Hampstead: Economic History

ECONOMIC HISTORY.

Agriculture.

Most, 3½ of the 5 hides of the pre-Conquest Hampstead estate, belonged in 1086 to the manorial demesne, which had I ploughteam and I serf. The other 1½ was villein land, but I hide of it was held by Ranulf Peverell who had ½ ploughteam, while of the remaining ½ hide, where I villanus had I virgate and 5 bordars the other, there was I villein ploughteam. There was room for one further ploughteam presumably on the demesne. The woodland, for 100 pigs, was small, especially since the 5 hides did not correspond with Hampstead's acreage in 1931 (2,265 a.), but that was probably because wood for pigs described mast-bearing oak and beech and most of Hampstead's woodland was birch and heath. The whole manor, worth 50s. in 1086, had halved in value since 1066. (fn. 1)

During the period of confusion and alienation in the 12th and 13th centuries a considerable amount of the demesne was lost to freehold estates. Belsize may have originated in the Peverell holding (fn. 2) but the estates held in free alms, Chalcots, Kilburn priory, and the Temple, evidently came from manorial demesne. Together with one 16-a. secular holding (Kingswell) they covered nearly half of the parish. (fn. 3) By 1312 there were 285 a. of manorial demesne in addition to an unspecified amount of woodland and at least 340 a. of customary land. (fn. 4)

For about a century from the mid 13th century, Westminster abbey exploited its Hampstead demesne directly through a reeve or serviens. (fn. 5) There were from 5 to 10 famuli who were paid in grain: two ploughmen, a carter, a shepherd, a cowherd, often a harrower, a dairyman or girl, a boy to keep the woods in summer and lead the reapers in autumn, and sometimes a neatherd, a keeper of lambs, a driver, a housemaid, a swineherd, and a greyhound keeper. A miller and a smith were also employed on the demesne and carpenters and building workers were hired as needed. Other work was performed as customary labour or hired for the job. The demesne occupied the heart of Hampstead manor and parish, centred on the grange farm which was probably at Frognal. In 1312 the demesne contained 204 a. of profitable (lucrabilis) land, which has been interpreted as arable. The largest portion, 87 a., lay in Summer Leas in the south-west, while there were 61 a. in Homefield, presumably near the grange, 11 a. in Pirley field in the south-east, and smaller amounts in other named shots and crofts. (fn. 6) Other evidence suggests that Pirley was much larger (fn. 7) and the three may have originally formed a three-field system. By the later 13th century, however, recorded acreages of arable crops were much lower, suggesting a two-field system with half the arable fallow at any one time. Acreages mentioned are 24 a. of rye in 1271, 60 a. of wheat in 1272, 70 a. of oats in 1273, and 52 a. of oats in 1286. In 1347 103 a. were under crops: 66 a. of oats (31 a. in Homefield, 25 a. in Summer Leas, and 10 a. in Pirley), 33 a. of wheat (26 a. in Homefield and 7 a. in Summer Leas), and 4 a. of peas in Homefield. All the usual grains were grown but, while the amounts produced each year fluctuated, oats were by far the most important crop. In the 1270s and 1280s there was an average yield of 63 qr. of oats, compared with 15 qr. of wheat, 12½ qr. of rye, and 6 qr. of barley. From 1290 rye was usually grown with maslin. Small amounts of peas and beans, 1-2½ qr., were also grown. The yield from all crops was low, especially for wheat where sometimes the whole crop was used for seed, and frequently grain was bought or acquired from other Westminster manors. The oats were used as provender for the oxen and horses, the other grains for the famuli and boonworkers. Any surplus was sold or sent to other Westminster manors.

In 1312 the arable was valued at 4d. an acre, amounting to £3 8s. Permanent meadow for mowing, of which there were only 28 a., was worth 4s. an acre or £5 12s. Most of it, 14 a., was in Summer Leas, while there were 4½ a. in Pirley and 4½ a. in Homefield. (fn. 8) Throughout the late 13th century and early 14th about 25 a. were regularly mown but the hay never fetched more than £3 10s. (fn. 9) Pasture included 11 a. mostly in Homefield, for which no value was given, 34½ a. in Northfield (23 a.) and Pirley (11 a.) worth 5d. an acre or 14s. 4½d., and 7 a. of fallow land worth 2d. an acre or 1s. 2d. All the meadows and pastures were commonable from 29 September to 25 March. There was common pasture throughout the year in some woods, named as Northwood, Nuthurst, and Sheppenbrighull, all probably in the northern part of the demesne. No value was given. (fn. 10)

In the 1270s most of the pasture was presumably used by the demesne animals, only 4s. a year being received from pasture sold to the Templars. In 1286 pasture fetched £1 4s. 11d. and throughout the 1280s and 1290s the annual income from pasture sold was between £1 and £2 13s. Possibly extra pasture was obtained by clearing the woods and heath, and Eastfield, later part of Belsize, was mentioned as demesne pasture in 1297. In the 14th century the sale of pasture seems to have been less profitable. No winter pasture was sold in 1303. because it was used by the demesne animals and in 1322 there were no buyers for several pastures. There was a lot of hedging around the demesne fields in the late 14th and early 15th century, especially in the 1380s, mostly to 'save young wood', possibly from grazing animals. (fn. 11)

In 1259 the demesne stock consisted of 2 carthorses, 12 stots, 8 oxen, a bull, 18 cows, 9 other cattle, 320 sheep, 4 geese, 12 capons, and 6 chickens. (fn. 12) From 1270 to 1299 it averaged 2 carthorses, 4 stots, 7 oxen, a bull, 12 cows, and 15 other cattle, with little variation from year to year. The cows were farmed out from 1297, the farmer paying £4 1s. 1d. a year for their milk and calves. The oxen were used for ploughing, the horses and stots for carting, and profit was obtained from the sale of butter, cheese, excess animals, and the skins of dead animals. The profits from sheep, potentially much greater, were more erratic. There were 376 sheep in 1271 and the numbers increased to 511 in 1279 but by 1283 they had fallen to 131, increasing again to 231 in 1286. In that year, however, the flock was devastated by disease, (fn. 13) falling to 62 in 1287. It never really recovered and ceased to be an item in the accounts in 1297-9. In 1314 there were 220 and in 1347 124. The sheep were kept mainly for their wool, most of which was sent to Westminster, as was their cheese.

Other profits of the demesne listed in 1312 were, besides the furze and wood, (fn. 14) manure, valued at 3s., (fn. 15) an item which never appeared on the manorial accounts, and the apples and herbage from the gardens and courtyards valued at 3s. 8d. Herbage was usually included in the accounts with other pasture and the profit from apples was erratic, varying when it occurred at all from 1s. 2d. (1288) to 7s. (1292). One barrel of cider was produced in 1297. The tenants rendered 8 or 10 geese at the feast of St. Peter in Chains (1 Aug.), 42 or more chickens at Christmas, and 110 or more eggs at Easter, which were usually sent to the cellarer at Westminster or sold. From the mid 1280s geese and chickens were also kept at the grange and a henhouse was mentioned in 1289. Pigs were listed on the demesne only from 1298.

Leasing became increasingly important in the economy of the demesne. In the 1270s, apart from the farm of the manorial mill, (fn. 16) some 4s. a year was obtained from the sale of pasture, an item which had risen to over £1 a year by the mid 1280s and over £2 by the mid 1290s. From 1297 the demesne cows were farmed out at 5s. a cow, and from 1298 escheated tenant land and Eastfield were farmed out, although there appears to have been difficulty in finding lessees in the early 14th century. The Black Death, which presumably devastated the famuli and manorial officials besides the abbot and Westminster monks who fled to Hampstead in a vain attempt to avoid it, (fn. 17) accelerated the drift to leasing. In 1350 all the land, meadow, and pasture of the demesne, together with 2 oxen, a bull, and 15 cows, were leased to Richard Hanningham for 5 years at £10 a year, while Eastfield and some escheated tenant land was leased to the prior of Westminster and ultimately became part of Belsize. The reeve continued to administer the woods, rents, and other manorial dues. Westminster still received £10 a year from Hampstead manor in 1370 (fn. 18) and by 1376, when the demesne was leased with its meadow, pasture, and stock to John Brown, the rent was £13 6s. 8d. and the rents, profits from woods, and other dues were then collected by a bedell, John Sleigh, who continued in office until 1393, when he was succeeded by his son, also John Sleigh (d. 1420). (fn. 19) Brown was succeeded in 1381 by William Gibb, who leased the demesne for 20 years at £14 a year. Gibb continued as farmer until 1411 when the demesne, but not the stock, was leased to William Winter for £12. The stock, 2 oxen, a bull, and 15 cows, was sold or sent to other Westminster estates. (fn. 20) From 1497, when the lessee was also the collector of rents and issues of the courts, the lessees were Edward Westby (1497-1500), (fn. 21) Bartholomew Westby, baron of the Exchequer (1513-20), (fn. 22) and John James (1521-41). (fn. 23) With the possible exception of the last two, all the known lessees also held customary tenements and came from Hampstead families. (fn. 24)

In the 1270s and 1280s the Templars rented pasture in the demesne. (fn. 25) In 1308 on their Hampstead estate, which was administered as part of their manor of Lisson, 14 a. were sown with peas and 35 a. with oats, and oxen were kept. (fn. 26) The estate, having passed to the Hospitallers, was in 1327 described as including 100 a. of arable and 3 a. of meadow in Hampstead, part of Lisson manor leased for life to William Langford. (fn. 27) In 1338 the southern portion of the estate, later St. John's Wood, was presumably still part of Lisson manor, which was leased for life to William de Cliff, while the northern, later the Shoot Up Hill estate, was part of Clerkenwell bailiwick and leased at the will of the prior. (fn. 28) In 1522 the Shoot Up Hill estate, together with the Hospitallers' lands in Willesden and Hendon, was leased to John Barne, (fn. 29) who by 1540 had assigned his 50-year lease to Thomas Bland. (fn. 30)

The Chalcots estate was apparently administered directly by the master of St. James's hospital in 1296, when he was distrained for harbouring his servants who had trespassed in the demesne corn. (fn. 31) It was leased by 1450 to John Rye (fn. 32) and by 1481 to William Amy; (fn. 33) in 1481 Chalcots was leased to Thomas Leckhampton for 20 years. (fn. 34) From 1514 it was leased together with Wyldes in Hendon (fn. 35) to Thomas and William Kempe for 21 years; (fn. 36) William Kempe renewed the lease for 21 years in 1531. (fn. 37)

After the demesne was leased, Westminster abbey's control of Hampstead evidently passed to the prior, and the prior's estate, Belsize, became the centre of the administration of the whole manor. (fn. 38) The prior apparently still had Belsize in hand c. 1486 and in 1496 (fn. 39) but in 1500 Eastfield (then in four closes) and Fishers croft, the portion of Belsize east of the London road, were leased to William Griffen, a London butcher, for three years. (fn. 40) The same land was leased for 12 years to Robert Cheeseman and John Palmer, both gentlemen of Kentish Town, in 1518, (fn. 41) and by 1539 the whole estate was leased to William Wrench. (fn. 42)

Excluding the free tenants, (fn. 43) there were 35 tenants paying rent of £2 18s., 40 hens, and 11 geese in 1259, and 44 tenants paying £3 17s. 3½d. in 1281. In 1312 there were 41 customary tenants paying £4 3s., 8 geese, 45 hens, and 113 eggs. (fn. 44) Two other holdings were in the hands of the lord: Alwinesfield, 16 a. held for 3s. 8d. rent, had been surrendered to the lord in 1295 by John Lyon because of his inability to pay the rent and services, and a house and 20 a. held for 4s. 10d. had been sold by John de Kilburn in 1296 to the lord, who sold the house in 1298. (fn. 45) Both holdings were leased during the 14th century. (fn. 46) Alwinesfield was still leased in 1459 (fn. 47) and although Kilburn's holding, then called Pagesfield after Robert Page, the lessee for most of the 14th century, was held as customary land in the early 15th century, (fn. 48) it may have later reverted to the lord and become part of the demesne by 1704. (fn. 49) There were 51 customary holdings in 1312, and although reckoning in virgates was obsolete by then (fn. 50) it was apparently still the basis of most of the existing holdings. There were two probable virgate holdings, each a house and 30 a. held for 3s. 10d. rent by Richard Blakett and Richard le Child respectively. The rents and services of those two ought to have been accounted for under Hendon, (fn. 51) and although they were not listed in the Hendon survey of 1321 they were in 1349. (fn. 52) The place names Childs Hill and Blacketts well indicate that their holdings were on the boundaries of Hampstead and Hendon. (fn. 53) By 1322 rent was no longer being received in Hampstead for either holding and Blakett's tenement was sold to Henry le Scrope, who held the manor of Hodford and Cowhouse in south Hendon. (fn. 54) It is probable, therefore, that the two customary Hampstead holdings became absorbed into that manor and that the parish boundary was later adjusted.

