32-671: Rosslyn House was a historic residence in what is now the Belsize Park area of London. Dating back to the sixteenth century and then known as Grove House, it was acquired in 1794 by the Scottish judge Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Earl of Rosslyn , the Lord Chancellor . Around this time it had an estate of around twenty one acres . After his death, the property was named after the Earl by subsequent occupant Robert Milligan himself known for his role in
64-568: A primary school near the Royal Free Hospital was heavily bombed. When the area was rebuilt, the opportunity was taken to widen the pavement and build further back from the road. The lyrics of the international chart hit " Kayleigh " by rock band Marillion in 1985 include the line "loving on the floor in Belsize Park ". It is also in the short film Les Bicyclettes de Belsize (although mainly filmed in Hampstead Village ), of which
96-587: A Whig candidate. Forster attempted to regain the seat at the 1857 general election but ranked bottom of the poll. Forster, "a wealthy and highly respected ship-owner and merchant" had mining interests, as a senior partner in Forster, Smith and Company, in both south County Durham and The Gambia . In 1840 Richard Robert Madden (the Special Commissioner of Inquiry into the British Settlements on
128-506: A substantial property built on the west side of the main London to Hampstead road. Inherited by his daughter and her husband, Charles West (1626–1687) , the fifth Baron de la Warr , by 1714 it had passed through various hands into the ownership of William Paget , the 6th Baron Paget , who had a substantial formal garden constructed. The name Belsize Park comes from the 17th-century manor house and parkland (built by Daniel O'Neill for his wife,
160-669: Is also the place of residence for the Jewish community targeted by Hitler during the Second World War in the novel The Morning Gift . Novelist Peter Straub entitled his 1983 poetry collection "Leeson Square and Belsize Park" in part after his time in residence in the Belsize Park region of London. Belsize Park and the surrounding quarters were the setting for a long-running radio drama, Waggoner's Walk . This daily serial ran from April 1969 to May 1980 each weekday on Radio 2 . Belsize Park
192-469: Is derived from French bel assis meaning 'well situated'. The area has many thoroughfares bearing its name: Belsize Avenue , Belsize Court, Belsize Crescent, Belsize Gardens, Belsize Grove, Belsize Lane , Belsize Mews , Belsize Park (the road), Belsize Park Gardens , Belsize Place, Belsize Square, and Belsize Terrace. The Manor of Belsize dates back to 1317, when as a subdivision to the Manor of Hampstead it
224-578: Is mentioned in the Hitchcock thriller, Dial M for Murder (1954) by the lead character Tony Wallace played by Ray Milland when coercing his accomplice, C.A. Swann into murdering his wife. There are records of a Belsize Park Rugby Club in North-West London since the 1860s. In 1871, Belsize was one of the clubs at the inaugural meeting of the Rugby Football Union , and therefore pioneers of
256-525: The Countess of Chesterfield ) which once stood on the site. Rebuilt in 1663, it was sublet by 1721, when the parklands opened as pleasure gardens for those looking to escape the dirt and grime of the City of London, with concerts, singing, dancing and country sports such as fishing and racing. In 1722 magistrates were instructed to act to stop riotous behaviour, although the parkland remained open until 1745. Belsize House
288-608: The Ecclesiastical Leases Act 1842 allowed all church lands to be let on long term construction leases, which unlocked the accelerated urban development of Belsize Park. The opening in 1851 of Hampstead Road railway station on the L&;BR prompted William Lund in 1852 to agree a 99-year construction sublease on the former Forsyth estate. He proposed developments to the west of Haverstock Hill, although his plans were curtailed by construction issues associated with building over both
320-459: The Pond Street sewer and the L&BR tunnel. In 1852 Charles James Palmer, a Bloomsbury -based solicitor bought the lease of Belsize House. In 1853 he proposed demolition of the main house, with Daniel Tiley taking the lead role in constructing Belsize Square and associated properties. Palmer commissioned architect James Piers St Aubyn to design St Peter's Church . In 1864 the church bought-back
352-503: The 1830s due to the proposal for the lines of the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) to be built through Belsize Park, but Eton College successfully argued via parliamentary lobbying for the railway to be tunnelled underground via Primrose Hill , which was then designed and engineered by Robert Stephenson . All the 38 houses on the Newman's House lands had been built by 1830. The passing of
