VicLondon-Hampstead
Hampstead, the West End
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Hampstead is prosperous and solidly middle-class. In the past, it was the rural home of the poet John Keats, but now most of the residents are shop and small factory owners with the means to live outside of London. Those families that have lived here since before the spurt of growth are farmers, by and large, and while they appreciate the increase in business that the new suburban growth has cause, there is a de nite split between the old Hampsteaders and the new immigrants. There are no factories and large stores in the town, although there are plenty of small shops that sell dairy and other farm products, and a few of the newcomers have opened groceries and clothiers in the town proper. There is very little aristocratic presence here; this is a community looking to remain distinctly small in character.
Much of the area around Hampstead remains untouched. Hampstead Heath is a massive area of farmland and lightly forested fields surrounding the Jack Straus Castle. The elds around Hampstead Ponds and Highgate Ponds are owned by Parliament and are set aside in the 1880s for recreation.
Getting to Hampstead, which is north of Regent’s Park, is not dif cult. Several large arteries run out of London in the town (for they still think of themselves as a separate entity from London), Edgeware Road out of St. Johns Wood becomes Kilburn High Road, which climbs Shoot Up Hill. Finchley Road runs along Regent’s Park and into the town, as does Haverstock Hill (named for another of Hampstead’s features), which runs into Camden Town.
Additionally, by the 1890, rail and tram stations run out to Hampstead, terminating at a series of stations along Finchley Road, at Hampstead Heath, and the Haverstock Hill line joins with the Midland Railway, which runs through Hampstead by underground.
