Hampstead Village has a rich history of intellectual and artistic associations and, of course, Hampstead Heath. The area has been popular with film and TV show makers with Hampstead Heath being used in BBC's Spooks, the cult film Scenes of a Sexual Nature (2006) and Notes on a Scandal (2006). The old Hampstead Town Hall on Haverstock Hill was used in the filming of the world famous Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994).
Filming aside, here are a few things I learned when walking through Hampstead Village on a blazingly glorious Saturday afternoon.
What's in a name?
The name Hampstead comes from the Anglo-Saxon words ham and stede, which means, and is a cognate of, the Modern English "homestead".
Home of a Romantic Poet
John Keats lived in Hampstead for less than 2 years where he wrote his major works of poetry. The house was built in 1815 though an extension had been added later in the C19th. Hampstead was a village in those days and had alleged health giving attributes. Tuberculosis was rife and consumption or “decline” was a common cause of death. It seemed to run in Keats family. He had been trained as an apothecary surgeon and when he identified drops of blood which he had coughed up as “arterial blood” he knew he was not long for the world. Keats moved to Italy as was popular in his time and died aged 25 in Rome where he is also buried. Some letters say that Keats was inspired to write his Ode to a Nightingale in the garden.
20 years on...
And there is a plaque to commemorate the five years Jacqueline Du Pre lived in Hampstead. On good days, the couple would entertain at home. "We had some very nice evenings at Pilgrim's Lane," Barenboim later recalled. However, by late 1972 even this became too challenging for du Pré. Her last London concert was held at the Festival Hall in late 1972.What a way to go!
The Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson is known the world over for his literary talents in Treasure Island, Kidnapped and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. What the world may not know was that he had never been a well man and died on a small Samoan island in the Pacific while opening a bottle of wine. The effort caused a blood vessel to burst. Sing about cake
In 1898 a baby girl was born over a fish and chip shop in Rochdale, Lancashire. The little girl grew up to be an actress, comedienne and a singer who sang about cake! Here name was Dame Gracie Fields. She lived in a house in Hampstead which she built in 1934 and died in 1979 at the age of 81.You might also like:
Explore The Lost River Fleet on Hampstead HeathHistorical Hampstead - Cannon Hall & Parish Lock-up
Kensington, a Royal Village
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