Building record MDR9619 - Butterley workers housing, Hammersmith

Hammersmith is one of the smaller Butterley settlements. The name is older than the company and the company bought the land on either side of the road from Pentrich to Ripley in 1819. By 1821 the five pairs of cottages on the east side of the road had been built. The row on the west side appear on Sanderson's map (1). In March 1972, all the houses were occupied. The houses on the west side were typical Butterley brick cottages, identical to all but the earliest housing at Golden Valley and to much of Ironville (William IV Street, Furnace Row, Foundry Row etc.). They are four room cottages in long unbroken terraces. The row has the characteristic cast iron name-plate with 'HAMMERSMITH' in large serif relief letters. All the houses have slate roofs. The east side pairs of houses are rather different. They have very generous gardens. Originally they had no front doors, only one at the rear. They are also four roomed brick cottages with slate roofs. At some stage small extensions were added to each cottage to elongate it and provide it with a front door. These extensions were of brick and were slightly lower thant the original cottage height. They were only very roughly married to the original cottage walls. (4) These are the best surving examples of Butterley Company housing of the 1830s and 1840s. They were built by local builders at a cost of £40 - £60 each. The houses still retain the original cast-iron street signage. (5)