Parliament Hill

The area known as Parliament Hill Fields comprises 270 acres of grassy parkland at the south east corner of Hampstead Heath. Parliament Hill itself reaches 332 feet.

Until 1884, the land was the property of the 4^th Earl of Mansfield, but in 1888 it was purchased for the public for £300,000 and added to Hampstead Heath.

Until the 1940s livestock were reared here for sale at Smithfield meat market. Today, the Fields are a popular leisure area with tennis courts, a children’s playground, bowling green and a café, not to mention ample opportunity for outdoor swimming (see below!)

Parliament Hill Fields bandstand

Parliament Hill has an interesting history. Thousands of Londoners fled here from the centre of London in 1524 when astrologers had predicted that a great flood would rush up the Thames and devastate the city. They even put an exact date on when this calamity would occur — 1st February 1524 when, as result of all seven major planets being in conjunction, “the waters of the Thames would swell to such a height as to overflow the whole city of London, and wash away ten thousand houses”. Heeding the warning, an estimated 20,000 people fled the city on the days before the flood was expected, and made preparations. Many of the richer sort took up residence on the heights of Highgate, Hampstead, and Blackheath, while some erected tents as far away as Waltham Abbey and Croydon.

Also of historical interest is the small pine-topped tumulus a short distance from the summit,

known locally as ‘Boudicca’s grave’. In the 19^th century it was thought to be the burial place of the Celtic queen, but excavation work proved nothing. More likely it is the site of an old windmill or a folly, once visible from nearby Kenwood House.

 

 

 

Parliament Hill Lido, built 1938

Parliament Hill has also been nicknamed ‘Traitors’ Hill’. It is said that in 1605 Guy Fawkes and his associates planned to watch the destruction of Parliament from this vantage point. The name ‘Parliament’ Hill was gained during the Civil War, when forces loyal to Parliament occupied it during their campaign against the Royalists.

 

View of Lido café

The Grade II listed Parliament Hill Lido opened in 1938, and is unheated. It was the most expensive of the London County Council’s 13 lidos built between 1920 and 1939. Despite its uninviting temperatures (a chilly nine degrees in the day I visited!), the Lido is still well-used, and is a popular haunt for wet-suited swimmers training for their next triathlon.

 

Swimmers at the Lido, Summer 1957

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another option for open-air swimmers are the Highgate Ponds, which run along the eastern perimeter of Parliament Hill Fields – two single-sex and one for mixed bathing. There is actually a total of 30 ponds on Hampstead Heath, dug in the 17^th and 18^th centuries as reservoirs and fed by springs of the river Fleet.

Highgate Men's Bathing Pond

For the less sport-minded, a walk up Parliament Hill provides unmatched views across the whole of London, taking in local landmarks (Kenwood to the west, Highgate village to the north-east) as well as the city’s most iconic buildings. So special is this view that it is now protected by law.

 

 

View across London from Parliament Hill

 

References

111 Places in London That You Shouldn’t Miss John Sykes (2016)
Prospect of Highgate and Hampstead Leonard Clark (1967)
The Annals of London John Richardson (2001)