Hampstead

Coordinates: 51°33′15″N 0°10′28″W / 51.5541°N 0.1744°W / 51.5541; -0.1744

Hampstead
Hampstead  Hampstead shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ265855
London borough	Camden
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	NW3
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Hampstead and Highgate
London Assembly	Barnet and Camden
List of places: UK • England • London

Hampstead is an area of London, England, located 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of Charing Cross. It is located within Inner London. It is part of the London Borough of Camden. It is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for the large and hilly parkland Hampstead Heath. It is also home to some of the most expensive housing in the London area, or indeed anywhere in the world, with large houses regularly listed for sale at over twenty million pounds.^{[citation needed]} The village of Hampstead has more millionaires within its boundaries than any other area of the United Kingdom.^[1]

History

Roadworks on Heath Street in Hampstead around 1865, in Ford Madox Brown's painting Work.

Etymology

The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon words hæmpe and stede, meaning "settlement near pigs".

To 1900

Although early records of Hampstead can be found in a grant by King Ethelred the Unready to the monastery of St. Peter’s at Westminster (AD 986) and it is referred to in the Domesday Book (1086), the history of Hampstead is generally traced back to the 17th century.

Trustees of the Well started advertising the medicinal qualities of the chalybeate waters (water impregnated with iron) in 1700. Although Hampstead Wells was initially most successful and fashionable, its popularity declined in the 1800s due to competition with other fashionable London spas. The spa was demolished in 1882, although a water fountain was left behind.

Hampstead started to expand following the opening of the North London Railway in the 1860s (now the London Overground with passenger services operated by Transport for London), and expanded further after the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway opened in 1907 (now part of London Underground's Northern Line) and provided fast travel to central London.

Much luxurious housing was created during the 1870s and 1880s, in the area that is now the political ward of Frognal & Fitzjohns. Much of this housing remains to this day.

Fenton House

20th century

During the 20th century, a number of notable buildings were created. These include:

• Hampstead tube station (1907), incidentally the deepest station on the entire Underground network;
• Isokon building (1932)
• Hillfield Court (1932)
• 2 Willow Road (1938)
• Hampstead Theatre (1962)
• Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre (1964)
• Swiss Cottage Central Library (1964)
• Royal Free Hospital (1974)

Of these, the Hampstead Theatre relocated in 2003 to the present Swiss Cottage site (increasing capacity from 140 to 325 seats) and the Swiss Cottage leisure centre was closed for rebuilding in 2003 and reopened in 2006.

Cultural attractions in the area include the Freud Museum, Keats' House, Kenwood House, Fenton House, The Isokon building, and the Camden Arts Centre. The large Victorian Hampstead Library and Town Hall was recently converted and extended as a creative industries centre.

Though now considered an integral part of London, Hampstead has retained much of its village atmosphere and charm, with Hampstead High Street playing a vital role in the day to day life of a Hampsteadian.

On 14 August 1975 Hampstead entered the UK Weather Records with the Highest 155-min total rainfall at 169 mm. As of November 2008 this record remains.

Mark Pevsner, the grandson of Sir Nicholas Pevsner, described Hampstead as "a large collection of roads and passages which don't go in straight lines, houses of different ages, many of them good architecture but more often it's just the way they fit together, full of nice vistas and surprises. Hampstead is a huge collection of twists and turns."^{[unreliable source?]}

Politics

Hampstead became part of the County of London in 1889 and in 1899 the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead was formed. The borough town hall on Haverstock Hill, which was also the location of the Registry Office, can be seen in newsreel footage of many celebrity civil marriages. In 1965 the metropolitan borough was abolished and its area merged with that of the Metropolitan Borough of Holborn and the Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras to form the modern-day London Borough of Camden.

Hampstead is part of the Hampstead and Highgate constituency and since 1992 the member of parliament has been the former actress Glenda Jackson of the Labour Party.

