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Michael StrachanA Hampstead Walk

Copyright © heritagewalks.london 2015 75 West Street, Harrow on the Hill, London HA1 3EL info@heritagewalks.london First published in the UK in 2012 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 a view from Cricklewood to Upper Hampstead).

Michael StrachanA Hampstead Walk

Hampstead - ‘The village that grew up late’ … …Today it is known the world over as a very special part of London with its spacious Heath, the old ponds, luxury shops, restaurants and some of the most beautiful streets and houses in the city. Hampstead Heath has been the fa-vourite playground and meeting place for Londoners for centuries. The route taken by this walk leads on from West Hampstead across the roaring highway of Finchley Road and up, by old, steep shepherd paths, to the top of Branch Hill close by the highest spot in London. Circling around the upper part of the village it returns by way of Frognal Lane and ends back at Finchley Road and Swiss Cottage. The village has been home to countless eminent politicians, artists, musicians, writers, singers, historians, scientists, and actors who have made their homes here. In this Hampstead walk you’ll trace the footsteps of George Romney, Keats, and John Constable. More recently it has been the home of writers such as John Galsworthy and Robert Louis-Stevenson and politicians Hugh Gaitskill and Sidney and Beatrice Webb. The other arts are well represented by musicians Adrian Boult, Dennis Brain, Paul Robeson, Edward Elgar, Kathleen Ferrier, 1Hampstead view c1819Click here for full viewHolly Berry LaneView from Mount Vernon

John McCormack and William Walton. Always a favourite with the acting profession you’ll find the homes of Alastair Sim and George du Maurier. Since the eighteenth century developers have made it one of the most expensive housing areas in the London area and it now has more millionaires within its boundaries than almost any other part of the United Kingdom. It still, however, regularly returns a Labour Member of Parliament at General Elections. Today Hampstead is part of the London Borough of Camden, and has many intellectual, liberal, artistic, music and literary links. At any time along the way relax at one of the many pavement cafes and pubs where you can join in Hampstead’s favourite game of watching the celebrities pass by! To hear this Introduction please click this icon To find out more about ‘What3Words’ please click this information icon 2If you would like to donate an amount which will help us cover our costs and continue to work on new publications please scan or tap the QR link below:

Planning Your Walk 1. If possible, walk with a friend. 2. Tel l so meon e wh ere yo u are goi ng. 3. Tak e ca re whe n wa lkin g at nig ht. 4. Wear sensible clothes and footwear. 5. Always take a bottle of water to avoid de-hydration. 6. Don't try to do too much in one visit. 7. Check the opening times of all Museums and Galleries online. 8. Tak e yo ur c amer a or cam era phon e wi th b atte ries ful ly charged. 9. If you are printing out this do staple these!pages!together!. 10. Don’t forget to download your free Quiz and Plaque scoresheets by using the URL links on the next page… Start at West Hampstead Underground station. (Jubilee Line) End at Finchley Road Underground station. (Metropolitan & Jubilee lines) Use the Transport for London (TFL) planner to plan your journey. 36 k 3.5 miles 2.5 hrs

To make your walk more interesting… …we have created an on-line, interactive map which you can find by clicking the link below, or by scanning the green QR code opposite. This will only work if you are reading this guide on a smart device like an iPad: Plot-a-Route map We have also added some fun challenges - the first is a picture quiz. So you need to look out for interesting ob-jects such as ‘street furniture’, statues and architectural features shown in the I-Spy Challenge scoresheet. Click the link below, or scan the pink QR code opposite, to access a download for this scoresheet. It can then be printed or saved: I-Spy Challenge The second challenge is to ‘bag’ all the plaques along this walk. These are listed on a ‘Pastwalkers’ scoresheet along with their ‘what3words’ loca-tions. (Click the information icon op-posite for more about how ‘What3Words’ works). The plaque scores are based on age and quality rather than the importance of the person or event commemorated. Download by clicking on the link below, or by scanning the blue QR code opposite: Plaque Challenge 4Tick them off when you find them

A Walk in (Upper) Hampstead Exit from West Hampstead station (Jubilee Line) and turn right up West End Lane… Once a hamlet far from London, by the late 17th century this area had become the quiet village of West End. In-deed, it was so quiet that some residents claimed they heard the guns of the battle of Waterloo in 1815! The colourised print shown right was made later in that cen-tury but gives a flavour of what village looked like. It shows the Old Black Lion pub, 295 -297 West End Lane, which has survived into the twenty-first century. The 15 years following 1879 was the most intensive period of building here when the Met-ropolitan Railway adopted the name West Hampstead for its station on West End Lane, to avoid confusion with the ‘other’ West End in Central London’s theatre district. Many striking Victorian red brick homes and impressive mansion blocks line the neighbourhood’s streets showing that wealthy people had begun to move out here. The fire station opened in 1901, and is still operating today. Grade II listed it’s one of a remarkable series built by the London County Council between 1896-1914, with fire-men's cottages to the rear. Cross over to West End Green when convenient and safe, using the crossing… 5

