Holly Hill is a street in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

in the

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

. It runs northwards from a junction with

Hampstead High Street Hampstead High Street is located in the London Borough of Camden. It is the main high street for Hampstead Village and is part of the A502 road (Great Britain), A502. Heading southeastwards from a junction with Heath Street, Hampstead, Heath Stre ...

and

Heath Street, Hampstead Heath Street is in Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden, part of the A502 road for much of its route. It runs from the centre of Hampstead Village northwards towards Hampstead Heath. By Jack Straw's Castle it divides into North End Way he ...

heading uphill to a grassy triangle named Holly Bush Hill where it meets Windmill Hill and

Hampstead Grove Hampstead Grove is a street in Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It heads northwards from Holly Hill, Hampstead, Holly Hill running towards Hampstead Heath, but curving back towards Lower Terrace which connects it to the Heath. It runs ...

by the entrance to

Fenton House Fenton House is a 17th-century merchant's house in Hampstead in North London which belongs to the National Trust, bequeathed to them in 1952 by Lady Binning, its last owner and resident. It is a detached house with a walled garden, which is ...

. It takes its name from a grove of holly bushes which stood on the hill until the 1940s. In the eighteenth century it was known as Cloth Hill, likely because local laundresses using

Hampstead Wells Hampstead () is an area in London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider met ...

hung their clothes out on the Holly Bushes to dry. Holly Mount turns eastwards off the street and forms a

cul-de-sac A dead end, also known as a ''cul-de-sac'' (; , ), a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet. Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some d ...

, although there are steps linking it to Heath Street below. Holly Mount contains The Holly Bush pub, which was once linked to the nearby

assembly rooms In Great Britain and Ireland, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, assembly rooms were gathering places for members of the higher social classes open to members of both sexes. At that time most entertaining was done at home and there wer ...

. Notable residents of Holly Hill have included the artists George Romney and Derek Hill, both commemorated with

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

s. A number of properties are now

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

.https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1379084 Romney's House at 5 Holly Bush Hill is

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. Running uphill to the west is Mount Vernon which also features notable historic properties and Holly Walk.

References

Bibliography

* Bebbington, Gillian. ''London Street Names''. Batsford, 1972. * Cherry, Bridget & Pevsner, Nikolaus. ''London 4: North''. Yale University Press, 2002. * Wade, Christopher. ''The Streets of Hampstead''. Camden History Society, 2000. Streets in the London Borough of Camden Hampstead {{coord missing, London