There was one holding of a house and 24 a. and 14 possibly derived from half virgates, each being a house and between 10-20 a.; the house had become detached from another and was held by an undertenant. There were 13 holdings of less than 10 a., each with a house, in one case with 2 houses, and 7 houses with no land. Two of the latter were undersets and one other was held together with 7½ a. from other holdings. There were nine holdings of land only, usually small amounts, some underset and some probably assarts. Rents bore little relation to the size of tenement, the highest, 6s. 8d. and 4s. 8d., being paid for holdings of 10 and 11 a. respectively. Almost all the holdings with land paid hens and eggs as rent while those with only a house paid only a few pence.

One tenement of a house and 12 a. was lost as a result of the Black Death, being leased to the prior of Westminster and absorbed into Belsize. (fn. 55) Another, Arnoldsland, was in the hands of the lord in 1354 (fn. 56) but later was granted out again. The main effect of the Black Death was to concentrate the customary holdings in fewer hands. By 1372 26 tenants held 55 tenements. The increased number of tenements is accounted for by the fragmentation and recombination of existing holdings rather than the creation of new ones. The total rent was £4 2s. 2d. (fn. 57) From 1376 to 1412 rents were a fixed item of £9 0s. 4¼d., of which the assised rents formed £8 0s. 0¼d., the remainder being composed of tallage and medsilver. (fn. 58) By 1459 a distinction had been made between so-called assised rents (in 1539 described as paid by free tenants although it included tallage) totalling £6 3s. 10¾d. and customary rents, totalling £4 6s. 11¾d., then paid by 19 tenants. The greatest concentration of property was in the hands of Walter Hunt, who paid £1 10s. 4½d. rent. (fn. 59) He was the son of William Hunt (d. 1439), a London butcher whose Hampstead estate was centred on his house in Kilburn. (fn. 60) In 1472 there were 21 tenants paying £10 7s. 6½d. a year for 38 holdings which were either customary or held at farm; the farmed tenant land had in 1459 comprised 7 holdings farmed for 19s. a year. (fn. 61)

Most customary tenants whose holdings in 1312 possibly derived from half-virgates owed a total of 15 works each: harrowing, carting dung, hoeing, haymaking, carting hay, and autumn boonworks: reaping and carting corn and oats. In addition they owed a day's ploughing each for the winter and spring sowing if they possessed a plough. Fifteen tenants owed those services, one owed twice as many, and another half as many. (fn. 62) The two probable virgate holdings owed similar but lighter services which were probably performed in Hendon, each owing a day's harrowing, hoeing, haymaking, and carting corn, 4 days' reaping, and a day's ploughing if he possessed a plough. In addition he had to thresh 2 bu. of rye or wheat and 5 bu. of oats. Two tenants each with a house and 5 a. owed week-work, one day's work each week except for the weeks of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun, and one with 16 a. from which the house had been separated owed 16 works in autumn. The week-work (also called small or manual works) was defined in detail in 1297 and included harrowing, hoeing, reaping, collecting and spreading manure, planting beans, hedging, and cutting and collecting stubble. (fn. 63) The works performed never, except for the week-works, corresponded with those owed. In 1312 they were 35 harrowing, 25½ carting dung, 1 hoeing, 83½ haymaking, 16½ carting hay, 37 reaping and 34 carting corn, and 114 manual works, valued at £1 15s. 4¼d. The ploughing works were not included. In 1274 there were 13 ploughmen at the boon ploughing and £2 15s. 2¼d. was paid on the equivalent of 158½ reapers, but it is not clear whether the expense was in food and drink for boon-reapers or in wages for hired men. (fn. 64) In 1289 the reaping was performed by at least 28 boonworkers besides the famuli, and 8 hired reapers. (fn. 65) In 1297, when works were separately listed, 18 autumn boonworks were commuted. (fn. 66) By 1299 the commuted works were 18 autumn boonworks, 8 ploughing, 63 carting, and 2 threshing works. (fn. 67) In 1322 £1 0s. 10½d. was obtained from the sale of 32 hoeing, 67 carrying, 37 reaping, 8 autumn, and 27 winter manual works. (fn. 68) By 1347 commuted works, which included all the manual works, brought in £1 11s. (fn. 69) After the demesne was leased in 1350 all the works were commuted, except 85 haymaking works which were granted to the lessee. (fn. 70) The value of commuted works had crystallized at £1 9s. 2d. by 1459 and so remained until 1539. (fn. 71)

Customary tenants had to pay a common tallage at Martinmas. In 1281 the amounts paid by 32 tenants varied from ½d. to 2s. and totalled £1 0s. 7½d. (fn. 72) The total fell from £1 5s. in 1271 to £1 2s. 2d. in 1312 and 19s. from 1376 to 1412. (fn. 73) As 'unyeld', it was paid by 24 tenants in the early 15th century. (fn. 74) By 1459 it had dropped to 15s. 8¾d., which was explained by the annexation of tenements by Belsize, (fn. 75) and it was thereafter included in the figure for assised rents. (fn. 76) Other payments demanded from customary tenants in 1312 were a 4s. fine on Hockday Monday, which did not appear in the accounts, pannage for pigs at Martinmas, which averaged 3s., and medsilver (?meadsilver), 10d. at Midsummer from the two tenants who owed week work. (fn. 77) From 1384 chevage of 6d. and a capon was demanded from one of those tenants, as a neif. (fn. 78) Two other neifs paid chevage from 1386. (fn. 79)

The neifs were members of families long associated with Hampstead: Aldenham (1281-1529), Pond or Ponder (1259-1386), and Roke or Rook (1281- 1387). (fn. 80) Other peasant families were Woodward (1259-1384), Brown (1281-1397), Sturgis or Turgis (1259-1372), Bycok (1281-1372), and Bertram (1259-1347). (fn. 81) Some early surnames probably originated as descriptive terms for famuli: Shepherd (1281-96), Forester (1281-1322), Woodward (1259- 1384), and Herd (or Cowherd) (1259-1322). (fn. 82) Although surnames tended to change more quickly in the late 14th and 15th century, John Rye, the granger in 1347, (fn. 83) may have been a forebear of John Rye of Hampstead, a tax-commissioner in Middlesex in 1449, lessee of Chalcots in 1450, and the holder of several customary lands in 1459. (fn. 84) The Kemp family was active in Hampstead and Kilburn from the early 15th to the early 18th century. (fn. 85) An early 15thcentury tenement was called after the prolific Marsh family, (fn. 86) of which lasted into the early 19th century, of which branches were copyholders and underlessees of Belsize and Kilburn. (fn. 87)

Except possibly for the demesne, there is no evidence of any open-field system in Hampstead. The holdings, customary as well as freehold, seem to have consisted of crofts, some of which can be identified. (fn. 88) Most of the holdings described in 1312 would have been too small to support subsistence if they were primarily arable. (fn. 89) Little is known of agriculture on the customary land. The goods of one tenant, confiscated in 1271, included 6½ qr. of oats, 1½ qr. of barley, an ox, 3 carthorses, 2 cows, and 4 bullocks. (fn. 90) Animals played an important part in the peasant economy, particularly since tenants had the right of common pasture on the demesne. One, probably free, tenement of 9 a. in the 13th century had the right of common for 60 sheep, 12 cattle, and 16 pigs wherever the animals of the abbey were allowed. Heriots of an ox, horses, cattle and, less usually, sheep, were paid in kind until c. 1400; they had apparently been commuted into a money payment by the 1530s. (fn. 91) Ewe lambs were bequeathed in the will of one customary tenant in 1418. (fn. 92) The rents in kind showed that numbers of geese and hens were kept. (fn. 93) Pannage was paid for between 15 and 72 pigs in the 13th century but the numbers had dropped to 9-18 by the mid 14th century. (fn. 94) Payments were no longer made by c. 1400.

Only one of the major freehold estates, Chalcots, did not change hands at the Dissolution and the Temple estate fragmented into at least two and possibly five estates. The local effect was probably slight because all the estates were then leased and most of the lessees continued under the new lay owners who were as much absentee landlords as the religious they replaced. On the two estates still owned by institutions, Chalcots by Eton and Belsize by the dean and chapter of Westminster, the lessees themselves from the 17th century became absentee landlords. Many estates were underleased and most were divided into small farms.

There were 296 a. of demesne farmland in 1646, (fn. 95) little changed since 1312, but the acreage increased as the woodland was cleared, probably in the 1650s or 1660s. The Upper Dell, a field in the north in what had been Northwood, had been leased before 1665. (fn. 96) In 1687 70 a. in three closes called Northwood were leased. (fn. 97) By 1704 they formed the 76-a. Northwood farm (later called Norwood), divided into 19 small closes. (fn. 98) Whitebirch, an area of woodland, presumably of silver birches, on the east side of the heath, had begun to be cleared by 1663 (fn. 99) and parcels of it, described as 'late wood', were leased in the 1680s. (fn. 100) By 1762 it formed 81 a. of demesne farmland, later called East Park. (fn. 101) In 1704 the demesne farmland was said to total 481 a., (fn. 102) probably an exaggeration since the more accurate survey of 1762 gives 464 a. (fn. 103) The demesne estate described in the tithe award of 1841 totalled 416 a., (fn. 104) the reduction caused by the area taken for the demesne houses, by the pieces sold off in the late 18th and early 19th century, and by land lost to the Finchley Road. More land was taken for railways in the 1860s and farmland shrank as building on the demesne spread after 1860 and East Park was incorporated in the heath in 1889. Even before the loss to building, parts of farmland had been leased for other purposes, like brickfields, and the value fell from £5 an acre in 1819 to less than £3 in 1870. (fn. 105)

In 1646 the demesne was leased to 16 tenants, the largest of whom held 166 a., and the next, a baker who had died by 1664 possessed of a great personal estate, held 40 a. (fn. 106) The boundaries of the leasehold estates were fluid and in 1649 there were 17 tenants: three holding between 48a. and 56a. each, the rest much smaller parcels. (fn. 107) In 1704 the increased demesne was divided into 10 farms and three smaller estates (fn. 108) and by c. 1732 there were some 14 leases, dividing the demesne among 12 tenants. (fn. 109) There were 11 tenants in 1762, two of them substantial farmers, the rest holding less than 40 a. each, of which the largest was used by Thomas Clarke as parkland for his copyhold estate. (fn. 110) There were 16 tenants in 1777, (fn. 111) 21 in 1820, (fn. 112) and 19 in 1841, (fn. 113) but several held land as parks or gardens attached to houses at Frognal or beside the northern part of the heath.

