43-714: The Pentameters Theatre was founded in 1968 and is still run by artistic director Leonie Scott-Matthews, a well known Hampstead resident. It is a 60-seat venue and is a fringe theatre in the London Borough of Camden , located above the Three Horseshoes public house in Hampstead . The theatre began in a disused skittle alley in the basement of the Freemason's Arms, Hampstead , in August 1968. It moved to an open-air site and also to
86-528: A hunter-gatherer community around 7000 BCE. Objects like cinerary urns and grave goods discovered near Well Walk , dating back to 70–120 CE, suggest the possibility of a Roman settlement or road in the vicinity. 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) as being in
129-614: A consequence, Hampstead has an eclectic mix of restaurants ranging from French to Thai. After over a decade of controversy and legal action from local residents, McDonald's was finally allowed to open in Hampstead in 1992, after winning its right in court, and agreeing to a previously unprecedented re-design of the shop front, reducing the conspicuousness of its facade and logo, It closed in November 2013. Popular local eateries also include street food vendors, such as La Creperie de Hampstead, which
172-515: Is in both zones 2 and 3 . Hampstead station serves the north western part of the wider district, near Hampstead's traditional centre. All the other three stations in the area are located to the south. In the 1860s, the Metropolitan and St John's Wood Railway was authorised to build a branch line from Swiss Cottage to Hampstead with its terminus to be located at the junction of Flask Walk, Well Walk and Willow Road. Financial difficulties meant that
215-420: Is often frequented by domestic and global celebrities. Hampstead's rural feel lends itself for use in 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
258-497: Is on the West Heath Road in movies 101 Dalmatians (1996.) and 102 Dalmatians (2001.) The 2021 census showed that the population of Hampstead Town ward was 77.7% white (46.7% British, 28% Other, 2.4% Irish). The largest non-white group, Asian, claimed 8.9%. The religious data of the area showed that 32.6% was Christian, 37.9% irreligious and 11% Jewish. 2.7% of the population was unemployed and seeking work; this compared to 5.1% for
301-463: Is part of the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency, formed at the 2010 general election . It was formerly part of the Hampstead and Highgate constituency. Since July 2022 the area has been represented on Camden Council by Conservative Party councillor Stephen Stark and Liberal Democrat councillor Linda Chung. The area has a significant tradition of educated liberal humanism, sometimes referred to (often disparagingly) as "Hampstead Liberalism". In
344-405: Is possible that there was a dwelling on the estate prior to 1244, an estate house was certainly extant by 1646. West End Lane (named as such by 1644), the main road through the area, is still bent at a right-angle at the north and south ends where it connects to Finchley Road and Edgware Road respectively. This is because the lane used to form the boundary between a number of different estates. By
387-544: Is represented by one Liberal Democrat and one Conservative councillor. South Hampstead is a competitive Labour and Conservative marginal, and Belsize is competitive between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, whereas Frognal is a safe Conservative ward. Hampstead Town (including the area of Hampstead Village and South End Green ) has seen a number of tightly fought Conservative and Liberal Democrat contests, and
430-468: Is served by routes 13 , 113 , 187 , 268, C11, and N113 . Cycling infrastructure in Hampstead is poor. In early 2016, Transport for London (TfL) consulted with the public on a new " Cycle Superhighway " (CS11) between Swiss Cottage and the West End , which provide an unbroken, predominantly traffic-free cycle route from Hampstead to Central London. The scheme was cancelled following court action from
473-475: Is served by three stations: West Hampstead on the Jubilee line , West Hampstead Overground station and West Hampstead Thameslink station . An area, known as "le Rudyng" (indicating a woodland clearing) in the mid-13th century, had by 1534 come to be called West End. It was then a freehold estate belonging to Kilburn Priory , and was so called because it was at the west end of another, larger estate. Although it
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#1732876321228516-538: Is situated between Childs Hill to the north, Frognal and Hampstead to the north-east, Swiss Cottage to the east, South Hampstead to the south-east and Kilburn to the west and south-west. The neighbourhood is mainly residential with several local amenities including a range of independent shops, supermarkets, restaurants, bars, cafes and bakeries; most of which are concentrated in the northern section of West End Lane and around West End Green. Located in travel zone 2, West Hampstead has excellent transport links, and
559-563: The City of Westminster in 2018. There are bus lanes along the A41/Finchley Road that cyclists are allowed to use. A shared-use path runs from Parliament Hill to Jack Straw's Castle / Highgate through the centre of Hampstead Heath. The A41 / Finchley Road passes north–south through Hampstead. The road links the area directly to Marylebone and Oxford Street to the south. The route runs northbound to Golders Green , Brent Cross ,
602-574: 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. In
645-456: The M1 motorway , and Watford . The A502 /Hampstead High Street runs from Camden Town in the south, through Hampstead, to Golders Green and Hendon in the north-west. The Royal Free Hospital and A&E is in Hampstead. West Hampstead West Hampstead is an affluent area in the London Borough of Camden in north-west London. Mainly defined by the railway stations of the same name, it
