Hampstead Heath

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Highgate model boating pond near Parliament Hill

Hampstead Heath (locally known as "The Heath") is a public open space in the north of London.

Hampstead Heath covers 3.2 km² (320 ha; 791 acres). It has 25 main ponds and areas of ancient woodland, bog, hedgerows, and grassland. A part of the Heath has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest by English Nature, the smallest one in London.

1 History
2 Description
3 Cruising
4 The Vale of Health
5 Hampstead Heath in Popular Media
6 Bibliography
7 Gallery
8 Footnote References
9 External links

Part of the land was originally the common lands of the Manor of Hampstead, while much of the rest was the parkland and farmland of Kenwood House.

From 1808 to 1814 Hampstead Heath hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain which connected the Admiralty in London to its naval ships in the port of Great Yarmouth.

Whilst living in London Karl Marx and his family would take regular Sunday picnics on the heath.

Another point of interest which harkens back to the pre-Roman era is the curious fenced off circular parcel called Boudicca's Mound. Centred between the Men's Pond and the Mixed Bathing Pond and north of Parliament Hill, the site is believed to be where Queen Boudicca (Boadicea) was buried after she and 10,000 other British soldiers were defeated at Battle Bridge. Most Hampstead Heath goers bypass the site without giving it a second thought. There are however, other theories as to where she lies (King's Cross Station). There is also a statue of her driving a reinless chariot at Westminster Bridge near the Palace of Westminster.

Sadly recent research suggests that 'Boudicca's Mound' is a tumulus upon which a 17th Century windmill sat - earlier drawings and paintings of the area show no mound whatsoever, and excavations have discovered nothing but earth.

Most of it is managed by the Corporation of London. The Kenwood area, 0.5 km² (50 ha; 112 acres), is maintained by English Heritage. Most of the Heath, 2.8 km² (280 ha; 681 acres), lies in the London Borough of Camden. The remaining 0.4 km² (40 ha; 110 acres) is the Hampstead Heath Extension lying in the London Borough of Barnet. The Heath is policed by its own small police force, the Hampstead Heath Constabulary.

Hampstead Heath was featured on the television programme Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of the London area, with a focus on Parliament Hill. The episode was presented by Bill Oddie, who lives nearby and watches birds there regularly.

Public transport near the Heath include National Rail and the London Underground, with National Rail stations at Gospel Oak and Hampstead Heath and London Underground "Tube" stations at Hampstead and Belsize Park to the west, Golders Green to the north, and Highgate and Archway to the east. Bus routes surround most of the heath.

There are no signposts to, or on, Hampstead Heath. Tourist handbooks usually advise visitors to bring a map with them. At the southern tip of the park is the Lido open air swimming pool. Farther north, near the Highgate side, are two ponds in which swimming is allowed, both single-sex (that is, one is for males only, while the other one is for females only). To the west of these is the 'mixed pond', where members of either sex (male or female) may swim. These ponds are fed by the Fleet River, which starts on the Heath and flows down to the River Thames at Blackfriars. Other ponds are variously used for fishing, model boats, and reserved for wildlife.

Adjoining the West Heath, not part of Hampstead Heath proper but still run by the Corporation of London, is Golders Hill Park.

In 2005, Giancarlo Neri's sculpture The Writer, a 9-metre tall table and chair, was exhibited on Hampstead Heath.

John Atkinson Grimshaw, Victorian era painter, painted an elaborate night-time scene of Hampstead Hill in oils. Hampstead Heath also provided the backdrop for the opening scene in Victorian writer Wilkie Collins' novel The Woman in White.

Parliament Hill, one of the highest points in London, offers great views over the city.

The wildlife includes kingfishers, jackdaws and ring-necked parakeets. Pipistrelles and Daubenton's bats may be seen over the ponds.

Part of the area (the West Heath) is used by gay men as a cruising ground at night. There have been incidental attacks carried out on people cruising, and indecency prosecutions, perhaps the most famous being R v Thompson (1918), 13 Cr App R 80, known to law students throughout the common law world for its description of the accused "carrying powder puffs" deemed sufficiently inculpating to be admissible in evidence under the similar facts rule.

The Vale of Health is a small hamlet (named "Hatchett's Bottom" until 1801), accessed via a small lane off East Heath Road, is surrounded entirely by the heath. It is now one of the most expensive residential areas in the world.

The feature film, Scenes of a Sexual Nature (2006) was shot entirely on Hampstead Heath.

Hampstead Heath: Its Geology and Natural History. Prepared under the Auspices of the Hampstead Scientific Society with 3 maps ^(pull-out) and 11 plates. ^[1]