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#1732868774460384-479: The 1860s housing rush. Woodd endeavored to keep the ever-encroaching tide of housing from coming too close to Rosslyn House, permitting development only on the fringes of the formal garden, such as the housing by the local architect Horace Field on the south side of Wedderburn Road. It was only after Woodd's death in 1895, and the sale of the House to developers by his widow the following year, that development took place on
416-451: The L&BR form 1868 ( Swiss Cottage and Finchley Road). From 1873 William Willett - the father of William Willett the tireless promoter of British Summer Time , who helped his father from 1881 onwards - took over the church's leases after the bankruptcy of Daniel Tiley. Willett redeveloped much of the former Eton College estate with newer, smaller but still substantial properties inspired by Queen Anne style architecture . By 1900, most of
448-632: The Victoria era. South End Farm continued as a farmhouse, whilst although Rosslyn House was sold in 1816 to the undertenant, it remained in place with its formal gardens until the house was demolished between 1896 and 1909. In 1855 Henry Davidson exchanged his lease for life of the Rosslyn House lands for a 99-year building lease. Due to issues associated with construction over the L&BR tunnels, in 1859 he sold Rosslyn House and its extended formal gardens to Charles Henry Lardner Woodd. Woodd decided to sublease
480-644: The West Coast of Africa) reported that Forster was one of the London-based merchants who were actively (and illegally) helping the slave traders. However, Forster managed to escape criminal prosecution. In 1841 there was a change of government, and the new government chose not to send the matter to the Queen's Bench , but to a House of Commons committee that Forster himself was part of. Unsurprisingly, this committee rejected most of Madden's findings. This article about
512-505: The construction of the West India Docks . Queen Victoria at one point considered it as a possible nursery for the Royal family. The previously rural area began to change in the mid-nineteenth century when nearby Belsize House and its grounds were developed to provide housing for the expanding capital. The Rosslyn House estate also began to be sold off in parcels for new streets. In 1896
544-438: The estates formal houses - allowed the church to maximise its income, and hence to allow additional substantial houses to be built on the lands. This income allowed the church to have Belsize House rebuilt in 1812 for additional letting income. The wealthy leaseholders soon enabled themselves to purchase the freehold from the church, allowing the accelerated development of Belsize as a Victorian country urban suburb of London. One of
576-453: The game of Rugby Union . In 1878, Belsize moved to form Rosslyn Park RFC, becoming one of England's leading clubs. In 1971, Belsize Park RFC was re-established by a group of local players. The club is now one of the most central of all London Rugby Clubs, playing and training in Regent's Park. There are five regular teams playing every Saturday during the season as well as a touch rugby squad in
608-483: The house out for income, with its occupiers until 1893 including Sir Francis Freeling (1764 – 1836) who was Secretary of HM General Post Office , and General Sir Moore Disney . Davidson developed his part of the Rosslyn lands, undertaking a mixed development of large semi-detached properties similar to Belsize Park, slowed by a lack of labour through both the substantial development of the neighbouring Maryon Wilson land and
640-647: The house was demolished to be turned into housing. The street names of the redeveloped area commemorate Rosslyn and other Lord Chancellors of the late Georgian era , Eldon , Lyndhurst and Thurlow . Lyndhurst Road follows the route of the old Rosslyn Grove approach to Rosslyn House. Belsize Park Belsize Park is a residential area of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden (the inner north-west of London ), England. The residential streets are lined with Georgian and Victorian villas and mews houses. Some nearby localities are Hampstead village to
672-484: The lease on the undeveloped backlot of the Bliss lands. Tiley gained agreement from Palmer and Eton College to buy the construction lease from the church, and hence extend development south of Belsize Square to connect with the college's estate. Mimicking the then fashionable styles of Kensington and Bayswater, between 1851 and the late 1860s he built over 250 8-10 bedroom semi-detached stucco houses with large porticos, aimed at
