Exlporing Hampstead: The Crofts--Rosecroft Avenue

We try to spend Saturdays and holidays out and about, exploring new parts of London.  This past Christmas, however, illness kept us housebound, wondering how sick we would let ourselves become before surrendering to the evils of socialized medicine.[1] God had mercy, however; He inflicted needless suffering upon us for only a week or so.  Jazz was not so kind.  He insisted on going out to urinate three or four times a day, no matter how poorly we felt.  So we used Jazz’s walks to explore in greater depth our immediate neighborhood, known to local estate agents as “the desirable Crofts area of Hampstead.”

Orientation



Fig. 1 - Hampstead relative to Parliament

Hampstead is six miles north-by-northwest of the Houses of Parliament (Fig. 1), and four miles directly north of Hyde Park.  The village and Heath sit atop the Northern Heights of London, a group of hills left by retreating glaciers after the last ice age.  At 440’ above sea level, the north end of the Heath is the highest point in London’s inner boroughs.  This is why, as Lucinda frequently complains, the walk into the village is uphill both ways.

The Crofts are comprised of three streets near the western edge of the Heath: Ferncroft Avenue, Hollycroft Avenue, and our own, Rosecroft Avenue (Fig. 2).  A “croft” is a small farm or field; the word is a Scottish derivation from an Old English word meaning “hill.”[2] “The Crofts” is therefore a particularly fitting moniker for this area, which lies on the western slope of Child’s Hill, on land that was part of Platt’s Farm until the mid-1890s.[3]

Fig. 2 - The Crofts relative to Hampstead Village

The three ‘Croft avenues were laid out in 1896 by a developer named George Hart; most of the homes were designed by architect C.H.B. Quennell.  According to one commentator, these red-brick mansions were intended for “the lower middle class residents of Hampstead.”  Today, those homes are worth £3 million to £5 million, and flats in subdivided conversions sell for more than £1 million.[4]  The current global financial crisis has had almost no effect on property prices here, and based on the startling amount of residential remodeling going on, one wonders whether residents of The Crofts are even aware that the world is in financial turmoil.

Rosecroft Avenue

No. 17

Rosecroft Avenue is the smallest of the ‘Croft avenues and was the first to be laid out.  It curves gently downhill and southeast-to-south, a mere 200 yards, joining Platt’s Lane where the Platt’s Farm manor house once stood and terminating at the top middle of arching Hollycroft Avenue.

Three of the houses on Rosecroft are Grade II listed buildings, Nos. 17, 18 and 20. All three were designed by Quennell. No. 17 was completed in 1899 and is notable for the unusual classical plaster reliefs of female figures on the exterior first floor (second floor, for you Americans), modeled by artist Benjamin Lloyd.

No. 18

Across the street, No. 18 was completed in 1898; the date is prominently displayed (along with some naked nymphs) in plaster reliefs in the eaves, also by Benjamin Lloyd.  Next door, No. 20 is one of several houses to bear the name Croft House; completed in 1898, it lacks the sculpted reliefs of Nos. 17 and 18, but has a beautiful symmetrical design with a recessed entrance bay.


Next up, Hollycroft Avenue, wherein resides Winnie-the-Pooh’s friend, Owl.

No. 20

References:

Wade, The Streets of Hampstead (3d ed. 1999)

Wade, Hampstead Past (1989)

Denford, The Hampstead Book: A-Z of its history and people (2009)
"Hampstead: Childs Hill," A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington (1989), pp. 73-75. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22643 Date accessed: 8 January 2011. >


[1] Heidi refuses to accept that, under the U.K.’s barbaric healthcare system, Jack’s well-baby visits might have to be with a G.P. rather than a specialist pediatrician. The horror! Imagine the exotic strains of diaper rash a G.P. might be unable to diagnose.

[2] "croft." Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. 08 Jan. 2011. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/croft>.

[3] As an interesting aside, all three ‘Croft avenues intersect with Platt’s Lane, named for the owner of Platt’s Farm. Platt’s Lane formerly was known as Devil’s Lane, a corruption of Duval’s Lane, after the notorious 17^th Century highwayman Claude Duval.

[4] For example, the ground floor flat in our building sold last September for £1.27 million.

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