History of the area

Millfield Lane is remarkable. It is a narrow, unmade semi-rural track running along the eastern side of Hampstead Heath near Highgate, North London.  The lane runs from Merton Lane, past the Bird Sanctuary Pond and Kenwood Ladies’ Bathing Pond to Kenwood House. On either side it is enclosed by rich vegetation and overlooked by many veteran trees.  It is also a wildlife corridor where it is possible to hear the hoots of tawny owls at twilight and birdsong throughout the day.

It is a popular route for walkers, joggers and cyclists, as well as those simply wanting to escape the noise of London.  It is particularly popular with the thousands of women who swim each year at the Ladies’ Pond, and in the winter months it provides the only access route to that pond.

Some further details:

• One of Charles II’s hunting lodges was located in this area.  Charles II had a number of mistresses, including Barbara Villiers who bore him a son in 1662 named Charles Fitzroy (Fitz: illegitimate son, and Roy: of the King) who gave his name to the area.
   
• Millfield Lane is recorded as far back as the Middle Ages.  Over the years it has been variously known as Cut Through Lane, Nightingale Lane and, as the location of the only meeting of poets Keats and Coleridge, Poets’ Lane.
   
• The whole area was part of the medieval manor of Tottenhall, later becoming part of the Parish of St Pancras, before being absorbed into the London Borough of Camden.
   
• The ecology of the lane is exceptionally sensitive.  Ancient horsetails can be found along Millfield Lane and many of the veteran oaks date back several hundred years.  A freshwater spring feeding the historic pond in the grounds of 55 Fitzroy Park overflows across Millfield Lane towards the Bird Sanctuary Pond, its flow undiminished even during the record-breaking hot, dry summer of 2018.
   
• In 1829, when Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson said he wanted to build on Hampstead Heath, the Morning Herald fumed: ‘We do hope this attempt to deprive the tradesmen of the pleasures of fresh air will be defeated.’  The battle for the Heath raged for 42 years, gave birth to the conservation movement and culminated in 1871 with the Heath being preserved by Parliament forever as the 'lungs of London'.