Turn right by the Green - past Emmanuel Church - into the continuation of West End Lane… Emmanuel church was founded in 1875 and the current build-ing was designed by architect J. A. Thomas in the Gothic Re-vival architectural style and was completed in 1903. The south chapel inside the church has a painting by Frank Salisbury whose house and plaque can be viewed later in this walk. Turn left up Cannon Hill… Marlborough Mansions on your left has a plaque at number 75 commemorating the prominent conductor, Sir Adrian Boult (shown here). He was an advocate of English music at home and abroad - Ralph Vaughan Williams' Job, a masque of dan-cing, Herbert Howells' Concert for strings and Malcolm Williamson's Concert for or-gan and orchestra were dedicated to him. He founded the BBC Symphony orchestra in 1930 and his recordings are well-re-garded today. At the top of Cannon Hill turn left along Finchley Road… Just by the Octagon (a Jewish syn agogue converted into flats) cross over Finchley Road and enter the pathway Croft Way… 6

Cross over Kidderpore Avenue along the continu- ation of Croft Way to Ferncroft Avenue… Look left for number 24 Ferncroft Avenue - marked by a blue plaque. It is the house where the famous Irish tenor Count John McCormack lived for several years. He! was celebrated for his performances of light! opera, popular songs, and was renowned for his diction and breath con-trol. He was also a Papal Count. Turn back and then left into Hollycroft Avenue and continue up the hill to Platts Lane… Walk along Platts Lane until you can turn right into West Heath Road opposite an en-trance to Hampstead Heath… The imposing house on your right as you turn this corner has a Hampstead plaque marking the oc-cupancy of painter Francis Owen Salis-bury. An English artist who specialised in portraits, large canvases of historical and ceremonial events, stained glass and book illustration, he made a fortune on both sides of the Atlantic. However he was! a vitriolic critic of Modern Art – particularly of his contemporaries Picasso, Chagall and Mondrian. Past Reddington Road turn into Tem-plewood Avenue and first left into the entrance to Templewood Gardens… 7John McCormackFrancis Salisbury

At the gated entrance to Beechwood Close there is Hampstead plaque low down on the brick wall. John Spedan Lewis once lived close by and founded Britain’s favourite co-operative retail group bearing his name. Return to Templewood Avenue and turn right, back to West Heath Road - walk right along this road to a sharp bend and junction… On your is Mansion Gardens… There is a plaque on the gateway here cel-ebrating John Constable’s time painting in this area of the Heath. The artist lived in Hampstead between the years 1819 - 1837 and is buried in the parish churchyard. 8John Spedan Lewis

One of the most celebrated of his Hampstead landscapes is a view to the north-west from Judges Walk. Now in the Tate Gallery it shows the Heath, Branch Hill Pond and Harrow on the Hill in the far distance, and takes its title from a house called 'The Salt Box' which stood near this plaque. Return to West Heath Road and walk back across the junction and into Branch Hill… At number 1 Branch Hill there is a blue plaque commemorating the American Paul Robeson. In his youth he was an out-standing athlete, who went on to become an international singer, with a distinctive, powerful, bass voice as well as acting in film and on stage. An American political activist, he became involved in the left-wing response to the Spanish Civil War, fascism, and a range of social injustices leading to his being blacklisted during the McCarthy era. A little further along Branch Hill will bring you to the opening of Judges Walk on your left up a steep flight of rough steps… When you reach Windmill Hill turn right and walk down to the little green where, by following the road around to the left… …where you will see the Admirals House, This beautiful building was also painted by John Constable. 9Paul Robeson

There are two plaques here, the first to John Galsworthy the novelist and play-wright whose series, His series entitled the Forsyte Saga, has been filmed several times. The other commemorates George Gilbert Scott the English Gothic revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and r e n o v a t i o n o f c h u r c h e s a n d cathedrals, who also designed the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras Station in London. At the end of this road turn right into Hampstead Grove… On your left you will see the house where George du Maurier lived marked by a plaque. He was a French-British cartoonist and author, known for his cartoons in Punch and also for his novel Trilby. The father of actor Gerald du Maurier and grandfather of the writers Angela du Maur-ier and Dame Daphne du Maurier. He was the father of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and grandfather of the five boys who inspired J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. 10John GalsworthyGeorge Gilbert ScottGeorge Du Maurier