The principal farm was presumably always centred on the manor house, by 1729 called Hall Oak farm. (fn. 114) In 1674 the lessee subleased all the land and part of the house. (fn. 115) A second farm, c. 60 a. in the south-west, was leased to Edward Snoxell in 1687 and was to remain with the Snoxell family until 1766. (fn. 116) There were no buildings on the estate and it seems to have formed one farm in conjunction with Kilburn Woods estate, which was leased to the same tenant after 1766, John Pawlett and, from 1772, James Baker, (fn. 117) and probably in 1646. (fn. 118) To the southeast was the 63-a. Belsize farm, so called by 1729 presumably because of its proximity to the Belsize estate; it was formed from several smaller estates, one of which had been held in 1687 with part of Belsize, and leased to a salesman from St. Sepulchre's in 1711. (fn. 119) There were farm buildings fronting Belsize Lane by c. 1732 (fn. 120) and a cottage by 1842, but usually the farm was combined with Hall Oak farm and in the 1830s it was held with 64 a. of the Belsize estate. (fn. 121) Northwood farm was in 1704 rented by two men who had houses on the edge of the heath, at Cloth Hill or Frognal. It had been divided by c. 1732 and still further by 1762. (fn. 122)

The lessees of Belsize were resident and retained a personal estate around the mansion house until 1683. (fn. 123) In 1650 Belsize was estimated at 200 a., divided among seven tenants, including the family of the lessee. (fn. 124) In 1679, after the rebuilding of the main house and laying out of the gardens, it contained 235 a., of which 59 a. were kept in hand by the lessee and the rest was divided among nine undertenants. (fn. 125) The Belsize House estate, no longer occupied by the lessee, had shrunk to 25 a. by 1714 when the whole estate was divided among 14 underlessees, (fn. 126) and there were 28 underlessees, mostly occupiers of a house only, by 1808, when the estate was broken up. (fn. 127) The part of the estate east of the London road had been leased separately since before the Dissolution. In 1557 a house and c. 85 a. were subleased to Philip Cockram (or Cokerham), a London mercer, (fn. 128) in whose family they remained until the 1620s or later, (fn. 129) although part of it was subleased to others. (fn. 130) By 1650 61 a. in two blocks east of the London road were leased to John Marsh (fn. 131) and they remained with the Marshes until well into the 18th century, probably initially run from their copyhold farm in Pond Street. (fn. 132) By 1800 the northern block formed a 40-a. farm called after its occupiers, Holyland (John Holyland, c. 1800-26), Pickett (Joseph Pickett, c. 1851-93), and South End farm. The southern block, 46 a. and a barn, was by 1800 leased to William Rothery but with the split-up of the estate in 1808 it became the parkland of Haverstock Lodge. (fn. 133)

Farm boundaries in the western part of Belsize were less constant and most of the land served as parks and gardens for the country houses which were built there from an early period. (fn. 134) The only farm to survive in 1808 was represented in 1650 by 20 a. in the south subleased to Benjamin Rutland who farmed from a house at the corner of the London road and England's Lane. (fn. 135) By 1679 the farm, then 49 a. subleased by John Newman, had taken in land to the north. (fn. 136) It was subsequently subleased to Thomas Stringfield, (fn. 137) Anthony (1725) and Thomas Grove (1749-73), (fn. 138) and Thomas Allaly, cowkeeper of New Road, Tottenham Court Road (1779-1807). As the Bliss estate, it was the first part of the Belsize estate to be systematically built up after 1808. (fn. 139)

There is no evidence that the lessee of Chalcots was resident. From 1556 or earlier the estate was underleased (fn. 140) and by 1720 the 212-a. estate was divided into two farms, of roughly equal size, called Upper and Lower Chalcots, farmed from farmhouses to the west and south respectively of England's Lane, (fn. 141) until they were reunited c. 1797. (fn. 142)

During the 17th century St. John's Wood was finally cleared for farmland, which was divided among several lessees. (fn. 143) In 1679 it comprised some 176 a. in Hampstead, divided among four lessees, the largest of whom had 111 a., as part of 185 a. run from a farmhouse in Marylebone. (fn. 144) In the 1730s there were six or seven lessees on the whole estate. (fn. 145) By 1762 almost all the Hampstead section formed a single farm, of 151 a., subleased to John Pye (fn. 146) and it continued as a single estate, probably combined with land in Marylebone, where the farmhouse lay. (fn. 147) In 1834 it was combined with Abbey farm, (fn. 148) the 32-a. estate of Kilburn priory, which had been held by four tenants in 1547, (fn. 149) occupied by the owner in 1605 (fn. 150) and probably in 1646, (fn. 151) and leased from 1762 to 1810 to the Marsh family. (fn. 152)

Shoot Up Hill farm, 110 a. in 1762, was leased from 1546, mostly to single lessees: (fn. 153) John Barne in 1546, Robert North from 1565 to 1595, John Haley from 1762 to 1773, and the Froggart family from 1786 to 1850. (fn. 154) Thereafter the farmland was broken up, the farmhouse and most of the remaining farmland being occupied by George Verey until the 1860s. (fn. 155) The Kilburn Woods estate was combined with the Liddell copyhold to form a single 60-a. farm from the late 17th century, which was probably at first occupied by its owners (fn. 156) but from the mid 18th century was leased and was sometimes farmed with the Snoxells' demesne farm. (fn. 157)

There were 39 customary tenants paying £5 10s. a year in quitrents in 1640, (fn. 158) a number which had increased to 88 by 1678, when the rents totalled £8 15s. 3d. (fn. 159) The rental of 1704 records 140 tenants with 165 holdings occupying 573 a. but included the freehold Shoot Up Hill farm estate (115 a.). Of the rest 51 holdings were on the heath and were mostly houses on land recently taken from the waste. (fn. 160) In 1762 there were 189 copyhold tenants with 465 a.; 153 held buildings only, and 23 others had up to 5 a. each, 5 had 6-10 a., 4 had 11-20 a., 1 had 26 a., and 3 had 41-60 a. (fn. 161) By 1775 194 people paid £25 13s. 9d. in quitrents. (fn. 162) The number rose, largely through grants of waste, to 238 in 1810, 256 in 1826, and 267 in 1851. (fn. 163) Thereafter the numbers increased, through enfranchisement. There were 20 enfranchisements between 1854 and 1860, (fn. 164) another 69 by 1868, 105 by 1879, and 6 by 1893. (fn. 165)

Copyhold land was leased as widely as freehold. In 1646, except for Thomas Pawlett's house and 50 a., only very small acreages were held by copyholders, the rest being let to tenants. (fn. 166) In 1762 all the estates of more than 5 a. were leased. One leasehold farmer, William Bovingdon (229 a.) at Hall Oak and Belsize farms, had more than 200 a. and one, John Pye, had 151 a. of the St. John's Wood estate in Hampstead, but the other ten farms were of 49-115 a., averaging 78 a. A few held land leased from more than one estate: Edward Finch, for example, farmed the 55-a. Flitcroft estate and other copyhold nearby as a 70-a. farm in Childs Hill and West End. (fn. 167) In the early 19th century few farms were of more than 100 a. (fn. 168)

After the 16th century farms did not remain long in a single family. A branch of the Marsh family had the lease of Gilberts by 1646 (fn. 169) and in 1686 and 1700. (fn. 170) It moved to the nearby Kilburn priory estate, lessees by 1762 and owners from 1773 to 1818. (fn. 171) Three members of the Snoxell family, Edward, a grazier (fl. 1687, 1729), and his presumed sons William (d. 1748) and Edward (d. 1766) were lessees at various times of three of the demesne farms and of farms on the St. John's Wood and Chalcots estates. (fn. 172) One of the Edward Snoxells acquired a copyhold close and house in Pond Street in 1740 which he pulled down and replaced with a handsome new one. (fn. 173) Before the death of William Snoxell, the family occupied over 400 a. of farmland in Hampstead. The main Hall Oak farm and Belsize farm were leased from 1757 to 1784 to William Bovingdon. (fn. 174)

The principal farmer in the late 18th century was Thomas Pool, in the 1770s a grocer who had stables, a warehouse, and a small piece of land in Hampstead town and the lease, since 1774, of Jack Straw's Castle. (fn. 175) In 1785 he took the lease of Hall Oak and Belsize farms (229 a.), and in 1786 of 14 a. of demesne land to the north and 81 a. of East Heath, (fn. 176) besides 50 a. of copyhold bordering Hall Oak to the west. (fn. 177) From 1789 Pool was rated for Snoxell's farm (62 a.), although it was not formally leased to him until 1798. (fn. 178) He thus had a total of c. 440 a. Although Pool (d. 1813) described himself in his will as 'farmer', he appears to have devoted his time from the 1780s to building and selling houses at Frognal and Littleworth. (fn. 179) The East Heath estate, previously leased to the bricklayer Isaiah Buckhurst, with leave to dig sand and gravel on the heath, (fn. 180) seems to have been valued as a source of bricks and was usually leased to those interested in building.

Pool's property was put up for sale in accordance with his will. (fn. 181) William Baker, lessee of the combined Kilburn woods and Liddell copyhold farm since 1810, acquired 50 a. of Pool's land, probably Snoxell's farm, in 1813 and in 1819 obtained a lease of 268 a. of demesne land, the combined farmland of Hall Oak south of Frognal Lane and of Belsize and Snoxell's farms, run from Manor Lodge and the farm buildings to the south, which had been the farmhouse at least since 1810. (fn. 182) Baker spent much on fencing and manuring the demesne farm, which had been neglected by Pool, (fn. 183) and although the lands were divided and leased to others in 1834 Baker ran Manor farm as an undertenant from 1848 to 1852, when it was leased to Frederick Willis until 1864. (fn. 184) Belsize farm had been detached from Manor farm in 1834, leased to John Wright of Belsize House until 1841, (fn. 185) and in 1848 to John Culverhouse. (fn. 186) Culverhouse, who described himself as farmer of New End, took out yearly tenancies of Belsize farm and Manor farm in 1865 and the Culverhouses continued to take leases of the diminishing demesne farmland into the 1890s. They were also contractors and made bricks on demesne land west of Finchley road and in East Park. (fn. 187)

The influence of London was apparent in agricultural leases as in other aspects of Hampstead's economy. Of the estates nearest to London, John Slanning, the lessee, was said in 1556 to have let Chalcots to London butchers and innholders (fn. 188) and the southernmost part of the Belsize estate was leased in 1557 to a London mercer, whose family had subleased part of it to another citizen by 1616. (fn. 189) Parts of Chalcots were subleased to residents of St. Giles-inthe-Fields in 1676, of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in 1749, and of St. Pancras in 1769 and 1791. (fn. 190) The last was Thomas Rhodes, farmer, of Hampstead Road, who from 1797 until the 1840s farmed both Upper and Lower Chalcots as a large-scale stock and dairy farmer. It was presumably a member of the same family who farmed Duddingtons until the building of South Hill Park in the 1870s. (fn. 191) In 1772 James Baker, stablekeeper of New Bond Street, took the lease of Snoxell's farm (fn. 192) and Samuel Carr, coachmaster of Oxford Street, applied for land in Hampstead, for hay and grazing. (fn. 193) He held c. 10 a. of demesne by 1777 (fn. 194) and he, and later Henry Carr, leased the combined Kilburn Woods and Liddell farm from 1786 to 1807. (fn. 195) Another stablekeeper, Robert Stone, of Marylebone, leased Manor farm from 1834 to 1848. (fn. 196)

