Facts about Hampstead
Hampstead History
Early records of Hampstead can be found in a grant by King Ethelred the Unready to the monastery of St. Peter’s at Westminster, and it is referred to in the Domesday Book as being in the Middlesex hundred of Ossulstone. The growth of Hampstead is generally traced back to the 17th century. Trustees of the Well started advertising the medicinal qualities of the chalybeate waters in 1700.
Although Hampstead Wells was initially most successful and fashionable, its popularity declined in the 1800s due to competition with other fashionable London spas. The spa was demolished in 1882, although a water fountain was left behind. Hampstead started to expand following the opening of the North London Railway in the 1860s.
General Info
Hampstead is an area in north London, England. Lying 4 miles northwest of Charing Cross, it extends from the A5 road to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough of Camden. Hampstead is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical, and literary associations.
It has some of the most expensive housing in the London area. Hampstead has more millionaires within its boundaries than any other area of the United Kingdom. In 1889 and in 1899 the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead was formed. The borough town hall on Haverstock Hill, which was also the location of the Register Office, can be seen in newsreel footage of many celebrity civil marriages.
