The southern end of Heathgate

Image: © Marathon Taken: 4 Feb 2015

Hampstead Garden Suburb was founded in 1907 by Henrietta Barnett to be a model community where all classes of people could live together in attractive surroundings and social harmony. Heathgate is the formal avenue which links Central Square and its two churches with Hampstead Heath Extension. This is the view from the end of Heathgate where it crosses 'The Great Wall' to reach the Heath Extension. The idea of a distinctive boundary separating the residential Suburb and the rural Heath Extension was evident within the early plans for the Suburb. Its inspiration came from medieval German fortified towns where the country came up to the walls and the idea was turned into the reality of the Great Wall by Charles Paget Wade. The Garden Suburb Development Company began construction in 1910 but building was interrupted by the Great War and the wall extends only from Hampstead Way to Heathgate. Hampstead Heath Extension was not added to Hampstead Heath until 1907, at about the time that Hampstead Garden Suburb to the north was being created. The Heath Extension was created out of farmland, largely due to the efforts of Henrietta Barnett. Its farmland origins can still be seen in the form of old field boundaries, hedgerows and trees. There are a group of ponds near the eastern edge, close to Wildwood Road. See also http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4338725

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