Visit Highgate
VISIT
HIGHGATE
001: Whittington Stone
A short distance up Highgate Hill from Archway Station is the Whittington Stone, recalling one of England’s most cherished legends: the spot where Dick Whittington and his cat, about to return to Gloucestershire in disillusionment, heard the Bow Bells telling him to “turn again” and become “thrice...
002: St Joseph’s Retreat
St. Joseph’s Retreat is the Order of Passionists’ HQ in England. They built a chapel here in 1858, on the site of the Black Dog Inn; this building, by Albert Vicars, was consecrated in 1885.
003: Hornsey Lane
Hornsey Lane, an ancient road, formerly MaidenLane. Historic buildings at the Highgate end includethe 17th century No. 20.
004: Lauderdale House
Lauderdale House, built c.1580, probably for merchant Sir Richard Martin, Mayor of London; remodelled in 1645. During the 1660s it was owned by the Earl of Lauderdale (the ‘L’ of CABAL); visitors included Charles II and Samuel Pepys, but the claim that Nell Gwynn was installed there by Charles II...
006: Cromwell House
Highgate Hill was the site of Europe’s first cable-car tramway. Built by Andrew Smith Hallidie, designer of the San Francisco Cable Car system, and opened in 1884, it was replaced in 1909, after several accidents, by a tram; by an electric trolley-bus in 1939; and by motor buses in 1960.
008: Highgate Hill
Cromwell House, built 1637-8 for Richard Sprignell, one of London’s finest 17th century houses, Grade I Listed, with elaborate interiors. In 1675 it was purchased by Jewish merchant Alvaro da Costa, the first property in England to be owned by Jews after their re-admission in 1656. A school from...
009: Channing School
Channing School is unique in providing an education based on the Unitarian principles of two sisters who, in 1885, founded a school for girls in Highgate, North London. In a changing world of uncertainty and pressure, girls find at Channing an oasis of calm purpose, where pupils of all ages are...
010: Cholmeley Lodge
Cholmeley Lodge is an Art Deco / Streamline Moderne grade II listed residential building in Highgate, London, designed by architect Guy Morgan. Built in 1934 and taking its name from Sir Roger Cholmeley, who owned the land until 1565, it is a curving six-storey block of 48 flats, with an unusual...
012: Waterlow Park
The splendid 29-acre Waterlow Park was donated to the public in 1889 by industrialist, MP and noted philanthropist Sir Sydney Waterlow “a garden for the gardenless”. His home, Fairseat, adjoining the Park, is now Channing Junior School. His 1900 statue, in the park, is the only one in London...
019: 27 Highgate High Street
The world’s oldest Estate Agents, found in 1767. When enterprising auctioneer, John Prickett, born 1733, settled in the tiny hamlet of Highgate he could not have known he would be the founder of a thriving family business which would be alive many generations after his death. John married Ann from...
023: Highgate High Street
Highgate is a leafy residential area with quaint tea rooms, gastropubs, and fine 18th-century buildings. Novelist George Eliot and revolutionary Karl Marx are among the historical figures buried at Highgate Cemetery, known for its elaborate tombs and wild greenery. Families with kids feed the...
037: Witanhurst
Witanhurst – The early 18th century mansion Parkfield (which may have had a Jacobean predecessor), was replaced in 1917 by the vast French chateau-style building seen today, by the industrialist Sir Arthur Crosfield, who was instrumental in the saving of Kenwood House. During the inter-war period...
038: Old Fox and Crown
The Site of the Old Fox & Crown, the scene of Highgate’s greatest contribution to world history. In 1837, not long after her coronation, a young Queen Victoria was riding down Highgate West Hill in a carriage when the horses suddenly bolted. The out-of-control coach was seen racing down the...
040: 31 Highgate West Hill
No. 31 West Hill, Highgate, the childhood home (not, as is sometimes stated, his birthplace) of the late poet laureate, John Betjeman (1906-84) He wrote his first poetry in the house, presenting his teacher, TS Eliot, with a volume when he was 10 years old. In his verse autobiography, Summoned by...
111: Kenwood House
Overlooking London’s Hampstead Heath since the early 17th century, Kenwood House was transformed in the 18th century into a grand neoclassical villa. Now restored to its Georgian splendour, Kenwood is home to a world-famous art collection. Find out more about the story of Kenwood, its intriguing...
112: Athlone House
Athlone House, formerly known as Caen Wood Towers, is a large Victorian house in Highgate, London, England. Built c.1872, and until the early 1940s the residence of several important industrialists, it is now in a state of disrepair and awaiting restoration by its current owners. It was designed...
113: Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath is one of London's most popular open spaces, a registered charity managed and funded by the City of London, and located just six kilometres from Trafalgar Square. An island of beautiful countryside, the magic of Hampstead Heath lies not only in its rich wildlife and extensive...
51: Pond Square
Pond Square. Highgate. N6. The Ghostly Chicken. Although the water source from which its name derives was filled in in 1864, Pond Square does have a certain charm. Massive Plane trees cast long shadows across the asphalt, and the chance of an encounter with one of London’s most unusual spectres...
55: 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 Cemetery and the East Cemetery at Highgate Cemetery. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as well as for its de...
57: Highgate Literary and Scientific Institute
The first meeting of HLSI was held at The Gatehouse in 1839 and was attended by Keats, Shelley, Byron and Coleridge amongst others. There is something interesting happening almost every day at the HLSI. We offer a wide range of courses, on languages and art, music and cultural history. There are...
63: Upstairs at the Gatehouse
The first meeting of HLSI was held at The Gatehouse in 1839 and was attended by Keats, Shelley, Byron and Coleridge amongst others. Upstairs at the Gatehouse is an award winning London Fringe Theatre with a varied programme of drama, musicals and fringe theatre productions. Situated at the top of...
64: Highgate School
Highgate is one of the UK’s leading co-educational independent schools. Founded over 450 years ago, we provide means-tested bursaries and welcome pupils, aged 3 to 18, from a range of backgrounds across London. Highgate offers high-calibre, academically-minded teaching with a focus on scholarship...
76: The Victoria Pub
The Victoria has been a pub since at least 1861; from 1871-1873 it was the Prince of Wales, and it was rebuilt in the early 20th century. At the time of writing it is closed and its future in doubt, though local people are campaigning for it to remain as a pub.
84: Wrestlers’ Pub
The Wrestler's Pub is Highgate’s oldest Public House, traditionally founded in 1547. The present building dates to 1921. Highgate’s renowned, if bizarre, ceremony of “Swearing on the Horns”, established by 18th century publicans to promote trade and mentioned in a poem by Lord Byron, is still...
85: Highpoint
Highpoint I was the first of two apartment blocks erected in the 1930s on one of the highest points in London, England, in Highgate. The architectural design was by the Russian-born architect Berthold Lubetkin, the structural design by the Anglo-Danish engineer Ove Arup and the construction by...