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#1732868774460704-423: The middle classes. The church undertook a similar agreement in 1857, reacquiring full control over the portion of Todd's lease north of Belsize Lane in 1865, and again selling it to Tiley. With construction almost complete, fashion changed and Tiley went bankrupt in 1870. Of the original eight lands defined by the church in 1808, the three leased to Thomas Roberts remained substantially undeveloped throughout much of
736-509: The new land owners George Todd redeveloped what was known as the White House in 1815 as a substantial Georgian stucco-villa with portico, and two lodges. Known as Belsize House, it was later sold to Matthew Forster (1786 – 1869) the Whig MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed as Belsize Lodge - it was demolished in 1937. Victorian development started along the main London to Hampstead road from 1815 through
768-532: The north and west, Camden Town to the south-east and Primrose Hill to the south. There are restaurants, pubs, cafés, and independent boutiques in Belsize Village, and on Haverstock Hill and England's Lane. Hampstead Heath is close by, and Primrose Hill park is a five-minute walk from England's Lane. Belsize Park is in the Hampstead and Highgate constituency whose present MP is Tulip Siddiq . The name
800-478: The north side of Wedderburn Road and elsewhere on the garden and site of the House. At 19-21 Lyndhurst Road (1898) the development incorporated the gatehouse of Rosslyn House, designed for Woodd by Teulon , the architect of St Stephen's Church, Rosslyn Hill . Developing housing resulted in the need for facilities, including the Metropolitan Railway from 1860 ( Hampstead Heath and Finchley Road ), and
832-528: The residual country mansions and their gardens had been demolished, now to make way for smaller terraced houses. After World War I , the construction of blocks of flats began, and now a great many of the larger houses are also converted into flats. In World War II , a large underground air-raid shelter was built here and its entrance can still be seen near the tube station at Downside Crescent. The area on Haverstock Hill north of Belsize Park Underground station up to Hampstead Town Hall and including part of
864-412: The song "Paradise" by Coldplay, where in the video, the elephant can be seen taking a train from the station. The Camden Town Group artist Robert Polhill Bevan and his wife Stanislawa de Karlowska lived at 14 Adamson Road from 1900 to 1925. Kirsty MacColl 's 2000 song "England 2 Colombia 0" features the line, "we went to a pub in Belsize Park and cheered on England as the skies grew dark..." It
896-401: The summer time. Matthew Forster Matthew Forster (1786 – 2 September 1869) was a British Whig politician and merchant. Forster was elected Whig MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed at the 1841 general election and held the seat until 1853 when he was unseated due to bribery and treating during the 1852 general election. At the ensuing by-election, his son John Forster was elected as
928-460: The title song was covered by Mireille Mathieu , Engelbert Humperdinck , and others. Belsize Park is also referenced on Sleeper's 1995 debut album Smart in the song "Lady Love Your Countryside" with the lyrics "And we could spend our lives puking in Belsize Park". Cozy Powell 's 1974 single " Na Na Na " suggests that "You're a wizard of Wembley Central, You're the J. S. Bach of Belsize park". The Belsize Park London Underground station features in
960-463: The works of Edward Bliss, a self-made man who had leased and then bought the southeastern-located Newman's House lands, on the west side of Haverstock Hill north of England's Lane. Bliss not only built properties to lease out, but also allowed construction subleases. In 1829 Eton College advertised villa-sized plots on Haverstock Hill. The college then started developing an axis road to Finchley Road, naming it after Queen Adelaide . Development halted in
992-521: Was left to the Roman Catholic monks of Westminster Abbey . The original manor consisted of a number of subdivided farms, which were rented out for income. Hence after the reformation, King Henry VIII returned the estate to the newly constituted Anglican Dean of Westminster Abbey. By 1600, including the manor house Belsize House there were at least three other properties on the estate, with diplomat and courtier Sir Isaac Wake (1581 – 1632) having
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1024-412: Was rebuilt in 1746, after which additional large country houses had been built on the surrounding farmlands for wealthy lawyers and merchants. Between 1679 and 1714, the number of houses on the estate had increased from 8 to 14, and by 1808 there were still only 22 recorded. However, the formal division of the state in 1808 into eight separate lands - based on the structure of the underleases pertaining to
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