Walk back to the green and turn left again into Windmill Hill… On your right is a row of eighteenth century cottages, one of which was used by the painter John Constable and is again marked by a plaque. He was an English Ro-mantic painter known mainly for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home – now known as "Constable Country”. Further down Windmill Hill you reach another small green where Bolton House is on your immediate left… There is a handsome old plaque here com-memorating Joanna Baille the Scottish poet and dramatist. Baillie was very well known during her lifetime and hosted a renowned literary society at Hampstead. This plaque and the beautiful house it is displayed on can only be see by entering the parking area and looking through the iron gate on the left. Please be considerate as this is private land! Come back to the green and you are now on Holly Hill… Just across the road is an attractive eighteenth century cottage bearing a plaque dedicated to another famous artist George Romney. Born in Dalton-in-Furness in 1734 he learned the craft of cabinet-making there and was ap-prenticed to the portrait painter Christopher Steele in 1755.!In 1757 he broke his apprenticeship and set up on his own in a studio in Kendal. 11Joanne Baillie

Moving to London, he became the most fashionable artist of his day, painting many leading society figures, including his artist-ic muse, Emma Hamilton, mistress of Lord Nelson, who ended her life in tragic cir-cumstances. Romney had decided to settle here in Hampstead but, in poor health, he re-turned to Kendal in 1799 and to his long-separated wife. Until his death in 1802 he lived in the house near Nether Bridge which now bears his name. . A little further down Holly Hill and on your left is Holly Bush lane where there is an excel-lent pub for food and drink - the Holly Bush. Return to Holly Hill and almost op-posite is a small curving path leading up to Mount Vernon - take this path… At the top of this path there is plaque on the wall of Mount Vernon House dedic-ated to Sir Henry Hallett Dale OM GBE PRS was an English pharmacologist and physiologist. For his study of acetylcholine he shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Otto Loewi. Number 7 Mount Vernon, Abernethy House, was the home of the writer Robert Louis Stevenson and now bears a Hamp-stead Society black plaque. 12George RomneySir Henry Dale

Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Stevenson was seen for much of the 20th century as a second-class writer, relegated to children's literature and horror genres; but his reputation has changed more re-cently. Now he is regarded as ‘an artist of great range and insight, a literary theorist, an essayist and social critic, a witness to the colonial history of the Pacific Islands and a humanist. He was praised by Roger Lancelyn Green, one of the Oxford Inklings, as a writer of a consistently high level of "literary skill or sheer imagin-ative power" and a pioneer of the Age of the Story Tell-ers along with H. Rider Haggard'. Briefly divert left into Holly Walk to the corner of Holly Berry Lane… The house standing on the corner is where the first Hampstead Watch had its HQ - marked by another Hampstead Society plaque… This plaque states that ’In the 1830's the newly formed Hampstead Police Force set out on its patrol & nightly watch from the house.’ However British History Online points out that this plaque is inaccurate since, by the time they moved into this building, the Hampstead police had already became part of S division of the newly-formed Metropolitan police force. 13Robert Louis Stevenson

Number 10 Holly Berry Lane was the home of the celebrated Brit-ish composer Sir William Walton O.M. Born in Oldham, Lancashire, the son of a musician, Walton was a chorister and then an un-dergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford. On leaving the university, he was taken up by the literary Sitwell siblings, who provided him with a home and a cultural education. His collaboration with Edith Sitwell on ‘Façade’, brought him notoriety as a modernist, but later it became a very popular ballet score. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include Façade, the cantata Belshaz-zar's Feast, the Viola Concerto and the First Symphony. Return to Mount Vernon and turn left down the steep path – the continuation of Mount Vernon… At the bottom of this path is a house, marked by a plaque, where E. V. Knox, the famous editor of the satirical magazine Punch, lived for many years. Punch was-founded on 17 July 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells, on an ini-tial investment of £25. Reflecting their hu- 14Sir William WaltonE V Knox

