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Highgate Walk

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All images, photos and text © Michael Strachan 2015 Page 1Highgate WalkA self-guided heritage walk with map, photo ideas, and I-spy visual quizInteractive Guide

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All images, photos and text © Michael Strachan 2015 Page 2A Highgate WalkCopyright © heritagewalks.london 2014 75 West Street, Harrow on the Hill, London HA1 3EL info@walkingthepast.co.uk First published in the UK in 2016 Updated and republished in the UK in 2018 Text and images copyright © Michael Strachan Michael Strachan has asserted his rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. (The cover illustration shows Ireton House by G. C. Francis).

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A Highgate Walk Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has an active conservation body, the Highgate Society, to protect its character. Until late Victorian times it was a distinct village outside London, sitting astride the main road to the north. The area retains many green expanses including the eastern part of Hampstead Heath and three ancient woods. Historically, Highgate adjoined the Bishop of London's hunting estate where there was a high, deer-proof hedge surrounding the estate: 'the gate in the hedge’. The bishop kept a toll-house where one of the main northward roads out of London entered his land. A number of pubs sprang up along the route. In later centuries Highgate was associated with the highwayman Dick Turpin. Hampstead Lane and Highgate Hill contain the red brick Victorian buildings of Highgate School and its adjacent Chapel of St Michael. The school has existed on its site since its founding was permitted by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I in 1565. Many notable alumni have passed through Highgate School. These include T.S. Eliot, who taught the poet laureate John Betjeman there, Gerard Manley Hopkins the poet, the composers John Taverner and John Rutter, John Venn the inventor of Venn diagrams, actor Geoffrey Palmer, and Anthony Crosland MP and Labour reformer. A private blue plaque on a house at the top of North Hill asserts that Charles Dickens stayed there in 1832, when he was 20 years old. Peter Sellers lived as a boy in a cottage in Muswell Hill Road, where his mother had moved in order to send him to the Catholic St Aloysius Boys' School in Hornsey Lane. Highgate Hill, the steep street linking Archway (traditionally called part of Upper Holloway) and Highgate village, was the route of the first cable car to be built in Europe. It operated between 1884 and 1909. Start at Archway Underground station. (Northern line) and… …end it at Highagte station (Northern Line) Use the Transport for London (TFL) planner to plan your route to the start point. All images, photos and text © Michael Strachan 2015 Page 44.5 km 1-2 hrsIf printing out,! do staple these! pages!together! for ease of use. Planning Your Walk If possible, walk with a friend Te ll s om eo ne w he re yo u a re go in g Ta ke c are w he n wa lk in g a t ni gh t Wear sensible clothes and footwear Always take a bottle of water to avoid de-hydration Don't try and do too much in one visit Check the opening times of all Museums and Galleries online Don’t forget to take your camera with batteries fully chargedHighpointThe High StreetHighgate School

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Your Route To make your walk even more interesting we have added some fun challenges: I-spy Quiz This is a picture quiz and you need to look out for interesting objects such as ‘street furniture’, statues and architectural features shown in the cropped pictures in the right-hand side panel, in the order that they appear on the walk. You can also become a PastWalker by bagging all the plaques along this walk. You’ll find a special score sheet in the Highgate tab on our website: https://heritagewalks.info For an online version of this map click… www.plotaroute.com/route/1198008 HOW TO USE ‘what.three.words’ On your smart device 1. Click any green link like the one below… ///laws.toast.rank 2. Tap ‘GET THE APP’ to download ‘what.three.words’ to your device. 3. Use t h e screen now showing your current location to navigate locally… NOTE: In this ‘pdf walk version you can see each link in a green box and click on it to view a map… All images, photos and text © Michael Strachan 2015 Page 5

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