688-643: The Middlesex hundred of Ossulstone . Outlying hamlets developed at West End and North End . In addition Pond Street formed the southern limit of the settlement for many centuries. The growth of Hampstead is generally traced back to the seventeenth century. Trustees of the Well started advertising the medicinal qualities of the chalybeate waters ( mineral water impregnated with iron) in 1700. A pump room and assembly room were established on Well Walk , supplied by water from springs in nearby Well Road . Elegant housing
731-651: The Spaniard's Inn , Spaniard's Road, where highwayman Dick Turpin took refuge; The Old Bull and Bush in North End; and The Old White Bear (formerly Ye Olde White Bear). Jack Straw's Castle , on the edge of the Heath near Whitestone Pond , has now been converted into residential flats. Others include: Hampstead has served as a testing ground for a number of cafes and restaurants that later became successful chains. Those include Giraffe World Kitchen , Gail's and 'Bagel Street'. As
774-606: The Spaniard's Inn , and the Everyman cinema. With some of the most expensive housing in London, Hampstead has had many notable residents , both past and present, including Helena Bonham Carter , Agatha Christie , T.S. Eliot , Jon English , Sigmund Freud , Stephen Fry , Ricky Gervais , Jim Henson , George Orwell , Harry Styles and Elizabeth Taylor . As of 2004, Hampstead has been home to more Prime Ministers , and contains more millionaires within its boundaries, than any other area of
817-765: The UK Weather Records with the Highest 155-min total rainfall at 169 mm. As of November 2008 this record remains. The average price of a property in Hampstead was £1.5 million in 2018. Hampstead became part of the County of London in 1889 and in 1899 the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead was formed. The Town Hall on Haverstock Hill, which was also the location of the Register Office, can be seen in newsreel footage of many celebrity civil marriages. In 1965,
860-533: The wider borough . Hampstead station is on one underground line, the Northern Line which has connections to other lines at Camden Town and Kings Cross & St Pancras stations and Embankment among others. The London Overground ( North London line ) also runs through Hampstead Heath and Finchley Road & Frognal . Stations in Hampstead include: All stations are in London fare zone 2 , except Hampstead, which
903-567: The 1960s, the figure of the Hampstead Liberal was notoriously satirised by Peter Simple of the Daily Telegraph in the character of Lady Dutt-Pauker , an immensely wealthy aristocratic socialist whose Hampstead mansion, Marxmount House, contained an original pair of Bukharin 's false teeth on display alongside precious Ming vases, neo-constructivist art, and the complete writings of Stalin. Michael Idov of The New Yorker stated that
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#1732876321228946-585: The 20th century, a number of notable buildings were created including: Cultural attractions in the area include the Freud Museum , Keats House , Kenwood House , Fenton House , the Isokon building , Burgh House (which also houses Hampstead Museum), and the Camden Arts Centre . The large Victorian Hampstead Town Hall was recently converted and extended as an arts centre. On 14 August 1975 Hampstead entered
989-660: The Haverstock Arms before moving to its present location in October 1971. It was founded to present poets reading their work in an informal theatrical pub setting. Scott-Matthews was appointed an OBE in the New Years Honours list 2020 for services to British Theatre and the community in Hampstead. Hampstead Hampstead ( / ˈ h æ m p s t ɪ d , - s t ɛ d / ) is an area in London , England, which lies 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Charing Cross , forming
1032-520: The Heath, overlooking west London. Parliament Hill also features in Notes on a Scandal (2006) together with the nearby areas of Gospel Oak and Camden Town . Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) features the old Hampstead Town Hall on Haverstock Hill. The 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
1075-541: 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
1118-638: The London Borough of Camden in 1965. Since then, it has become a major tourist destination within Camden, owing to its many historical sites and high street . The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon words ham and stede , which means, and is a cognate of, the Modern English "homestead". Archeological findings from Hampstead Heath , including Mesolithic flint tools, pits, postholes, and burnt stones, indicate
1161-583: The Pond Street side of Hampstead Green. Deconsecrated in 1978 and stripped of much of its assets it was boarded up and subsequently invaded by squatters. In 1998 it was leased to the St Stephen's Restoration and Preservation Trust which, after 11 years of fundraising and grants returned it to the community as a centre for education, weddings, public meetings and social celebrations together with occasional classical music concerts. Winning an English Heritage award for
1204-516: The United Kingdom. Inhabited since at least when the Anglo-Saxons ruled Britain, Hampstead is one of the oldest areas in London. From the 17th century it became popular as a resort away from the capital, especially for the affluent. The areas has been contained within many metropolitan governments since the 13th century, ending with the dissolution of the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead into