morous outlook and sharp-edged intent, the two editors took for their name and masthead the anarchic glove puppet, Mr. Punch, of Punch and Judy. At the bottom of Mount Vernon briefly turn right into Frognal… At number 99 Frognal, the Sisters of Dorothy convent building which now caters for young ladies coming to study in London or for a short holiday from all over the world, there is a Hampstead plaque. It marks where the famous French leader General Charles de Gaulle stayed during the second world war. Unfortunately, it’s barely visible from the street and you’ll have to peer over the top of the wall to see it. Turn back down Frognal past the entrance to Mount Vernon… Look up for a plaque on the side of 108 Frognal remem-bering the famous ballerina Tamara Karsavina who lived here. Karsavina was the leading ballerina of Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes from its beginning in 1909 until 1922 (and she was paired with Nijinsky until 1913). During World War I and the 1917 Russian Revolution she continued to dance in Russia. However, after her mar-riage to a British diplomat Henry James Bruce, they fled to London in 1918. 15Gen. de Gaulle

Here she helped found the Royal Academy of Dancing and organised the Teachers' Training Course. She also coached Mar-got Fonteyn. Her writings include articles on technique for the journal Dancing Times, her autobiography Theatre Street (1930), and the text Classical Bal-let: The Flow of Movement (1962). As you continue to walk down Frognal look across the road… On the wall of the block of red-brick flats you will see another plaque, this time commemor-ating the contralto Kathleen Ferrier who died from breast cancer when tragically young. She was one of the world’s most highly-regarded singers. The composer Benjamin Britten wrote his second opera, The Rape of Lucretia, with Kathleen in mind for the title role. ‘She is still remembered …and loved by millions around the world’. A little further on your left and you will see some pretty cottages set back from the road. One of these, number 106, has a private blue plaque to Sir Walter Besant - a novelist and historian who has a descript-ive URL link at another site in Frognal Gar-dens. (See below.) Walk on down Frognal and turn left into Frognal Gardens… 16Kathleen Ferrier

As this road bends right you will see a driveway on your left leading up to 18 Frognal Gardens… Unusually, there are two plaques here - the first com-memorates Sir Walter Besant, an English novelist and historian, and is colourfully decorated. The second remembers a politician and leader of the La-bour Party - Hugh Gaitskell. His premature death, at just 56, from complications following a sudden flare-up of lupus, an autoimmune disease which had affected his heart and kidneys, meant that he never became prime minister. However he is remembered largely with respect from people both within and outside of the Labour Party. He is regarded by some as "the best Prime Minister we never had”. If you enter this driveway for a closer view of the plaques remember that this is private land and please do not disturb those who live here. Return to Frognal Gardens and on your left at number 8 there is another blue plaque… Alistair Sim, the actor lived here from 1953 - 1975. He came to acting later in life than most and be-came one of Britain’s most celebrated and loved charac-ter actors on stage and screen. His films are still regularly screened on television including ‘An Inspector Calls’, ‘The Belles of St. Trinian’s', ‘The Happiest Days of Your Life’,‘A Christmas Carol’, ‘Hue and Cry’ and many more. 17Hugh Gaitskill

He once said - “It was revealed to me many years ago with conclusive certainty that I was a fool and that I had always been a fool. Since then I have been as happy as any man has a right to be”. At the end of Frognal Gardens turn up the hill along Church Row… St John - at - Hampstead, on your right, dates from before the 16th century. It was extended in 1843 and ten years later the church had its first Willis organ built with Henry Willis himself employed as the organ-ist. It has survived many plans for 'beautifying and im-proving' the building and is one of Hampstead’s land-marks. The church has a fine musical tradition and under the direction of Martindale Sidwell it developed a national and international reputation as being the centre of excel-lence for Parish Church Music with a fully professional choir and high-profile con-certs. The Church graveyard to the side of the building contains two notable tombs which are clearly signposted. The first is John Constable, the romantic painter we have encountered earlier in this walk and the other is John Harrison, a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the mar-ine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea. 18Alistair Sim

Harrison's solution revolutionised naviga-tion and greatly increased the safety of long-distance sea travel. His life was cel-ebrated in a book by Dava Sobel – Lon-gitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Prob-lem of His Time – the first popular best-seller on the subject of horology. The book was dramatised for UK televi-sion by Charles Sturridge for Channel 4 in 1999, under the title Longitude. The pro-duction starred Michael Gambon as Har-rison and Jeremy Irons as retired naval of-ficer Lieutenant Commander Rupert T. Gould who redis-covered Harrison's timepieces at the Royal Greenwich Observatory after World War I. There is another section of the graveyard across the other side of Church Row which contains the graves of other famous people: Walter Besant, novelist and historian Peter Cook, writer and comedian Eleanor Farjeon, author C. E. M. Joad, philosopher Kay Kendall, actress, film star of the 1950s Hugh Gaitskell, Labour Party leader 1955 - 1963 George du Maurier, author and cartoonist, Gerald du Maurier, actor and manager, Arthur Llewelyn Davies and his wife Sylvia Evelyn Underhill, Anglo-Catholic writer Anton Walbrook, Austrian Actor 19John Harrison

