Hampstead Square lies in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...

. It runs eastward off Heath Street and then curves southwards before Elm Row connects it again to Heath Street. It is linked by pedestrian access to Cannon Place. Historically it was a

garden square A garden square is a type of communal garden in an urban area wholly or substantially surrounded by buildings; commonly, it continues to be applied to public and private parks formed after such a garden becomes accessible to the public at large. ...

, featuring densely-packed buildings as opposed to the larger space-out houses on the edge of

Hampstead Heath Hampstead Heath is an ancient heath in London, spanning . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London Clay. The heath is rambling ...

. Many of the houses date back to the early eighteenth century when the area was booming due to the nearby

Hampstead Wells Hampstead () is an area in London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider met ...

spa. It is marked on the 1762 map of Hampstead simply as The Square and its open space was used in the early nineteenth century by

strolling players Strolling players were travelling theatre groups in England during the Tudor and subsequent periods. They toured the country delivering theatrical performances. They performed in barns and in the courtyards of inns. One of the most popular plays ...

and the Victoria Tea Gardens. The construction of Christ Church in 1852 by the architect

Samuel Daukes Samuel Whitfield Daukes (1811–1880) was an English architect, based in Gloucester and London. Family background Daukes was born in London in 1811, the son of Samuel Whitfield Daukes, a businessman with coal mining and brewery interests, who b ...

turned it from a traditional square shape into a

polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...

.Wade p.46 The

Hampstead Meeting House The Hampstead Meeting House is a Friends meeting house (a Quaker place of worship) at 120 Heath Street in Hampstead, London N3. It was designed by Fred Rowntree in the Arts and Crafts style. The friends had previously met in Willoughby Road fr ...

is also located in the square. Notable residents have included the writer

Wilkie Collins William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist and playwright known especially for ''The Woman in White (novel), The Woman in White'' (1860), a mystery novel and early sensation novel, and for ''The Moonsto ...

and the married artists John Copley and

Ethel Léontine Gabain Ethel Léontine Gabain, later Ethel Copley, (26 March 1883 – 30 January 1950) was a French-Scottish artist. Gabain was a renowned painter and lithographer and among the founding members of the Senefelder Club. While she was known for her oil p ...

References

Bibliography

* Bebbington, Gillian. ''London Street Names''. Batsford, 1972. * Cherry, Bridget & Pevsner, Nikolaus. ''London 4: North''. Yale University Press, 2002. * Wade, Christopher. ''The Streets of Hampstead''. Camden History Society, 2000. Streets in the London Borough of Camden Hampstead {{London-road-stub

See also

References

Bibliography