Dartmouth Park is a district of north west

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in the

Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and ...

, north of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City ...

. The area adjoins

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisat ...

and

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

(to the north) and

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the open ...

(to the south).

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (french: Colline du Parlement, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their archit ...

is to the west. The nearest Underground stations are

Tufnell Park Tufnell Park is an area in north London, England, in the London boroughs of Islington and Camden. The neighborhood is served by Tufnell Park tube station on the Northern Line. History Origins and boundary ;Medieval and later manor Tufnel ...

and Archway, both on the

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, t ...

. The nearest Overground station is Gospel Oak.

History

Dartmouth Park is named after the

Earl of Dartmouth Earl of Dartmouth is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1711 for William Legge, 2nd Baron Dartmouth. History The Legge family descended from Edward Legge, Vice-President of Munster. His eldest son William Legge was a ...

who bought the land in St Pancras parish in the middle of the 18th century, for the relative position of which see Ossulstone Hundred. The 5th Earl of Dartmouth allowed a wave of scrutinised house building in the late 19th century, with most later waves also subject to amenity-giving planning conditions and/or

restrictive covenant A covenant, in its most general sense and historical sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. Under historical English common law, a covenant was distinguished from an ordinary contract by the presence of a s ...

s, such as a limitation on density. Chetwynd Road and St Mary Brookfield 2005

By then the need to increase the supply of fresh water to serve London's growth meant that water companies were building new facilities. Two covered reservoirs were constructed on Maiden Lane (since renamed Dartmouth Park Hill) in 1855 by the

New River Company The New River Company, formally The Governor and Company of the New River brought from Chadwell and Amwell to London, was a privately-owned water supply company in London, England, originally formed around 1609 and incorporated in 1619 by roy ...

and connected to its new waterworks and pumping station by

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area occupying the north-west part of the London Borough of Hackney in north-east London, England. It is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington the ancient parish. The ...

reservoirs, two boroughs to the east. Later owned by the

Metropolitan Water Board The Metropolitan Water Board was a municipal body formed in 1903 to manage the water supply in London, UK. The members of the board were nominated by the local authorities within its area of supply. In 1904 it took over the water supply functi ...

, the reservoirs are now owned by Thames Water Utilities.

Geography

Land use and housing

Dartmouth Park is an overwhelmingly residential district. It has a relative (inherently housing-related) emphasis on housing those with middle-to-higher incomes and, by Inner London standards, the retired. Immediately north is the Holly Lodge Estate and then Highgate. Dartmouth Park is separated from Kentish Town to the south by the Gospel Oak to Barking (railway) line. Housing is predominantly detached, terraced and semi-detached houses, late Victorian and Edwardian mansion flats (notable examples include Brookfield Mansions and the blocks in Lissenden Gardens), and some post war housing such as Haddo House.

Parks

The former park demesne is reflected by Waterlow Park and

. A small, landscaped park, Dartmouth Park, is immediately to the east in Islington, adjoining Dartmouth Park Hill. It was laid out on the edge of the reservoirs and opened to the public in 1972. Much of it is taken up by the reservoir tank. It has a children's playground. The top of the slope gives an open semi-panorama. The park has an enclosed seating area surrounded by a hedge, which local children helped to plant in 1991. The park hosted one of the beacons lit nationwide on 21 April 2016 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday.

Landmarks

The Anglican church is St Mary Brookfield, designed by

William Butterfield William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy. Biography William Butterfield was born in Lon ...

and opened in 1875. It is red brick with contrasting yellow and blue brick patterns. The street named York Rise, bisects the district, forming a gentle vale taken up by the Fleet stream then one of the successive Fleet combined sewers, each intercepted by Joseph Bazalgette's great interceptor sewers, before doing so crossing the railway tracks in a visible large iron pipe.

Notable residents

Julian Barnes Julian Patrick Barnes (born 19 January 1946) is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with ''The Sense of an Ending'', having been shortlisted three times previously with '' Flaubert's Parrot'', '' England, England'', and ''Art ...

, novelist *

Benedict Cumberbatch Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a British Academy Television Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurence Oli ...

, actor and film producer, and his wife, theatre director

Sophie Hunter Sophie Irene Hunter (born 16 March 1978) is an English theatre director, playwright and former actress and singer. She made her directorial debut in 2007 co-directing the experimental play ''The Terrific Electric'' at the Barbican Pit after her ...

Hunter Davies Edward Hunter Davies (born 7 January 1936) is a British author, journalist and broadcaster. His books include the only authorised biography of the Beatles. Early life Davies was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, to Scottish parents. For four y ...

, writer *

Glenda Jackson Glenda May Jackson (born 9 May 1936) is an English actress and former Member of Parliament (MP). She has won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice: for her role as Gudrun Brangwen in the romantic drama ''Women in Love'' (1970); and again for ...

, Labour MP *

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliba ...

, former Labour party leader and his wife

Justine Thornton Dame Justine Thornton (born 16 September 1970), styled The Hon Mrs Justice Thornton, is a British barrister and judge of the High Court of England and Wales. Thornton was appointed to the High Court of England and Wales in February 2019, assi ...

, environmental lawyer * Richard D'Oyly Carte, opera impresario *

Dave Lee Travis David Patrick Griffin (born 25 May 1945), known professionally as Dave Lee Travis, is an English disc jockey, radio presenter and television presenter. Travis began his broadcasting career on the pirate radio station Radio Caroline in 1965. He ...

, former Radio 1 DJ *Lucy Rose, folk musician * Paul Smith, television writer * Vas Blackwood, actor *

Paco Peña Paco Peña (born 1 June 1942) is a Spanish flamenco composer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the world's foremost traditional flamenco players. Biography Born in Córdoba, Spain, as Francisco Peña Pérez, Paco Peña began learning to pl ...

, Flamenco guitarist *

Noel Fielding Noel Fielding (; (born 21 May 1973) is an English actor and comedian. He is best known for his work with The Mighty Boosh comedy troupe alongside Julian Barratt in the 2000s, and more recently as a co-presenter of ''The Great British Bake Off'' ...

, actor and comedian

Past residents

* Margaret Forster, novelist and biographer *

Geoffrey Jellicoe Sir Geoffrey Allan Jellicoe (8 October 1900 – 17 July 1996) was an English architect, town planner, landscape architect, garden designer, landscape and garden historian, lecturer and author. His strongest interest was in landscape and ga ...

, architect *

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty ('' Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessn ...

, the film director *

Nova Pilbeam Nova Margery Pilbeam (15 November 1919 – 17 July 2015) was an English film and stage actress. She played leading roles in two Alfred Hitchcock films of the 1930s, and made her last film in 1948. Early life Pilbeam was born in Wimbledon, Sur ...

, actress * Denny Wright, jazz guitarist

Transport

Nearest places

* Archway * Gospel Oak *

Hampstead Heath Hampstead Heath (locally known simply as the Heath) is an ancient heath in London, spanning . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band ...

Nearest stations

* Gospel Oak *

* Archway

References

* The Buildings of England London 4: North. Bridget Cherry and

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, '' The Buildings of England'' ...

. . {{Areas of London Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Camden Legge family