The area has a significant tradition of educated liberal humanism, sometimes referred to (occasionally disparagingly) as "Hampstead Liberalism".

The area is also home to the left-wing Labour magazine Tribune and the satirical magazine the Hampstead Village Voice. The local paid-for newspaper is the Hampstead and Highgate Express,^[2] known locally as the "Ham & High". Hampstead is also covered by the borough-wide Camden New Journal.

Since October 2008 the area has been represented on Camden Council by Liberal Democrat councilor Linda Chung, elected in a by-election to serve alongside Conservatives Kirsty Roberts and Chris Knight.

Places of interest

Sites

The Viaduct on Hampstead Heath

To the north and east of Hampstead, and separating it from Highgate, is London's largest ancient parkland, Hampstead Heath, which includes the well-known and legally-protected view of the London skyline from Parliament Hill. The Heath, a major place for Londoners to walk and "take the air", has three open-air public swimming ponds; one for men, one for women, and one for mixed bathing, which were originally reservoirs for drinking water and the sources of the River Fleet. The bridge pictured is known locally as 'The Red Arches' or 'The Viaduct', built in fruitless anticipation of residential building on the Heath in the 19th century.

Local activities include major open-air concerts on summer Saturday evenings on the slopes below Kenwood House, book and poetry readings, fun fairs on the lower reaches of the Heath, period harpsichord recitals at Fenton House, Hampstead Scientific Society and Hampstead Photographic Society.

The largest employer in Hampstead is the Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, but many small businesses based in the area have international significance. George Martin's AIR recording studios, in converted church premises in Lyndhurst Road, is a current example, as Jim Henson's Creature Shop was, before it relocated to California.

The area has some remarkable architecture, such as the Isokon building in Lawn Road, a Grade I listed experiment in collective housing, once home to Agatha Christie, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson and Walter Gropius. It was recently restored by Notting Hill Housing Trust.

Museums

Keats House, Hampstead

• Fenton House, Hampstead Grove, Hampstead, London, NW3 6SP^[3]
• Freud Museum, 20 Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead, London, NW3 5SX^[4]
• Burgh House & Hampstead Museum, New End Square, Hampstead, London, NW3 1LT^[5]
• Keats House Museum, Keats Grove, Hampstead, London, NW3 2RR^[6]
• Kenwood House, Hampstead Lane, Hampstead, London, NW3 7JR^[7]

Theatres and cinemas

• Everyman Cinema, 5 Holly Bush Vale, Hampstead, London, NW3 6TX^[8]
• Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London, NW3 3EU^[9]
• New End Theatre, 27 New End, Vale of Heath, Hampstead, London, NW3 1JD^[10]
• Pentameters Theatre, 28 Heath Street, Hampstead, London, NW3 6TE^[11]

Pubs

Hampstead is well known for its traditional pubs, such as the Holly Bush, gas-lit until recently; the Spaniard's Inn, Spaniard's Road, where highwayman Dick Turpin took refuge; The Old Bull and Bush in North End; and Ye Olde White Bear. Jack Straw's Castle on the edge of the Heath near Whitestone Pond at the brow of the Heath has now been converted into residential flats. Others include:

• Freemasons Arms, 32 Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London, NW3 1NT^[12]
• The Duke of Hamilton, 23–25 New End, Hampstead, London, NW3 1JD^[13]
• Ye Olde White Bear, Well Road, Hampstead, London, NW3 1LJ^[14]
• The Holly Bush, 22 Holly Mount, Hampstead, London, NW3 6SGN^[15][16]
• The Horseshoe (formerly The Three Horseshoes), 28 Heath Street, Hampstead, London, NW3 6TE^[17]
• King William IV (aka KW4), 77 Hampstead High Street, Hampstead, London, NW3 1RE^[18]
• The Magdala, 2a South Hill Park, Hampstead, London, NW3 2SB^[19][20]
• The Garden Gate, 14 South End Road, Hampstead, London, NW3 2QE^[21]

Restaurants

Hampstead has an eclectic mix of restaurants ranging from French to Thai. Notable and longstanding are La Gaffe, Gaucho Grill, Jin Kichi, Tip Top Thai, Al Casbah, Le Cellier du Midi and CrimeaJewel.

