmith and Fulham’s most popular park a hub of contemporary recreation but it is also a living window into London’s past.

The modern outfall of Stamford Brook into the Thames under Furnival Gardens in Hammersmith

Previously the Kings Court location was occupied by a property known as Hamlet House. This land was sold in 1897 for the construction of "superior residential flats". While the larger Hamlet Gardens Victorian mansion blocks were completed between 1898 and 1903, the specific site that became Kings Court saw its first modern brick structures appear by 1912 along the 264–274 King Street frontage. Most building work took place from 1930 to 1935 when the block reached full occupancy as a purpose-built private block of flats.

The development faced significant challenges during the Second World War. The King Street side of the building recording "minor blast damage", which included the shattering of several windowpanes. Despite the bombing of London, the building survived the war, and by 1949, Ordnance Survey records confirm that the structure remained intact.

Kings Court location as occupied by Hamlet house (Ordinance Survey, 1895)