The needs of London were important in determining what the farms grew. The general trend, as throughout Middlesex, was away from the mixed farming of the Middle Ages to grassland. There is some indication that many customary holdings were predominantly grass even in the Middle Ages. The holdings around Pond Street were entirely meadow or pasture, except where wood remained, by 1593. (fn. 197) At Belsize the annual render of 100 loads of hay and 10 qr. of oats reflected pre-Reformation farming (fn. 198) and there were only 5 a. of arable compared with 186 a. of meadow and pasture there in 1650. (fn. 199) Kinghall consisted of 20 a. of pasture in 1652 (fn. 200) and there were 165 a. of meadow and pasture and only 18 a. of arable at Chalcots in 1683. (fn. 201) The six closes of Gilberts, equally divided between arable and meadow in 1647, were wholly grassland by 1686. (fn. 202) Of 289 a. of demesne leased in 1687, 124 a. were specified as meadow or pasture, 66 a., including Snoxell's farm, were presumably arable, and 99 a. were not described. (fn. 203) Of 353 a. of demesne leased in 1729 and 1730, 229 a. were meadow or pasture, 63 a. were arable, and 62 a. (Snoxell's farm) were unspecified. The core of Hall Oak farm was, at least from the late 17th century, grassland, while the more recently reclaimed woodland on the edge of the heath was arable before it too became grassland. (fn. 204)

The depiction in the 1740s of considerable arable in the west, at St. John's Wood and Belsize, (fn. 205) is unreliable. Before 1773 there had been at least 15 a. and possibly another 39 a. of arable at Shoot Up Hill farm (fn. 206) and c. 10 a. were sown with wheat at the 60-a. Kilburn farm c. 1774. (fn. 207) St. John's Wood was, however, entirely grassland in 1732 (fn. 208) and all 112 a. of Lower Chalcots were meadow in 1752. (fn. 209) A visitor to Hampstead in 1748, presumably using the London road, commented on the great number of inclosures nearly all laid as meadows. (fn. 210) Out of the 1,331 a. described in 1762, (fn. 211) 75 a. were arable, 18 a. pasture, and the rest described as meadow, although this pre sumably included grazing land. Most of the arable, 52 a., was on the demesne, concentrated in the north near Childs Hill and on Belsize farm, where there had been 38 a. of arable in 1729. (fn. 212) The rest of the arable was at Chalcots (18 a.) and on Shoot Up Hill farm (5 a.). Chalcots was entirely grassland in 1769 but had 10 a. of arable in 1779. (fn. 213) Abbey farm and Shoot Up Hill farm were entirely under grass by 1773 (fn. 214) and in 1787 Belsize lands were being laid down to grass. (fn. 215)

The estimate in 1798 of 100 a. arable in the parish is almost certainly too high. (fn. 216) The land was said to be meadow in 1794, (fn. 217) a few arable fields were depicted in St. John's Wood and Chalcots in 1800, (fn. 218) and in 1801 there were only 12 a. of arable and the farmers paid little attention to anything but grass. (fn. 219) In 1811 the land was almost entirely grass farms. (fn. 220) No arable was recorded in 1841 (fn. 221) or after 1867. (fn. 222)

The grassland was partly used to pasture animals. Copyholders believed they had the right to depasture cattle on the waste without stint but the numbers were limited by the amount their own lands would support during the winter. (fn. 223) There are many references to cattle among goods in the 16th and 17th centuries, (fn. 224) but only one to sheep, (fn. 225) although Robert James's 4 hogs, recorded in 1604, (fn. 226) may have been sheep. Six oxen and 6 kine were bequeathed with the lease of Chalcots in 1558 (fn. 227) and stock at Belsize in 1568 included 9 kine, 3 heifers, a bull, 6 hogs, and 3 young pigs, but not, apparently, any sheep unless they were the 4 'waymlings' and one 'curtall' also listed. (fn. 228) About 1620 28 horses were pastured at Shoot Up Hill farm (fn. 229) and stablekeepers and coachmasters were lessees during the 18th and 19th centuries. Pigs were kept in small domestic premises as well as on farms. Nine pigstyes were recorded in 1762, (fn. 230) and hogs were apparently kept in the churchyard in 1805. (fn. 231) Pigs, sheep, and goats were running at large in 1807 and in 1829 the vestry undertook to prosecute owners of unringed pigs found in the town. (fn. 232)

Most farming was of grassland, a mixture of hay, dairying, and short-stay stock-keeping. (fn. 233) Butchers who leased land included the Londoners at Chalcots in the 16th century, (fn. 234) Philip Cater of Pond Street, who leased demesne east of the heath in 1687 and 1704, (fn. 235) and John Tayler, who leased 15 a. at West End in 1762, Jacksfield in 1765, Thorplands in 1766, and 54 a. of Gilberts by 1770. (fn. 236) Hampstead butchers leased demesne lands and cattle sheds on the southwest side of the heath in the 1860s and on what was left of Snoxell's farm in 1879. (fn. 237)

Six cowhouses, two dairies, and a milkhouse were recorded in 1762, (fn. 238) including two cowhouses on the demesne, one in the north and one at Hall Oak Farm, where there was a cowhouse and calfpen in 1783. (fn. 239) A cowhouse and piggery were included among farm buildings at Manor Farm c. 1826. (fn. 240) Much meadow was 'attached to the villas of private gentlemen', (fn. 241) who kept two or three horses and cows, (fn. 242) and several included cowhouses on their property. There were cowhouses on the Belsize country estates of Spencer Perceval, George Todd, Sir Richard Phillips, and Thomas Pryor in 1808 and two cowhouses and a piggery besides a stable attached to Todd's new house (Belsize Court) in 1817. (fn. 243) Belsize Park included a cowhouse and boxes for 12 hunters in 1841 and Frognal Hall, described as the residence for a prominent man, included a cowhouse and piggery in 1843. (fn. 244) There was a cowhouse in Brewhouse Lane in 1791, a dairy in Perrin's Court in 1807, and a newly erected cowhouse for 22 cows at North End in 1820. (fn. 245) Among the best of the 19th-century dairy farms was South End farm; in other parts, notably Kilburn, cows were kept in bad conditions. (fn. 246)

The hay crop depended on the supply of manure. In 1796 the high state of cultivation and 'very great' crops of hay at Chalcots were attributed mainly to its contiguity to London, whence manure was easily obtained. (fn. 247) In 1748 the length of grass was attributed to yearly manuring. (fn. 248) Some 50 a. out of 60 a. at the Kilburn Woods farm c. 1774 produced hay at a rate of 1½ loads an acre. (fn. 249) At Belsize in 1787 the grasslands were said to be mown once or twice a year and then depastured by sheep or cattle. (fn. 250) In 1814 farming was said to be dependent on the supply of hay for the London market. On higher ground the meadow was cut once and manured every three years. The later math of the lower ground was especially good for suckling sheep and house lambs. (fn. 251) Thomas Pool's goods in 1813 included four fine ricks of hay, (fn. 252) and John Wright's in 1842 included grass growing on 46 a. besides 150 loads of hay, 5 cows, 2 calves, 31 sheep, pigs, poultry, pheasants, 4 cart and 12 riding-horses, and a donkey and its foal. (fn. 253) When the lessee left Manor farm in 1848, grass with after-pasture to be mown twice or grazed on 190 a. of very productive meadow producing crops of 'herby grass' were put up for sale. (fn. 254) When the demesne was let on a yearly tenancy in the late 19th century as a way of releasing land for building, the agreement was for the grass crop and grazing of grassland not occupied for building. (fn. 255)

In 1867, (fn. 256) of 661 a. under crops, 637 a. were grassland. In 1874 the acreage under crops was 878 a., of which 620 a. were grassland for hay and 184 a. permanent pasture. Of 505 a. of farmland in 1890, 334 a. were permanent pasture and 141 a. hay. By 1900 there were only 115 a. left, entirely divided between grass for mowing (66 a.) and pasture (49 a.), and by 1914 there were 5 a. for mowing and 12 a. of pasture. There were 268 cattle, mostly milk cows, recorded in 1867, 409 in 1874, 183 in 1883, and 179 in 1890. No figures were given for 1900 but probably all cattle had gone by then, as cowhouses, of which there were five in 1890-1, had disappeared by 1905. (fn. 257) There were 201 sheep in 1867, 328 in 1874, 300 in 1890, 305 in 1900, and 800 in 1914, when they were probably kept on the heath. There were 156 pigs in 1867, 196 in 1874, 40 in 1883, and 23 in 1890. In 1867 there were 2 a. of clover and 2 a. of potatoes, mangolds, and vetches, probably all grown for animal feed. In 1874 there were 50 a. of clover, 9 a. of vetches, and 8 a. of roots, reduced by 1883 to 3 a., 1 a., and 3 a. respectively. There were 21 a. of clover in 1890 but all the other crops had gone.

Nearly three quarters of the working population of Hampstead was engaged in agriculture c. 1614. (fn. 258) Agriculture employed 199 persons in 1801 and 191 families in 1811, less than 17 per cent of the population. There were 161 such families (11 per cent) in 1821 and 80 (5 per cent) in 1831. (fn. 259) The 80 families included 1 farmer employing labourers, 8 not employing labourers, and 90 agricultural labourers. In 1851 the bulk of the demesne farmlands were combined with the Kilburn Woods and Liddell estate to form a 290-a. farm run from the Liddell farmhouse at Kilburn by William Baker, who employed six labourers. John Culverhouse, who employed seven labourers, farmed the 77-a. Belsize farm from his house in New End Square, the farm buildings in Belsize Lane being occupied by a farm labourer. James Ward, who employed two labourers, farmed 50 a. from North Hall Cottage in England's Lane, presumably one of the buildings belonging to Upper Chalcots. Joseph Pickett employed two labourers at South End farm and Henry Randall farmed 18 a. of demesne land at Branch Hill with two labourers. There was a self-styled 'farmer' in Heath Street and there were cowkeepers at South End Green, Pond Street, Rosslyn Street, Heath Street, Flask Walk, North End, Church Lane, and Frognal. Shoot Up Hill farm was temporarily empty and there was a farmer's son at Fortune Green. Only 19 labourers were recorded as employed by the Hampstead farmers, and although some of the 78 recorded farmworkers probably worked outside the parish, many were probably unemployed except at mowing time. (fn. 260) Haymakers, needed in large numbers only for short periods, were usually itinerant. At haymaking time in 1841. there were more than 170 labourers in barns and huts, mostly on Chalcots, Belsize, Branch Hill, and Manor farms. (fn. 261) Casual relief during a wet season of haymaking in 1824 was expensive. (fn. 262) There were 56 agricultural labourers in 1861 but nearly all the people described as employed in agriculture from 1861 (384 in 1861, 393 in 1921) were gardeners for the growing number of large houses. (fn. 263)

In 1683 the earl of Chesterfield, lessee of Belsize, made a seven-year agreement with a gardener, William Serman (or Surman) of St. Pancras, who was to take the profits in return for maintaining the gardens and orchards, which included 118 quinces, 197 pears, 68 peaches and nectarines, 96 apricots, 115 plums, 63 cherries, and 10 figs. All orange and lemon trees, citrons, the best winter pears, and all fish were reserved for the earl. (fn. 264) Gardeners were recorded in the parish in 1697, (fn. 265) 1700, (fn. 266), 1720, (fn. 267) and 1789. (fn. 268) Land on the heath was granted in 1709 on condition that it was used as a herb garden. (fn. 269) Until the early 19th century there were watercress beds in the streams flowing from the heath. (fn. 270)

There was one nursery ground, near the church, in 1762 (fn. 271) and John Campbell (d. 1804) had a nursery at Haverstock Hill by 1774, property in High Street from 1775, and gardens in Church Row and Frognal from 1779. Campbell's widow retained all the land and buildings until 1820, when most, but apparently not that at Haverstock Hill, passed to George Campbell, presumably his son. Campbell had a nursery in High Street in 1834 and in Heath Street from c. 1840 to 1854. (fn. 272) The Haverstock nursery on Belsize land at the junction of Haverstock Hill and England's Lane, was by 1831 run by George Sinton (or Linton), who employed four men by 1851. (fn. 273) It survived until the area was built up in the 1890s. (fn. 274) There was another nurseryman in Wetherall Place in 1834, (fn. 275) who had gone by 1840 when there were three more in Hampstead town. (fn. 276) By 1841 there was a 5½-a. nursery, occupied by Andrew Henderson, on the Little estate in Edgware Road at Kilburn, which survived in 1891. (fn. 277) There was another nursery at Kilburn, by the High Road and Kilburn Priory, from 1855 to 1887. (fn. 278) There were nine nurserymen in 1861 (fn. 279) and some market gardening near South End Green in 1867. (fn. 280) Nursery grounds covered 9 a. of the parish and another 1 a. produced beans, peas, and cabbages in 1883. The nursery grounds had shrunk to 3 a., with another 3 a. of orchard and 2 a. of soft fruit, by 1890. (fn. 281) There were still nurseries at Haverstock Hill, presumably on the eastern side, belonging to John Russell in 1929, (fn. 282) and in 1947 there were two horticultural holdings totalling 1 a., both with glasshouses. (fn. 283)

Woods.