Churches

• Christ Church, Hampstead Square, Hampstead, London, NW3 1AB^[22]
• St John-at-Hampstead, Church Row, Hampstead, London, NW3 6UU^[23]
• St John's Downshire Hill, Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London, NW3 1NU^[24]
• St Mary's Chapel, 4 Holly Place, Hampstead, London, NW3 6QU^[25][26]

Schools

Film locations

Hampstead's rural feel lends itself for use on film; a notable example being The Killing of Sister George (1968) starring Beryl Reid and Susannah York. The opening sequence has Reid's character June wandering through the streets and alleyways of Hampstead, west of Heath Street, around The Mount Square. The Marquis of Granby pub, in which June drinks at the opening of the film, was actually The Holly Bush,^[15] at 22 Holly Mount. Another example is The Collector (1965), starring Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar, where the kidnap sequence is set in Mount Vernon.

The 1986 fantasy film, Labyrinth, starring Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie, was shot, in large part, in Hampstead Heath.

The Heath

Some scenes from An American Werewolf in London (1981) are shot on Hampstead Heath, Well Walk and Haverstock Hill. Harry and Judith are killed in Hampstead Heath, behind the Priors on East Heath Road. Before David kills them, Harry and Judith get out of the taxi on East Heath Road at Well Walk.

More recently Kenwood House is featured in the in-film film set scene of Notting Hill (1999). Outdoor scenes in The Wedding Date (2005), starring Debra Messing, feature Parliament Hill Fields on the Heath, overlooking west London. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) features the old Hampstead Town Hall on Haverstock Hill. The cult film Scenes of a Sexual Nature (2006) was filmed entirely on Hampstead Heath, covering various picturesque locations such as the 'Floating Gardens' and Kenwood House.

A musical specifically focusing on the area, Les Bicyclettes de Belsize (1968), tells the story of a young man's cycle journey around Hampstead. After crashing into a billboard poster, he falls in love with the fashion model depicted on it.

Transport

Hampstead has a major bus terminus known as Hampstead Heath (which is actually South End Green). Its most frequent service is Route 24 which for over 100 years has linked this area with the West End, Victoria and Pimlico (Grosvenor Road). Bus routes that currently serve Hampstead are:- 24 46 168 210 268 603 C11 and N5.

Nearest places

Belsize Park Chalk Farm Childs Hill Frognal Finchley Golders Green Highgate

Primrose Hill Regent's Park South Hampstead St John's Wood Swiss Cottage West Hampstead

Hampstead High Street sign

Nearest tube stations

Hampstead underground station

The nearest London Underground stations are Hampstead and Belsize Park — on the Northern Line and Swiss Cottage on the Jubilee Line. The stations are within Travelcard Zone 2. Hampstead is the boundary with Travelcard Zone 3. Construction of North End tube station was started but not completed.

Nearest railway station

The nearest London Overground station is Hampstead Heath

Nearest hospital

• Royal Free Hospital

Notable residents

It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. (Discuss)

Hampstead has long been known as a residence of the intelligentsia, including writers, composers, and intellectuals, actors, artists and architects — many of whom created a bohemian community in the late 19th century. In the 1930s it became base to a community of avant garde artists and writers and was host to a number of émigrés and Jewish exiles from Nazi Europe.

