Highgate

Highgate is a village in north London. It is the highest point in London, and is noteworthy for its Georgian architecture. It is one of the more expensive suburbs to live in, and has an active conservation society, The Highgate Society, to protect its character. It is on the north-eastern corner of Hampstead Heath, one of London's largest open spaces.

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It is divided between three London boroughs: Haringey to the north, Camden to the south and west, and Islington to the south and east. The postal district for Highgate is N6.

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Historically it was part of the Bishop of London's hunting estate. The Bishop kept a toll-house on one of the main northward roads out of London. A number of pubs sprung up along the route, one of which, the Gatehouse, commemorates the toll-house. In later centuries Highgate was associated with the highwayman Dick Turpin.

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Highgate Hill, between Archway and Highgate village, was the route of the first cable car to be built in Europe. It operated between 1884 and 1909.

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In recent years famous inhabitants have included Samuel Taylor Coleridge, J. B. Priestley, Yehudi Menuhin (and later Sting who bought Menuhin's old house), Sir Jacob Bronowski, Stanley Baxter, Terry Gilliam and Victoria Wood. Highgate Cemetery is the burial place of Karl Marx, Faraday and Radclyffe Hall. Adjacent to the cemetery is the Holly Lodge Estate, one of only two housing estates built in the UK for single women and formerly the home and grounds of Baroness Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts.

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The MP for the Hampstead and Highgate constituency since 1992 has been Labour's Glenda Jackson. Lynne Featherstone is the Liberal Democrat MP for the Hornsey and Wood Green constituency, which covers the northern half of Highgate Village. The Boundary Commission report of 2003 recommended separating the Camden part of Highgate from the remainder of its present constituency and joining it with Kentish Town and Holborn to the south.

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Nearest places:

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• Finchley
• Hampstead
• Muswell Hill
• Tufnell Park
• Kentish Town
• Holloway

Nearest tube stations:

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• Highgate tube station
• Archway tube station

Places of interest:

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• Highgate Cemetery
• Highgate School
Highgate: External Links ►



 

Georgian architecture: Georgian architecture is the name given in English-speaking countries to the classic architectural styles current between about 1720 and 1840, named after the four British monarchs named George. The Georgian styles succeeded the English Baroque of Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas...

Hampstead Heath: Hampstead Heath is a park in the north of London, covering 791 acres (3.2 km²). The name of the park comes from a rare heathland habitat. It has 25 main ponds and areas of ancient woodland, bog, hedgerows and grassland. Parts of the park have been designated as Sites of Special Scientific In...

London borough: The administrative area of Greater London contains 32 London Boroughs, of which 12 (plus the City of London) make up Inner London and 20 Outer London....