In 1312 six demesne woods were listed (Northwood, Nuthurst, Sheppenbrighull, Whitebirch, Brockhole, and Timberhurst). It was estimated that from them and from the hedges enclosing fields an average of 8,000 faggots were sold worth £6 10s. a year. (fn. 284) In the years between 1271 and 1355 (fn. 285) for which figures are available an average of 9,400 faggots were cut annually but only just over a quarter were sold, the rest being sent to Westminster. Nevertheless the sale of faggots made up much of the manorial income, between a tenth and a fifth of the whole, the income, particularly in the 1290s, being higher than the valuation in 1312. In 1298 and 1299 at least 120 trees were cut down for building at Westminster, the small branches and bark being sold at Hampstead. In 1355 charcoal fetched 10s. Between 1376 and 1412 (fn. 286) an average of nearly 12,000 bavins and faggots were cut each year of which only 2,330, less than a fifth, were sold. The rest were sent to the abbey, mainly as fuel for brewing, baking, and cooking. Over 3,500 perch (19,250 yd.) of new hedges were made both round woods and fields during those years to 'save wood'; probably they were quick hedges which were then cropped, thus sparing existing woods. The hedges may also have protected against animals. Westminster was still taking wood from Hampstead in the 15th century. In 1452 the sick prior was granted 600 faggots and 13 qr. of charcoal a year from Hampstead and Hendon. (fn. 287) In 1498 63 loads of polewood, 45 loads of tall wood, 6 loads of long wood, and 11 loads of short faggots were cut of which c. 40 per cent was sold, supplying one eighth of the total demesne revenue. (fn. 288)

Although some of the wood sold in the 14th century came from hedges, most of it was from the woods, Hampstead wood, Brockhole, Northwood, Eastwood, and Hallgrove being particularly mentioned. (fn. 289) In 1470 the abbey sold for £28 13s. 4d. the right to take for three years all the wood and underwood growing in Northfield to Thomas Burgeys, vintner of Westminster, and Richard Kemp, yeoman of Hampstead, on condition that they left 52 old standards and 30 new storers (saplings). (fn. 290) In 1498, in addition to faggots and other felled wood, £8 10s. was obtained from the sale of a parcel of wood, probably on similar terms to the sale of 1470. (fn. 291) Robert Shepherd owed £15 10s. for wood sold to him in 1511-12, too large a sum merely for faggots and bavins. (fn. 292) Wood continued to be sold in the 1520s, though in small amounts, (fn. 293) and hedges were still planted around demesne woods and fields in the 1530s. (fn. 294)

In 1535 the demesne woods were worth £1 on average a year. (fn. 295) In 1556 Sir Thomas Wroth, then lord of the manor, was presented for selling 40 a. of wood on the common without the consent of the tenants. He had the right to enclose and sell a quarter but he had sold it all and felled most, (fn. 296) presumably part of three woods recorded in 1312 as containing common pasture: Northwood, Nuthurst, or Sheppenbrighull, all probably lying north of the demesne farmlands. (fn. 297) In 1641 the bailiff was paid £2 a year to preserve the woods. (fn. 298) There were still 60 a. of woodland left on the demesne, kept in hand, in the 1640s. (fn. 299) Clearance of the remaining demesne woodland, north of the farmland and east of the heath, was under way in the 1660s (fn. 300) and probably complete by the 1680s when leases were made of Northwood and Birchfields, both lately woodland. (fn. 301)

Wood was being cut at Belsize at the end of the 15th century. (fn. 302) When leases were made in 1500 and 1518 the woods and hedgerows were reserved to the prior. (fn. 303) In 1535 the average annual income from the sale of wood there was 10s. (fn. 304) The Belsize farmland was formed by clearings which became larger as the bands of woodland between them were narrowed. There was a good deal of woodland on the portion, most of it east of the London road, underleased to Philip Cockram in 1557; (fn. 305) there were still 'hawts' (possibly holts or strips of woodland) on the eastern side of the road in 1622 (fn. 306) but they had been reduced to a strip of less than 1 a. by 1679. (fn. 307) There were 9¼ a. of woodland on the whole Belsize estate in 1650. (fn. 308) West of the London road Hart wood, 5½ a., remained around fields in 1679, reduced by 1714 to 4¾ a. Another 1¾ a., the wood walks, remained in 1679 of the original woodland but the rest, the chestnut walks and the walk to the house, later called the Avenue, was probably planted as part of the beautifying of the house in the 1660s. (fn. 309) Many trees were cut down by underlessees in the 17th and 18th cen turies. (fn. 310) There were complaints in 1714, against Fovey and others, of heavy felling within the last three or four years (fn. 311) and in 1715 the dean and chapter of Westminster were seeking legal advice about the rights of the lessee and underlessees to take timber other than for necessary repairs. By that date there were said to be no woods other than the wilderness around the house. (fn. 312) In 1716 239 trees, oaks, elms, ashes, and chestnuts were felled. (fn. 313) One underlessee was warned by the dean and chapter about cutting down timber in 1749, (fn. 314) but legal opinion was that the only remedy was for an action of trespass against a stranger since the head lease to Lord Chesterfield included woods. (fn. 315) Many trees had been 'wantonly cut down' in 1773. (fn. 316) By 1774 there was not enough rough timber on the estate to keep the building and fences in repair. (fn. 317)

The southern part of the parish was well wooded in the late 16th and probably into the 17th century. (fn. 318) In 1482, for example, 18 cartloads of polewood were taken from Chalcots to St. James's hospital, Westminster, (fn. 319) and from 1538 rent for Chalcots included 12 loads of wood. From 1481 Eton College reserved the woods when it leased the rest of Chalcots, but the provision may have proved impossible to enforce. In 1556-7 the woods were leased together with the rest of Chalcots to John Slanning, (fn. 320) who had recently been presented for cutting down 6 a. of wood there. (fn. 321) Some of Chalcots wood, which abutted St. John's Wood and Belsize, remained in 1650 but some had been converted to arable (fn. 322) and there was no woodland by 1683. (fn. 323) In 1755 although all the woodland had been ploughed up and was mostly pasture much timber remained in the hedges. (fn. 324)

St. John's Wood suffered from 1643 to 1645 when Londoners, unable to obtain coal, took wood. (fn. 325) There were still 2,000 oak trees left in 1650. (fn. 326) When Charles I hunted in Marylebone Park, the hunt extended into the neighbouring St. John's Wood and the first lease of St. John's Wood after the Restoration required the lessee to keep it stocked with deer. In 1666, however, the lessee was allowed to convert the wood to farmland and by 1673 so much wood had been destroyed that the requirement was of little use. (fn. 327) By 1679 the estate was entirely farmland. (fn. 328)

In 1319 the abbot of Westminster and many of his tenants were accused of breaking into woods at Lisson and Kilburn, removing trees, and allowing their cattle to eat the herbage of the wood. (fn. 329) The woods may have belonged to the St. John's Wood estate or to Kilburn priory. The priory in 1535 possessed woods valued at £1 6s. a year, (fn. 330) presumably Kilburn woods, (fn. 331) which, like all other woods in Hampstead, except those on the heath, had become farmland by 1762. (fn. 332)

Mills.

A mill, farmed for £1 a year, formed part of the demesne by 1270. (fn. 333) It was a windmill, (fn. 334) probably a wooden post mill since a new oak post was provided in 1273. (fn. 335) It was blown down in 1294 but repaired. (fn. 336) The profits of the demesne were said in 1312 to include a windmill valued at £1 13s. 4d. a year. (fn. 337) It was still at farm in 1347 but not in 1353, perhaps because the miller had died in the Black Death. (fn. 338) Rent was received from the mill for only part of the year in 1376 because the miller had fled. (fn. 339) The mill was farmed to John Cogel from Christmas 1376 and to John Drew in 1390, (fn. 340) but Drew defaulted on the rent and the mill was idle for years, being reported in 1399 as empty and unrepaired and thereafter it was omitted from accounts. (fn. 341)

There was said to have been a corn mill in 1539, called the Abbot's mill, in a field adjoining the churchyard, where the house called Dr. Johnson's stood. The assumption was that the mill was a water mill, associated with the streams and ponds on the east of Frognal, near the church, (fn. 342) and Dr. Johnson's house was presumably Priory Lodge. (fn. 343) A mill near the churchyard was mentioned in 1597. (fn. 344) That mill was almost certainly the windmill and cottage called the Millhouse, which in 1636 were part of the copyhold Coneyfield, on the east side of Frognal, north of the church and south of Mount Vernon, the estate associated with the Old Mansion, no. 94 Frognal. (fn. 345) The mansion had replaced the mill buildings by 1680 and probably by 1664. (fn. 346)

Two windmills were illustrated at Hampstead in views of from c. 1593 to 1638. (fn. 347) One was the Frognal mill, which had disappeared by c. 1672. (fn. 348) The other, described in 1666 as on the waste and in 1704 as on the heath at the 'Upper End and Cloth Hill', had by 1666 given its name to Mill Hill (later Windmill Hill) in East End, (fn. 349) and is identifiable with Mount Vernon House, earlier called Windmill Hill House. (fn. 350) Millers were recorded in 1614 and 1665. (fn. 351) In 1674 the Mount Vernon mill belonged to Philip Cater, who conveyed it in that year to Richard Thornton, miller, who was already the occupier. (fn. 352) In 1686 Thornton conveyed it to Richard Snelling (fn. 353) and by 1704 it was held by George Love. (fn. 354) In 1725 Samuel Love conveyed it to William Knight, a smith, and in 1728, when Knight sold the site, the windmill was described as broken and a house had been built. (fn. 355) By 1759 the windmill had gone and the house and locality were called Windmill House and Windmill Hill. (fn. 356)

Fairs.