Past inhabitants

Lord Edgar Adrian[27] Sir Kingsley Amis[28] Martin Amis Sir Alan Ayckbourn Sir A. J. Ayer Michael Ayrton Nigel Balchin Sir Arnold Bax[29] Cecil Beaton[30] John S. Beckett Sybille Bedford[31] Isaiah Berlin John Desmond Bernal John Betjeman[32] Arthur Bliss Dirk Bogarde[33] Arthur Boyd[34] Marcel Breuer Henry Brooke[35] Sir Richard Burton[36] Richard Burton[37] Lord Byron[38] Elias Canetti[39] John le Carré Allan Chappelow

Dame Agatha Christie[40] Lord Clark Samuel Taylor Coleridge[41] John Constable[42] Peter Cook[43] Milein Cosman Henry Dale Charles de Gaulle Charles Dickens[44] Jacqueline du Pré[45] Daphne du Maurier[1] Sir Edward Elgar[46] T. S. Eliot Samantha Eggar Sir William Empson[47] Maxime de la Falaise Marianne Faithfull[48] Ian Fleming[49] Charles Forte John Fowles[50] Anna Freud[51] Clement Freud[52] Lucian Freud Sigmund Freud[52][53] Naum Gabo[54]

John Galsworthy[41] Hugh Gaitskell[1] Margaret Gardiner Ernő Goldfinger[46][49][55] Sir Ernst Gombrich[56] Walter Gropius[57] Thom Gunn[58] Thierry Henry[59] Audrey Hepburn Barbara Hepworth[60] Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse Rosa Hope Elizabeth Jane Howard[28] Andrew Huxley[61] Aldous Huxley[62] Leigh Hunt[63] Mahomed Ali Jinnah[64] Samuel Johnson Katrina Kaif John Keats[46] Hans Keller[65] Lillie Langtry[66] Marghanita Laski D. H. Lawrence[41] Doris Lessing [67]

Lord Leverhulme Berthold Lubetkin[68] Anna Mahler Ramsay MacDonald[1] Thomas Mawson Yaltah Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin[69] A. A. Milne[70] Jonathan Miller Lee Miller[71] Piet Mondrian[60] Henry Moore[72] Marie-Louise Von Motesiczky[73] Florence Nightingale[74] George Orwell[75] Peter O'Toole[37] Anna Pavlova[76] Roger Penrose Roland Penrose[71] J. B. Priestley[41] Karel Reisz[77] Joseph Rotblat Joel Ryce-Menuhin Charles Saatchi[78] Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke[79]

Percy Bysshe Shelley[41] Sir Neil Shields[80] Stephen Spender[35] Robert Louis Stevenson[46] Marie Stopes[41] Rabindranath Tagore Elizabeth Taylor[81] Eric Thompson Evelyn Waugh[82] H. G. Wells[83] Anna Wickham Richard Wollheim Freud's sofa, at 20 Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead

Current or recent inhabitants

See also

• South Hampstead
• West Hampstead

References and notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hampstead

• Hampstead Village Online
• London's Literary Village
• Hampstead and Marylebone by G. E. Mitton at Project Gutenberg
• The Heath and Hampstead Society
• The Hampstead Scientific Society
• The Hampstead Horticultural Society
• Camden Council
• Hampstead Theatre

v • d • e London Borough of Camden Districts Belsize Park · Bloomsbury · Brondesbury · Camden Town · Chalk Farm · Covent Garden · Dartmouth Park · Fitzrovia · Fortune Green · Frognal · Gospel Oak · Hampstead · Haverstock · Highgate · Holborn · Kentish Town · Kilburn · Kings Cross · Primrose Hill · Regent's Park · Saffron Hill · Somers Town · St. Pancras · South Hampstead · Swiss Cottage · Tufnell Park · West Hampstead Attractions West End theatre · British Library · British Museum · Camden Arts Centre · Donmar Warehouse · Foundling Museum · Fenton House · Freud Museum · Kenwood House · The Roundhouse · Sir John Soane's Museum Street markets Camden Market · Queen's Crescent Market Constituencies Holborn and St. Pancras · Hampstead and Highgate · Hampstead and Kilburn (future) Parks and open spaces in Camden