Church Row itself contains many beautiful houses and, at number 17, there is a handsome plaque to Thomas Park – an English antiquary and bibliographer – also known as a literary editor, and his son John James. At the end of Church Row the main area of Hampstead village begins with Heath Street. This area will be covered in a future walk but, if you have time, do stroll around the shops, cafes and restaurants. Return to the area in front of St John-at-Hampstead and turn left down a wide pathway that leads into Frognal Way… As you reach the bottom of this pathway look to your left…. The Mediterranean-style villa you can see here was built by Gracie Fields - one of Britain’s foremost musical stars in the nineteen thirties and forties. There is a a Hamp-stead Society plaque marking the site. Her professional debut in variety took place at the Rochdale Hippodrome theatre in 1910, and she soon gave up her job in the local cotton mill, where she was a half-timer, spending half a week in the mill and the other half at school. An actress, singer, comedian and star of cinema and music hall, she was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and by 1937 one of the highest paid film stars in the world. She was known af-fectionately as Our Gracie and also as the 20Gracie Fields

Lancashire Lass and never lost her strong, native Lan-cashire accent. She sang regularly after the war, including Royal Com-mand performances. She is buried in Capri's Protestant Cemetery – on an Italian island she loved. Continue walking around Frognal Way until you reach Frognal - then turn left… Number 71 Frognal was the home of Sir Harold Delf Gillies - a New Zealand-born, and later London-based, otolaryngologist who is widely considered the father of modern plastic surgery. He developed his ideas and pro-cedures for reconstructing the facial features of wounded soldiers during both world wars. On the right-hand side of this street are the typical red-brick villas of this area. On the other side is University College School. As you can see from the painting below, the school was built on this rural site before Frognal was developed. 21University College School & Jeremy Bentham

UCS was founded in 1830 by the University of London, which had itself been inspired by the work of Jeremy Bentham and others to provide opportun-ities for higher education for men regard-less of religious beliefs. At the time, only members of the Established Church could study at Cambridge and Oxford while sim-ilar religious tests were imposed at the other universities dating from the medieval and renaissance periods with a narrow classical and divinity curriculum. The School opened at 16 Gower Street but quickly outgrew these premises and moved away to new buildings here in 1907, which were opened by HM King Edward VII. (See Photo opposite.) The School was one of the first schools to teach modern languages and sciences, and one of the first to abolish corporal punishment. Originally, there were no compuls-ory subjects and no rigid form system. Most boys learnt Latin and French, and many learnt German (a highly unusual subject at that time). Mathematics, Chemistry, Classical Greek and English were also taught. There was no religious teaching. Kate Greenaway, an English children's book illus-trator and writer lived at number 39 Frognal. She developed a unique and much-loved style, and the clothing of her child subjects was even adopted and sold by Liberty’s of London. She was elected to membership of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1889. This Arts and Crafts style house, commissioned from Norman Shaw, is 22Kate Greenaway

marked by an unusual rectangular plaque. Greenaway died of breast cancer in 1901, at the age of 55 and is bur-ied in Hampstead Cemetery, London. The Kate Greenaway Medal, established in her honour in 1955, is awarded annually by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the UK to an out-standing illustrator of children's books. A little further down Frognal at number 37 there is another plaque celebrating the life of Dennis Brain who lived here until his tragic death in a road accident. He was a virtuoso horn player who was largely credited for pop-ularising the horn as a solo classical instru-ment with the post-war British public. Continue walking downhill, over Ark-wright Road, until you reach the point where Frognal turns right down to Finch-ley Road. Turn left here up a short stairway into Netherhall Gardens where you turn right… Just before this road turns right down to the Finchley Road you will see a block of flats showing a plaque to Sydney and Beatrice Webb... Sidney and Beatrice Webb were pioneers in social and economic reforms and distinguished historians who deeply affected social thought and political/economic institutions in England. 23Dennis Brain

They were early members of the Fabian Society, and co-founders of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Both became closely involved in the de-velopment of the Labour Party. Follow the road around and down into Finchley Road before turning right. Take the underpass to the other side of the road and Finchley Road Station where this walk ends. 24Sydney & Beatrice Webb

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