There is no record of a market in Hampstead. By 1712 a four-day summer fair was associated with the Lower Flask tavern. (fn. 357) In 1725 constables were ordered to attend the 'fair or pretended fair' held for some years past at Hampstead to prevent disorder, which included drunkenness, swearing, and plays and 'drolls' enacted against the law. (fn. 358) In 1746, when fear of Jacobites sharpened official distaste for crowds, the fair was seen as a disturbance of the peace and an encouragement of vice. The fair was apparently held by Joseph Cranfield of Hampstead and included gaming, dancing, and shows at booths. (fn. 359) Orders to suppress it were repeated in 1747 and 1748 (fn. 360) and were presumably eventually successful for in 1814 no one could remember the fair. (fn. 361)

In the late 18th century there was a small threeday toy and gingerbread fair in high summer at West End. Ladies added a charity booth (fn. 362) and by 1802 it was a genteel affair with booths furnished by the Hampstead ladies with 'the most brilliant and tasteful bijoux' and attended 'by all the beauty and fashion of the place'. (fn. 363) Mrs. Barbauld celebrated the fair 'where Charity with Fashion meets'. (fn. 364) The fair was associated, however, with the Cock and Hoop and soon began to attract unsavoury elements from London. Following a general public meeting, the fair was presented in 1812 as a great nuisance and the lady of the manor issued instructions that she would not permit the fair at West End or anywhere else. (fn. 365) Local tradesmen foiled the first attempts at suppression (fn. 366) and the fair became even larger, spilling into a field let out by a cowkeeper, some 50 or 60 booths being erected and much wine, porter, and tea being consumed in 1816. (fn. 367) The inhabitants of West End tried unsuccessfully to get the fair removed to Fortune Green in 1816. (fn. 368) A clown was killed during a fight with the constables at the public house after the fair in 1817, (fn. 369) and in 1819 some 200 ruffians broke up the booths, overwhelmed the local constables, and committed violent robbery, for which at least three of them were hanged. (fn. 370) The local West End magistrate Germain Lavie, supported by the manorial court, the vestry, and a separate committee, promoted a military-style operation in 1820 in which 150 police and special constables were deployed to intercept roughs and ensure orderly conduct at the public houses, and anyone erecting booths was to be prosecuted. (fn. 371) The fair, though later asserted to have lasted long after 1819 or until c. 1840, attracted no further attention. (fn. 372)

There were attempts during the 19th century to hold unofficial fairs. The heath keeper forbade swings and stalls in Pond Street in 1835 and prevented an attempt to show wild beasts from the Tower at White Bear Green in 1837. Some village sports, like sack races, did take place at White Bear Green until c. 1844. (fn. 373) After the opening of Hampstead Heath station in 1860 and especially after the Bank Holiday Act of 1871, fairs were provided at a number of places to cater for the London crowds. Booths on the heath were recorded from c. 1865, steam merrygo-rounds and swings were erected on the Carlile estate in Easter 1878, and by the following Easter a fair was being held at South End Green, while swings and other entertainments were provided at the Vale of Health and on East Heath by the 1880s. Fairs on the heath remained popular in the 20th century. (fn. 374)

Trade and Industry.

Tiles were being made at Belsize between 1483 and 1490. (fn. 375) In 1496 Westminster abbey contracted with two brickmakers, from New Brentford and Hertfordshire respectively, to make 400,000 bricks, (fn. 376) perhaps for building Belsize House, (fn. 377) since Brickfield lay just to its north in 1679. (fn. 378) Tiles and bricks were produced, presumably commercially, in 1557 at Kilnfield next to the London road at the south-east corner of the Belsize estate. (fn. 379) Production had probably ceased by 1568 as no bricks or tiles were listed with Armagil Waad's property at Belsize. (fn. 380) The lease of Belsize in 1634 included tilehouses (fn. 381) and in 1646 the tilekiln was found to be four bays of low building with an untiled roof and a quantity of tiles. (fn. 382) There was another tilekiln in 1676 on the west side of the London road adjacent to Chalcots, possibly near Chalk Farm just outside Hampstead parish. (fn. 383)

The other centre of tilemaking was in Kilburn, like Belsize easily accessible by road from London. In 1522 the prior of St. John of Jerusalem leased all his manor and farm of Hampstead to John Barne, tiler of Hampstead: the prior had erected a house, barn, and tilehouse at his own expense, except for 3,000 tiles provided by Barne. (fn. 384) Other tilemakers of Kilburn were mentioned in the early 16th century, (fn. 385) c. 1574 when disputed property included a tilehouse, (fn. 386) 1600, (fn. 387) and the 1650s when William Freelove, tilemaster of Kilburn, Hampstead, was an underlessee of St. John's Wood. (fn. 388) A tilekiln on the Liddell estate had become a private house by 1698. (fn. 389) Tilemakers from unidentified places in Hampstead were mentioned in the early 16th century when one sold 1,500 tiles to Henry VIII, (fn. 390) c. 1550, (fn. 391) 1609, (fn. 392) and 1611. (fn. 393) In 1609 two Hampstead yeomen were licensed to search all tiles in Middlesex. (fn. 394) In 1653, in an attempt to reduce a tax assessment on Hampstead, attention was drawn to its many poor men subsisting only on wages from the tilekilns. (fn. 395) There was a brick clamp on the heath in 1665 and a place near the south-east corner of the Wells charity estate was known by 1742 as 'the Brick Lamps'. (fn. 396) Bricks were also made at West End in 1793, when they were not to be carted to Edgware Road by way of West End Lane. (fn. 397)

Brickmaking expanded and shifted with the demand for housing in the 19th century. The church of St. John, Downshire Hill, opened in 1823, was remembered as having been built in a brickfield, which gave its name to the Lower Heath quarter, the triangle formed by Downshire Hill, Keats Grove, and part of South End Road. (fn. 398) In 1834 William Kerrison of Mount Villa Cottage was a brickmaker and builder, as were seven others, mostly in High Street or Flask Walk. (fn. 399) New brickfields around Belsize Park posed no threat to public health in 1856, (fn. 400) unlike ones in the triangle between Finchley Road and the Midland and Hampstead Junction railways, where in 1858 John Culverhouse dumped refuse and was forbidden to make bricks with contaminated water. (fn. 401) Brickfields lay near the Hendon boundary next to Platt's Lane by 1864 and, worked by Culverhouse, between Finchley Road and the railways and on the east side of the heath in 1866; they covered 8½ a., 9 a., and 10½ a. respectively in 1871. (fn. 402)

John Culverhouse, also a farmer, in 1842 had leased 7 a. of the lord's freehold on the east side of the heath. (fn. 403) He was both a dust contractor and a supplier of road-making materials to the parish in 1857-8, (fn. 404) but fulfilled neither contract satisfactorily. (fn. 405) His address was Manor Farm in 1874, when he was a vestryman and responsible for four insanitary cottages for brickmakers at East Park. (fn. 406) Edward Culverhouse lived at no. 5 Villas on the Heath, one of a row which he built in the 1860s. Alfred Culverhouse tendered for the removal of dust and supplied road materials in 1874. East Park brickfields were occupied by John and Alfred in 1875 and by Alfred and Frederick Culverhouse, also described as farmers, in the 1880s. (fn. 407)

Notice to quit the Finchley Road fields was given to John Culverhouse in 1876. (fn. 408) Brickmaking on land belonging to the Hampstead Junction Railway Co. near Fleet Road began in the early 1880s but was not profitable; some of the work ceased c. 1882 and the rest was stopped after litigation by the vestry in 1885. (fn. 409) All the brickfields had gone by 1896. (fn. 410)

Several 19th-century building firms were long lived, although they moved into Hampstead only as housing spread northward. (fn. 411) Charles Tavener, a bricklayer, was said to have started his business in 1846. It operated for nearly a century in St. John's Wood and may have been connected with that of Walter Tavener, in Adelaide Road by 1885. C. Tavener & Son was owned by the family for at least three generations, (fn. 412) with premises from 1920 to 1971 in Finchley Road and from 1935 a works in Iverson Road which survived in 1986. Richard Densham & Sons, claiming to date from 1850 and also starting in St. John's Wood, were by 1934 in Fortune Green Road, which they left c. 1974. William Littlewood, dating from 1864, was in England's Lane as an ironmonger by 1880 and stayed until 1979. Others included H. R. Bence & Son, dating from 1860, in Ainger Road as Gregory & Bence by 1881 and Winchester Road by 1890 and until 1965, Charles Hankin, dating from 1875, in Downshire Hill by 1880 and until 1959, and Roff & Sons, 'established over a century' in 1951, in Heath Street.

A few auctioneers and estate agents had similarly long existences. Henry Paxon of no. 22 High Street in 1862 claimed to continue there a business which his father had started in 1784. George Paxon had been an auctioneer in High Street in the 1820s, when Francis had been a glazier; (fn. 413) George had chaired the vestry in 1803, as churchwarden, (fn. 414) and several later members of the family were vestrymen. (fn. 415) Potters, advertised as the oldest estate agents in 1936, (fn. 416) were founded in the 1830s by George Potter. The firm continued under his son G. W. Potter, who wrote on Hampstead wells, and grandson H. G. Potter (d. 1951) (fn. 417) in High Street from 1880 (fn. 418) and afterwards in Rosslyn Hill and, by 1912, Heath Street until 1983. Ernest Owers & Williams was established in West End Lane in 1879 by Ernest Owers, who later opened offices in Finchley Road and at Golders Green and whose business was bought by W. Charles Williams in 1931. The firm, which later expanded to Mayfair, had only two senior partners during its first hundred years. (fn. 419)

Hampstead brewery was established in 1720, according to the firm's later tradition, (fn. 420) by John Vincent, who in 1713 had owned Jack Straw's Castle. (fn. 421) A leading parishioner, he was allowed by the Wells trustees to draw piped water, which later supplied his brewery behind the King of Bohemia's Head, in High Street. Vincent also acquired much other property, including the George near the corner of Pond Street. (fn. 422) His unsettled copyholds passed in 1755 to a younger son Robert, who probably carried on the business with his elder brother Richard, whom he succeeded in 1776. (fn. 423) Robert's widow Elizabeth was admitted in 1787 to the brewery, the King of Bohemia's Head, the George, the Black Boy and Still (formerly Coach and Horses) and other property, all of which was mortgaged in 1790 and again in 1797. The brewery was occupied by Messrs. Shepheard and Buckland in 1797, (fn. 424) but Elizabeth retained her interest in it until 1812, when she surrendered it to James Buckland, and in the George until 1814. (fn. 425) John Buckland worked the brewery c. 1827, (fn. 426) Thomas Buckland in 1834 and 1854, (fn. 427) and John Tanner Hawkins, under whom it was called the Hampstead brewery, in 1859. (fn. 428) The property was enfranchised for Hawkins in 1865. (fn. 429) A limited company was formed in 1866, with prominent local shareholders, controlled in 1870 and 1875 by Edward Harris (fn. 430) and from c. 1880 by Mure & Co. (known for a few years as Mure, Warner & Co.). (fn. 431) Hampstead Brewery had 184 employees in 1928 but closed in 1931 or 1932. (fn. 432) The brewhouse was to be repaired in 1834, when held by James Buckland's heirs Elizabeth and Ann Seager Buckland. (fn. 433) Rebuilt in 1869 with two shops in front, (fn. 434) it was dilapidated in 1959, when used for motor repairs. (fn. 435) It was later converted into offices, approached by Old Brewery Mews, whose arched entrance survived in 1986 next to the refronted King of Bohemia. (fn. 436)

