Primrose Hill is a district in the
London 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 St ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Electorally, it is mainly within the Camden Town with Primrose Hill ward, though some other wards do overlap.
The area east of the park was developed and became known as Primrose Hill, after the park. The Primrose Hill district is surrounded by
St John's Wood
St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...
to the west,
Swiss Cottage
Swiss Cottage is an area of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden, England. It is centred on the junction of Avenue Road and Finchley Road and includes Swiss Cottage tube station. Swiss Cottage lies north-northwest of Charing Cross. The ...
to the northwest,
Belsize Park
Belsize Park is an affluent residential area of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden (the inner north-west of London), England.
The residential streets are lined with mews houses and Georgian and Victorian villas. Some nearby localities ar ...
to the north,
Chalk Farm
Chalk Farm is a small urban district of north London, lying immediately north of Camden Town, in the London Borough of Camden.
History
Manor of Rugmere
Chalk Farm was originally known as the Manor of Rugmere, an estate that was mentioned in ...
to the northeast,
Camden Town
Camden Town (), often shortened to Camden, is a district of northwest London, England, north of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Camden, and identified in the London Plan as o ...
to the east and
Regent's Park
Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...
itself lies adjacent to the south of the hill itself. The nearest stations to Primrose Hill are
Chalk Farm tube station
Chalk Farm is a London Underground station near Camden Town in the London Borough of Camden. It is on the Edgware branch of the Northern line between Belsize Park and Camden Town stations. For ticketing purposes, Chalk Farm falls in Travelcar ...
to the northeast and
Swiss Cottage tube station to the northwest. The defunct
Primrose Hill railway station
Primrose Hill was a railway station in Chalk Farm, in the London Borough of Camden, opened by the North London Railway as Hampstead Road in 1855. It was named Chalk Farm from 1862 until 1950, when it was given its final name. From the 1860s to 1 ...
, now housing a business, sits on the railway lines that separate the Primrose Hill area from Camden Town.
Primrose Hill Tunnel, the first railway tunnel in London, has had its eastern portals Grade II*- and its western portals Grade II*
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
since 1974.
Primrose Hill is an archetypal example of a successful London urban village, due to the location and the quality of its socio-historical development, and is home to many prominent residents. Beginning in the late 1960s several of the roads were closed to motor traffic in response to an unacceptable level of collisions and consequent loss of life. The changes were carefully designed to render the area largely free of through motor traffic.
Notable buildings and residents
There are seven
English Heritage blue plaques in Primrose Hill commemorating the historic personalities that have lived there.
The plaques mark the residences of poet
Sir Hugh Clough, historian and broadcaster
A. J. P. Taylor
Alan John Percivale Taylor (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was a British historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his televis ...
and painter
William Roberts at 11, 13, and 14 St Mark's Crescent respectively; revolutionary socialist and philosopher
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels ( ,["Engels"](_blank)
'' Roger Fenton
Roger Fenton (28 March 1819 – 8 August 1869) was a British photographer, noted as one of the first war photographers.
Fenton was born into a Lancashire merchant family. After graduating from London with an Arts degree, he became interested i ...
at 2 Albert Terrace; poet and novelist
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, ''The ...
at 3
Chalcot Square
Chalcot Square is a garden square in the Primrose Hill district of London, England.
The square was laid out between 1849 and 1860 and was known as St George's Square until 1937. It is a residential square, well known for its brightly coloured It ...
; and poet
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
at 23 Fitzroy Road.
Stanley Johnson and
Lukas Heller
Lukas Heller (21 July 1930 – 2 November 1988) was a German-born screenwriter.
Biography
Heller was born to a Jewish family in Kiel. His father was political philosopher Hermann Heller. He was known for writing the screen adaptions for several ...
each lived at different times at the 'Rocking Horse House' on Regent's Park Road.
Broadcasters
Joan Bakewell
Joan Dawson Bakewell, Baroness Bakewell, ('' née'' Rowlands; born 16 April 1933), is an English journalist, television presenter and Labour Party peer. Baroness Bakewell is president of Birkbeck, University of London; she is also an auth ...
and
Nicholas Crane
Nicholas Crane (born 6 May 1954) is an English geographer, explorer, writer and broadcaster. Since 2004 he has written and presented four television series for BBC Two: ''Coast'', ''Great British Journeys'', '' Map Man'' and ''Town''.
Early ...
and actors
Daisy Ridley
Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley (born 10 April 1992) is an English actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Rey in the ''Star Wars'' sequel trilogy: ''The Force Awakens'' (2015), ''The Last Jedi'' (2017), and ''The Rise of Skywalker'' (2019) ...
and
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi (; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. He has appeared in various stage productions of William Shakespeare such as ''Hamlet'', ''Much Ado About Nothing'', ''Macbeth'', ''Twelfth Night'', ''The Tempest'', ''King ...
live in the area.
Elliott Square is a grouping of modernist 1960s houses by Douglas Streeter, built as part of the Chalcot Estate on land owned by
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
.
During the 1990s Primrose Hill was a popular place to live with some who worked in the film, music and fashion industries and who were referred to as the ''
Primrose Hill set
The Primrose Hill set is a name applied to a group of celebrities in the 1990s, who were based in Primrose Hill, near Camden Town in North London, and had, in the words of Andrew Johnson writing in ''The Independent'' in 2010, a reputation for " ...
'' in British newspapers.
References
Notes
Citations
External links
Primrose Hill – An Urban Village Examined by Alistair Barr, Architect & Resident —
Article on Primrose Hill Farmers' marketsPrimrose Hill Local Website —
Primrose Hill and Regent's Park in Literature and Music a bibliography
{{coords, 51.54, -0.16, display=title
Areas of London
Districts of the London Borough of Camden
Primrose Hill