1247-471: 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. In February 2016, principal photography for Robert Zemeckis' war film Allied starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard, began with the family home located on the corners of Christchurch Hill and Willow Road in Hampstead. Cruella de Vil Mansion (Sarum Chase)
1290-581: The community "was the citadel of the moneyed liberal intelligentsia, posh but not stuffy." As applied to an individual, the term "Hampstead Liberal" is not synonymous with " champagne socialist " but carries some of the same connotations. The term is also rather misleading. As of 2018, the component wards of Hampstead (South Hampstead, Frognal, Hampstead Town and Belsize) have mixed representation. Frognal ward elects two Conservative councillors, Belsize ward elects three Liberal Democrat councillors, South Hampstead elects three Labour councillors, while Hampstead Town
1333-420: The early 17th century several houses were present, and by the middle of that century London merchants were building larger houses in the area. By 1800 West End was a hamlet of two to three dozen houses and cottages located in parkland, mostly on the west side of West End Lane and Fortune Green Lane, and north of the present-day railway lines. West End Lane had been rerouted, making it straighter and lying further to
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1376-468: 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 . For some, the area represented by Hampstead today consists principally of the (electoral) wards of Hampstead Town and Frognal & Fitzjohns; others espouse a broader definition, encompassing South Hampstead , Belsize Park and West Hampstead . Hampstead
1419-451: 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
1462-486: The northwest part of the London Borough of Camden , a borough in Inner London . It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsize Park to the south and is surrounded from the northeast by Hampstead Heath , a large, hilly expanse of parkland. Hampstead is known for its intellectual, artistic, liberal, and literary associations. It contains a number of listed buildings, such as Burgh House , Kenwood House ,
1505-668: The opening of the film, was actually The Holly Bush, 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. Some scenes from An American Werewolf in London (1981) are shot on Hampstead Heath , Well Walk and Haverstock Hill. More recently Kenwood House is the set of the "film-within-the-film" scene of Notting Hill (1999). Outdoor scenes in The Wedding Date (2005), starring Debra Messing , feature Parliament Hill Fields on
1548-507: The project was cancelled in 1870. There is a major bus terminus near Hampstead Heath station (near the Royal Free Hospital ), served by London Buses routes 24 and 1 . Routes 46 , 268 , C11 , and N5 also serve the Royal Free Hospital. Hampstead tube station and High Street are served by routes 46, 268, 603 , and N5. Route 210 runs along the northernmost rim of Hampstead, stopping at Jack Straw's Castle . Finchley Road
1591-463: The restoration of buildings at risk, the website www.ststephenstrust.co.uk has further information. Hampstead was once home to many art galleries but few are now left. The Catto Gallery has been in Hampstead since 1986 and has represented artists like Ian Berry , Philip Jackson , Chuck Elliott, Walasse Ting , and Sergei Chepik over the years. Hampstead is well known for its traditional pubs , such as The Holly Bush , gas-lit until recently;
1634-515: 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 , the FT Weekend Festival, book and poetry readings, fun fairs on the lower reaches of
1677-536: The ward has had mixed representation in recent decades. During the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum , 75% of voters across the London Borough of Camden voted to remain in the EU. Following the result many commentators used Hampstead as an archetype of the type of area that preferred to remain in the EU. This point was often made in alliterative contrast to poor post-industrial northern towns such as Hartlepool and Hull , that preferred to leave. To
1720-543: The west than previously. In 1851 residents were mainly agricultural labourers, gardeners, craftsmen and tradespeople, with an innkeeper, two beershop keepers, a schoolmistress and a few gentry. There were three main large houses: West End House, West End Hall and Lauriston Lodge. Transformation of the area started with the construction of three railway lines across West End Lane: Hampstead Junction Railway , built by 1857; Midland line , opened in 1868; and Metropolitan & St. John's Wood line, opened in 1879. West Hampstead
1763-471: 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 . St Stephen's Rosslyn Hill (Church of England) was built in 1869 by Samuel Sanders Teulon on
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1806-525: Was built in New End road, New End Square and Church Row . Although Hampstead Wells was initially most successful and fashionable, its popularity declined in the nineteenth century 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
1849-570: Was the name adopted by Metropolitan & St. John's Wood for its station on West End Lane. The period of greatest development in the area was the 15 years from the opening of that station, with estates on the west side of West End Lane being turned from farmland and parkland into housing estates. In 1897 large-scale development started on the east side of West End Lane, where three large houses, West End Hall, Canterbury House and Treherne House, had stood until then. There are three railway stations named West Hampstead , all within close proximity, and
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