A brewhouse and dwelling house at the end of Pond Street, near the banks of the Fleet, were held by Michael Combrune in 1746. (fn. 437) Combrune, who had been described as a brewer of St. Giles's parish in 1743, (fn. 438) published two books on brewing with dedications dated from Hampstead in 1758 and 1762. (fn. 439) He acquired many copyholds, being admitted to the Duke of Hamilton's Head and the Fox and Goose in 1753, the Cock and Hoop at West End in 1754, the Bull and Bush at North End in 1763, and the Cock in 1770. (fn. 440) He also had a reversionary interest in the Nag's Head, an inn which eventually passed to his daughter Susanna, while Eleanor Combrune, presumably another daughter, was admitted to a half share in the Bear in 1766 and to the Flask, with several other houses, in 1767. (fn. 441) Presumably all those inns were supplied from Michael Combrune's brewery, which may not have survived his death in 1773. (fn. 442) Eleanor's property passed in 1773 to her son Thomas Gardner and Michael's, on the death of his widow Mary in 1778, to Susanna Combrune. (fn. 443) Gideon Combrune was a brewer of Golden Lane (Lond.) in 1797. (fn. 444)

Kilburn brewery was run in the mid 19th century by William Verey, a Hampstead resident, and later by Michell & Phillips. It stood on the Willesden side of Kilburn High Road at nos. 289 and 291. (fn. 445)

Laundry work, giving rise to the name Cloth Hill, was widespread by the 16th century. (fn. 446) Although traditionally associated with Hampstead, (fn. 447) claims that it was the main occupation of the first inhabitants of the Vale of Health were an exaggeration. (fn. 448) Presumably some washing was done in the pond there, as 10 people had set up a total of 83 clothes posts on the heath at the Vale of Health by 1839, when there were also 58 posts at North End and 33 at West End. The posts, some of which had stood for 20 years, were to be replaced in order to preserve the rights of the lord. (fn. 449) Charles Dickens's father John was a lodger with Mrs. Davis, a laundress at North End, in 1834. (fn. 450) Another laundress at North End advertised that clothes were dried on the heath in 1870, when 20 laundries were listed at Hampstead, presumably larger establishments than those of the earlier washerwomen. (fn. 451) In 1872, before the M.B.W. had made byelaws for the heath, some of its prettiest parts were usurped by laundresses, (fn. 452) but by 1907 only a few clothes could be seen, near North End. (fn. 453) Later laundry firms included, in Fleet Road, the Fleet laundry in 1885 and 1895 and, in Fairhazel Gardens, the Belsize Park Laundry Co. in 1885 and the South Hampstead Sanitary Laundry Co. in 1889. (fn. 454) Probably the biggest was the Hampstead Model Steam Laundry, on the east side of Cressy Road by 1885 and until 1914 or later. (fn. 455)

The iron and brass foundry of Thomas Potter & Sons was established c. 1860 by Thomas Potter of Poplar House, (fn. 456) a West End resident by 1854. (fn. 457) Twelve cottages called Potter's Buildings (later West Cottages) were under construction by George Potter immediately north of the foundry in 1864, (fn. 458) apparently because local hostility made it impossible for his workmen to find other accommodation. There was also hostility to plans for making gas to light the workshops, with the result that a half-built gasometer could be used only as a water tank. (fn. 459) Among the foundry's products were metalwork for the outer screen walls of G. E. Street's Law Courts (built 1874-82) and for Welbeck Abbey (Notts.), besides church fittings. (fn. 460) A younger Thomas Potter, who lived at the Elms in the 1880s, built on sites north of Poplar House and around Sumatra Road. The foundry had closed by 1894 and was replaced by the flats called Welbeck Mansions. (fn. 461)

There was little industry in the central part of the parish, apart from workshops, studios, and other premises used by local tradesmen. Short-lived concerns included, in the early 19th century, a 'small cartridge factory' built by the Eley family of Woodbine Cottage, West End, where village girls were reluctant to work. (fn. 462) Presumably it was a forerunner of the cartridge making business of William Eley, established in London by 1838 and later well known as Eley Bros. (fn. 463) Isaac Alexander had a biscuit factory in Pond Street in 1859 and 1862. (fn. 464) G. S. Jealous in 1870 produced the Hampstead & Highgate Express at 'the only printing office in Hampstead' in Holly Mount, where there was still a printer's, Provost & Co., in 1885. (fn. 465)

In 1904 Hampstead had 51 factories and 257 workshops, employing 2,988 people. (fn. 466) Dressmaking was their main employment, with 1,047 people or nearly 35 per cent of the workforce. It was followed by work in paper and printing with as many as 24.1 per cent, in laundries with 11.9 per cent, and in wood, the largest single employer of men, with 10.9 per cent. (fn. 467) The figures, accounting for less than 1 in 27 of the total population, did not include those in domestic service, among whom were coachmen in mews dwellings. Nor did they include inhabitants, chiefly in West Hampstead, who worked as clerks, policemen, travelling salesmen, or in many other relatively humble occupations. (fn. 468)

Some industry spread with working-class housing from across the St. Pancras boundary to South End Green. (fn. 469) In 1874 the owner of a carpet beating ground in Fleet Road met complaints by claiming that he had been there for 20 years. After Cressy Road had been built for access to the tram depot, (fn. 470) the steam laundry was joined in 1894 by Mansell, Hunt & Catty, makers of crackers and doileys, who in 1901 built a subway to the west side of the road, where already there were two piano manufacturers. The tram depot passed in turn to the L.C.C., to British Road Services, and to Camden L.B. as a vehicle maintenance depot; the yellow-brick tramsheds survived in 1986, behind the modern Northern District office of the G.L.C.'s department of mechanical and electrical engineering. One of the piano makers, Francis Lambert, was in Cressy Road until 1927 or later and Mansell, Hunt & Catty remained until the early 1970s, when they were replaced by Camden L.B.'s ambulance station.

Industrial premises close to Kilburn High Road (fn. 471) included, at the north-west end of Belsize Road, the Priory works of 1892, and an adjoining area, nos. 252 and 254, next to Kilburn town hall (later the Theatre Royal). (fn. 472) Priory works was occupied by the Dunlop Rubber Co. in 1913 and 1918, and later by from two to four firms, few of which stayed for long but which included makers of zip fasteners from the 1930s until the 1970s. The building stood empty in 1986. Next door a depository was used from c. 1896 until c. 1934 by R. C. Barnes & Sons, furniture removers whose main offices were on the west side of Kilburn High Road but who had more premises behind the east side in Kingsgate Road. In 1952 and 1964 the depository was used by W. & S. Williams, who had been established as auctioneers in Birchington Road since the 1930s, but by 1975 it was an audio-visual aids centre.

The main industrial area lay along the railways between Finchley Road and Kilburn High Road. Land in the triangle between the Midland and Hampstead Junction railways and Finchley Road, which had formed John Culverhouse's brickfield and dustyard, was bought from the Maryon Wilson estate for a parish stone yard in 1881. (fn. 473) The vestry opened its electricity power station there in 1894. (fn. 474)

A little to the west (fn. 475) by 1885 six coal merchants' and two cement merchants' yards lined the north side of Iverson Road, from Maygrove Road to the Midland's West End station (opened 1871). In 1896 the Anglo-American Oil Co. had a depot in Maygrove Road, where from c. 1904 it adjoined one belonging to the General (later British) Petroleum Co. The extension of the Metropolitan line to West Hampstead in 1879 left a stretch of land between it and the Midland railway, bisected by West End Lane and crossed diagonally by the H.J.R. line. There the wholly industrial Blackburn Road, leading eastward from West End Lane, had been planned by 1885. At first it served only a few small firms, most of them short lived. No. 3, for example, was occupied in turn by a builder's yard, a sawmill, a bicycle maker, a pill maker, and from c. 1935 by the Alliance Plating Works. F. R. Napier, who had opened a plating shop behind West Hampstead fire station in 1919 and later worked for the Alliance, took the site for his Hampstead Plating Works, which was founded in 1940 and survived as a family firm with four employees in 1986. (fn. 476) The longest presence was that of J. Sloper & Co., established in London in 1858 as makers of perforating machines, who employed 14- 20 people at their Tower Royal works in Blackburn Road in 1986. (fn. 477) There were stained glass artists from c. 1888 until c. 1938 at F. W. Noble's, no. 48 Maygrove Road. (fn. 478) Mill glass works was founded by G. H. Hill in 1911 and was a small family firm making leaded lights in 1986, when, at no. 84, it was the oldest in Mill Lane. (fn. 479)

In 1918 the yards of coal merchants, a builder's merchant, and two wholesale potato merchants stretched along Iverson Road, where they remained in 1939. (fn. 480) Beck & Pollitzer Contracts, exhibition specialists founded in 1913 as a branch of an older London transport business, occupied premises on the south side of the road from 1926. (fn. 481) The two oil companies left Maygrove Road between 1930 and 1932. F. J. Lewis, who started business as a wooden handrail maker at no. 3 Blackburn Road in 1922 and moved to Exeter Mews, off West Hampstead Mews, in 1928, built a factory, mainly of timber, in 1936 (fn. 482) in Maygrove Road, where Maygrove Motors also opened in 1936. (fn. 483) Beyond the eastern end of Blackburn Road, and listed under it, sites had been taken by 1933 for a depot of Cadbury Bros. and for a warehouse of the Canadian government's exhibition commission. The Post Office, which had opened a telephone exchange at no. 33 College Crescent in 1904 and later took over an exchange opened in 1901 by the National Telephone Co. in Goldhurst Terrace, opened its new Hampstead exchange at no. 361 Finchley Road in 1932. (fn. 484)

All seven coal merchants on the north side of Iverson Road in 1964 had gone by 1975, when the neighbourhood had many motor car repair firms. (fn. 485) Later changes included closures at the end of Blackburn Road, where the Canadian government's building and its neighbours were included in the West Hampstead trading centre, occupied by over 20 firms in 1986. Workshops for small firms were also provided by Camden L. B. in Liddell Road, in 1984 a new cul-de-sac between Maygrove Road and the railway; there were over 30 sites, not all of which had been filled by 1986. F. J. Lewis enlarged its site in 1950 and built Handrail House, no. 65 Maygrove Road, which it extended in 1960. The building was always shared, other occupants including Brent L.B.'s rent office in 1986, when Lewis's remained a family firm, with c. 36 employees. (fn. 486) Maygrove Motors and several more recent firms were established nearby. Among them was Arnold R. Horwell, laboratory and clinical supplies, who from 1983 occupied no. 73 Maygrove Road, having begun trading in 1950 at the founder's flat before moving in 1956 to Cricklewood Broadway and in 1966 to Grangeway, off Kilburn High Road. The firm, with 28 employees, exported to 110 countries in 1986. (fn. 487) Second-hand car dealers and repair workshops also congregated off the west side of Finchley Road, around Rosemont Road. The largest industrial premises were probably those of the London Electricity Board, with its rebuilt depot at the end of Lithos Road, and of Beck & Pollitzer Contracts, which employed 170 people in its head office and in designing and making exhibition stands in Iverson Road. (fn. 488) British Telecommunications was a major employers, with 350 at its Centre Area exchange at no. 361 Finchley Road and 180 at a telephone service centre which had been opened in 1956 in Blackburn Road. (fn. 489)

Domestic service was the largest employment in 1901, when 13,843 people, in addition to those in commercial establishments or charwomen, were indoor servants. Hampstead's 81.4 servants to every 100 families or separate occupiers was the highest proportion in London, slightly exceeding that of Kensington. The fact that six metropolitan boroughs had proportionately more men servants, however, showed Hampstead to be well-to-do rather than very rich or aristocratic. (fn. 490)

The hotel and catering trades were comparatively unimportant in the 19th century. The Holly Bush and the Wells hotels, offering every modern comfort in 1859, had replaced earlier inns. (fn. 491) The Suburban Hotel Co.'s purpose-built Hampstead Heath hotel, also called the Vale of Health tavern, was rated from 1863; it soon proved unsuccessful, although it was not finally closed, as the Vale of Health hotel, until 1960. Two smaller hotels in the Vale of Health, built c. 1869 and in the 1880s, had shorter existences. (fn. 492) Twelve hotels were listed in 1889, eight of them in Belsize Park or on the edge of St. John's Wood. (fn. 493) Lodgings in 1903 could be found only in the district bordering Kilburn High Road. (fn. 494)

The conversion of many large houses after the First World War may have produced more hotels. Two pairs of Italianate villas had formed the 60bedroom Ormonde hotel in Belsize Grove by 1936, when Grew's hotels at nos. 43 and 45 Fitzjohn's Avenue also had 60 rooms and Hampstead Towers hotel had recently opened in Ellerdale Road. (fn. 495) Thirteen residential hotels and 15 guest houses, some with branches in different roads, were listed in 1951, besides 48 restaurants and 57 cafés, snack bars, or tea rooms, many of them in Kilburn High Road. (fn. 496) At the corner of Primrose Hill and Fellows roads the Clive Hall hotel, originally the Clive guest house, was rebuilt with six storeys and 60 bedrooms, to the design of Hugh Sprince, and reopened in 1965 as the Clive hotel. It was extended c. 1970 and, with 84 bedrooms, awaited further extension as part of the Ladbroke chain in 1986. (fn. 497) The Clive was described as the only major hotel in 1970, when the area was seen as attractive to visitors with their own cars, who might not wish to stay in the centre of London. Trusthouse Forte opened the Post House in 1970, on the site of the Vandervells' home in Haverstock Hill. A six-storeyed building designed by the group's own architects, it was at that time Hampstead's largest hotel and had 140 bedrooms, as it still had in 1986. In 1970 there were plans for three more establishments, which in all would provide 1,500 beds in five hotels. (fn. 498) One was the Holiday Inn, which was opened in 1973 at the west end of King Henry's Road. The building, designed by Dennis Lennon & Partners, was owned as part of a chain by Commonwealth Holiday Inns of Canada in 1986, when it had 296 bedrooms and was being refurbished to provide more accommodation on the 7th floor. (fn. 499)

Shops until the early 19th century were found only in Heath Street or in High Street, whose southern end was known as Rosslyn Street. In 1734 provisions were said to be better and, except meat, cheaper than in London. (fn. 500) Food shops included 5 bakers, a confectioner, 2 grocers, and a fishmonger in 1802 and a greengrocer, who was also a carpenter, and a butcher and a fishmonger in 1805. Two tallow chandlers, two coal merchants, an ironmonger, and a linen draper were among those who met other common needs. (fn. 501) By 1826 less essential demands were met by 2 china and glass dealers, 2 booksellers, 4 perfumers and haircutters, 5 straw hat makers, a watchmaker, and an umbrella maker. A few shops had opened in Kilburn High Road but only in the more usual trades. (fn. 502)

Hampstead town had several old family firms and many more businesses which continued for long at the same premises with no more than a change of name. Nineteenth-century advertisers had often traded for several decades, although it was not always clear where they had started. In 1888 T. A. Evans & Sons, drapers, claimed to have been established in 1740, Albert Jones, fishmongers, since 1752, and J. Ware & Sons, grocers, since 1815; (fn. 503) Jones soon left no. 2 Heath Street, where J. J. Shepherd had been a fishmonger in 1862, but Evans remained at nos. 46 and 47 High Street until c. 1913 and Ware was succeeded by another grocer, Edward Lambert. (fn. 504) Andrew & Sons, harness makers at no. 75 High Street until 1947 or later, in 1918 traced their origins back to 1765, Jesse Andrew in 1862 having succeeded John Clarke (fl. 1802) and Joseph Clarke (fl. 1845). (fn. 505) Foster's, at no. 73 High Street until 1979, was advertised as dating from 1790 but probably originated in Francis Mason's grocery shop of 1774, which passed in turn to John Riddle, John Payne, George Payne Ashby, and by 1885 to James Foster. (fn. 506) The Hampstead Pharmacy at no. 29 was opened c. 1840 (fn. 507) by Joseph Lane and managed for 40 years by Edward Blanshard Stamp (d. 1908), whose name was still used in 1983. (fn. 508)

Away from Hampstead town, shops were built in terraces on the fringes of the new estates. (fn. 509) Such roads included England's Lane, Belsize Park Terrace (later part of Belsize Lane), Upper Belsize Terrace (later Belsize Terrace), and King's College Road by 1870, and parts of Broadhurst Gardens, Fairhazel Gardens, and Fairfax Road by 1885. (fn. 510) Meanwhile shops spread along Kilburn High Road, where there were c. 30 on the Hampstead side by 1854, besides another 10 at the south end near Kilburn station, forming St. George's Terrace. (fn. 511) There were also shops in West End Lane south of West Hampstead station and at the Kilburn High Road ends of many side roads, including Belsize, Quex, Palmerston, and Netherwood roads, by 1885. (fn. 512)

Hampstead tradesmen's association was founded in 1898 (fn. 513) and was soon followed by Kilburn chamber of trade, which in 1911 held its twelfth annual dinner. (fn. 514) By 1901 the borough had 126 general shopkeepers or dealers, a category which excluded many more people employed in shops in a subordinate capacity. (fn. 515) West Hampstead tradesmen's association was founded in 1911, initially for the area between Finchley Road and Kilburn High Road. (fn. 516) It was called Hampstead chamber of commerce by 1925, when it had a wider membership, and later united with St. Pancras chamber of commerce. (fn. 517)

Most of the shops, serving Hampstead town and its neighbourhood, remained small. A few stores, however, expanded in the less exclusive Kilburn High Road. (fn. 518) Among them was William Roper's drapery, in an ornate building of 1884 (fn. 519) next to the Bell and with further premises in Osborne Terrace and later also in Goldsmith Place. Known as Kilburn Bon Marché, it extended its showrooms and rebuilt a block behind in 1900, (fn. 520) closing after 1925 and being succeeded by 1932 by a London Co-operative Society's store. (fn. 521) David Fearn & Co., another draper, had spread from one shop to include nos. 52, 52A, and 54 Kilburn High Road by 1896, to which nos. 50 and 56 had been added by 1918; (fn. 522) it still traded in 1930 but by 1932 had made way for Montague Burton's and British Home Stores. (fn. 523)

A few local shops acquired several branches. T. Gurney Randall, who became an alderman, established his butcher's business in 1867, obtained royal warrants, and by 1900 traded in High Street, England's Lane, Haverstock Hill, and King's College Road. (fn. 524) John Dudman, a grocer, had branches in Rosslyn Hill, Upper Belsize Terrace, and Belsize Park Terrace in 1889. (fn. 525) Randall's business survived in 1940 and Dudman's name was advertised at no. 56 Rosslyn Hill until the 1980s. (fn. 526) Among the earliest local branches of multiple stores were those of John Sainsbury at nos. 292 and 294 Kilburn High Road and of Lilley & Skinner at nos. 260 and 262, by 1889. Both firms were also in Hampstead, where the 'town improvements' had provided better sites, by 1894, as were Boots the chemists by 1905. In Finchley Road there were branches of Sainsburys by 1905 and of Boots by 1910. Marks & Spencer had a penny bazaar on the west side of Kilburn High Road from 1907 (fn. 527) and moved to nos. 66 and 68, on the east side, c. 1930. (fn. 528)

Benjamin Beardmore Evans started as a draper in a single terraced house in Kilburn High Road in 1897. Neighbouring houses were soon acquired and in 1905 nos. 142-54 were converted and nos. 156-60 rebuilt to the design of G. A. Sexton, a local architect who also worked on nos. 50-56 for Fearns. More rebuilding, including no. 162, followed a fire in 1910. (fn. 529) B. B. Evans was described as Kilburn's oldest department store in 1962, when it was sold by Tesco Stores to Canadian & English Stores and employed more than 500 people, and as its only department store in 1971. (fn. 530) It closed in 1971 and was divided between Safeway at nos. 142-50, a wine merchant's, and Lamerton's furniture shop at nos. 156-62. (fn. 531)

The largest department store in the borough was that of John Barnes & Co. in Finchley Road, where in 1870 there had been only a few shops at Swiss Cottage but where there were several near the Metropolitan Railway station by 1885. (fn. 532) The company, which started trading in 1900, was described as 'American style' in that, although named after a local trader who had been drowned in 1899, it did not expand from small beginnings but was financed by a syndicate, including directors of Jones Bros. of Holloway and Dickens & Jones of Regent Street. The intention was to profit from the spread of building around Fitzjohn's Avenue by providing a lavishly equipped store, with 37 departments and a workforce of nearly 400. (fn. 533) John Barnes, after passing to Jones Bros. in 1922 and Selfridge's in 1926, was considered primarily as serving Hampstead people in 1936, when the mayor declared that the store's rebuilding would make Finchley Road 'the Regent Street of north London'. (fn. 534) Part of the premises was leased temporarily to F. W. Woolworth & Co. The John Lewis Partnership, however, which acquired John Barnes in 1940, found the site too cramped and tried vainly to sell it in the 1960s. After local protests at plans to move to Brent Cross in Hendon in the 1970s, (fn. 535) part of the Finchley Road building housed a Waitrose supermarket within the John Lewis Partnership in 1986.

The original building, at nos. 191-217, replaced 14 shops and filled a 1-a. island site immediately south of Finchley Road station. It was designed in red brick with stone dressings by A. R. Stenning and contained four storeys, attics, basements, a corner tower and a central tower. There was accommodation for 160 women on the third floor and for the manager and 46 male employees in 8 houses behind. (fn. 536) Demolition of the main block began in 1932 and the northern part of its successor was opened in 1936, the rest being finished by 1938. The new building held the stores on three floors, with five floors containing 96 flats, called St. John's Court, overhead. It was designed by T. P. Bennett, who faced the lower storeys with artificial Portland stone and the upper with multicoloured brickwork. (fn. 537) The 'oceanliner' style has been both criticized for modern clichés (fn. 538) and commended for an imposing façade, with horizontal window bands and long balconies carried past rounded corners. (fn. 539)

After the Second World War some piecemeal rebuilding included the provision of a long shopping parade north of Swiss Cottage. (fn. 540) Most of the shops in Finchley Road, Kilburn High Road, and West End Lane, however, remained in late 19th-century buildings. Occasionally adjoining premises were converted into a single unit, as at nos. 341-7 (odd) Finchley Road: by 1959 they formed motor car showrooms for Scott Cars, which in 1951 had occupied only no. 347, and from 1965 for Alan Day. (fn. 541) Heavy traffic in Finchley Road and lack of parking space worried the owners of John Barnes by the 1970s, when several closures were attributed to the opening of Brent Cross shopping centre. (fn. 542)

A consumers' group, the first of its kind in London, was set up in 1962, when it was boycotted by Hampstead and St. Pancras chamber of commerce, whose 700 trader members included 75 from Hampstead. (fn. 543) The essentially local character of Hampstead's village shops diminished in the 1960s and 1970s, as property values rose and leases expired. (fn. 544) By 1974 the centre of Hampstead had lost many of its suppliers of everyday goods. As in other fashionable parts of London, family businesses were giving way to boutiques selling clothes or gifts, to expensive restaurants, antique shops, and offices. Despite residents' protests, a campaign in the press, and greater selectivity by Camden L.B. in permitting changes of use, (fn. 545) further changes had taken place by 1983. (fn. 546)