No16 of the CAMDEN HISTORY SOCIETY FEB1973 February's Lecture - The Field Lane Story The History of Hampstead A pamphlet with the above title recently published by the Field Lane Foundation, A last minute reminder of our February provides a fascinating insight into the way event - of life in the 19th Century Saffron Hill On Thursday, 15 February, at 7. 30 pm area of Holborn. This was one of the at the Swiss Cottage Library, Professor worst "Rookeries" in London, perhaps F. M. L. Thompson, MA, DPhil, of Bedford matched only by the St. Giles Rookery College, will give a lecture on the History near St. Giles in the Fields Church. of Hampstead. The dark, insanitary, dilapidated buildings The lecture will be an appetiser for were the overcrowded homes of London's Professor Thompson's book on the same poor, and drunkenness, vice and crime subject, commissioned by Hampstead were prevalent. It was an area into which Borough Council and due to be published the police hesitated to venture, and this later this year by Routledge and Kegan became the lair of such notorious charac- Paul. ters as Jonathan Wild, Jack Sheppard and Jerry Abershaw. Many of the thieves' The March Lecture houses in which they lived, had trap- A printed folder giving dates of lectures doors and exits leading to other alleys and other events for the programme year and streets into which they could make an from 1 March is b.eing prepared and will easy getaway. be sent to members shortly. The first In this area the Field Lane Foundation event, on 2 9 March, will be a lecture by (under various names) from 1841 onwards, Mr Peter Knowles-Brown whose jeweller's tried to provide schooling for children too shop has for long been a familiar feature poor to obtain education elsewhere - part of Hampstead High Street, His lecture, of the Ragged School Movement - and entitled "A Shop in the High Street" will some accommodation for destitute men give the fascinating story of this family and women. business. THE PNEUMATIC DISPATCH RAILWAY The schools were later moved to Hamp- stead, the boys to Hillfield Road, off Members :tnay also like to know of Mr Fortune Green Lane, and the girls to 9 Charles E. Lee's lecture at 5. 30pm on and 9a Church Row. 14 February at the Science Museum. Mr Lee is a well-known transport historian The Foundation now concentrates mainly and a member of the Council of the Camden on care for the elderly by providing a History Society. number of homes outside London and a HELP WITH BRASS RUBBINGS community centre at 32 Cubitt Street WCl. We have been asked if any of our members Copies of the pamphlet may be obtained is knowledgeable about brass rubbings and from The Secretary, The Field Lane could spare a small amount of time to su- Foundation, 16 Vine Hill, Clerkenwell pervise the work of an 18-year-old girl Road, London, EC lR 5EA, price 15p student. She is working for her Duke of (including postage). Edinburgh's gold medal and has chosen the subject as her hobby. Will any member able to help please contact the Secretary of the Society. The Morgan Family in St. Pancras 'HP 1833' in the manner of a boundary stone, though I am certain that it never The recent death of Mr Fred Reynolds was one, some monumental purpose being Morgan, at the age of 95, head of the the only possibility. Also, in Highgate, a Kentish Town building firm, is a reminder stone without an inscription stands below of one of the two families that used to the wall of No 18 South Grove (28230 87208). dominate farming in the St Pancras area - My interest in these stones is that their the. other being the Rhodes family. purpose is open to speculation, and I am It is claimed that the Morgan family's surprised that no parish record of them connection with the parish dates back to seems to exist. 1630 although I have found no evidence to I am told that you sometimes publish such substantiate this. Certainly a William inquiries in your Newsletter. I would be Morgan was established in a farm on the grateful for any information. Christ Church Estate (Caversham Road, Islip Street, Gaisford Street and Oseney Crescent) in the 18th century but the Court T. Whale Rolls of Cantelowes {the manor in which 2 9 Hurst A venue the Estate fell) and the records of Christ Highgate N6 5TX Church College are not particularly help- Diary of Events ful in supplying the date of his lease. It may be that the Court Rolls are deficient Members will know that the Society is because the Morgans were sub-lessees. affiliated to the London and Middlesex Christ Church records show a request Archaeological Society and may like to from William Morgan in 1774 asking for know of forthcoming events: an abatement of rent, and this request is repeated quite a few times up to 1831 when 16 February - The George Eades Lecture, Morgan gave up the Estate 'being perfectly "Heralds and heraldry" by Mrs I. Eades satisfied that to continue in it would be the at the Bishopsgate Institute at 6. 30 pm. means of my going to a gaol or a work- 24 February - Visit to Bruce Castle, house.' Lordship Lane, Tottenham, N. 17 at The 1804 map of St Pancras is more 2. 30 pm, conducted by Miss E. Flint, BA, informative however. William Morgan Bruce Castle Museum. was farming about 75 acres on the Christ Bruce Castle is a late Elizabethan manor Church Estate and elsewhere, and Richard house, considered by the Department of Morgan, on the other side of the road, the Environment to be the most important occupied about 68 acres in the Holmes Road building of its kind in North London. It and Malden Road area. houses a local history collection, a Postal The Morgan house on the Christ Church history collection of national importance Estate, which had probably been there and the Museum of the Middlesex Regiment. since the 16th century, had 4 bedrooms, There will also be an art exhibition and a 2 sitting rooms and 3 attics. In 1784 short film bearing on the collections. William Morgan also bought a 99-year lease on the site of the old Kentish Town 16 March - Lecture, "Recent excavations Chapel {where Sainsbury' s now stands in at Ardleigh Castle, Essex'', by P. L. Kentish Town Road). He built himself Drewett, BA, Assistant Inspector of another house there and this is today Ancient Monuments, Department of the commemorated by a pub called The Old Environment, Bishopsgate Institute, Farmhouse. The decision to convert this 6. 30 pm. site from sacred to secular use aroused a court case between the Churchwardens OFFICERS of St Pancras and their Vicar. CHAIRMAN.: John Richardson SECRETARY: John Richardson G.D. Gregory St. Pancras Library CAMDEN MILESTONES 100 Euston Road I am interested in the date of the milestohe NWl 2AJ (278 4444) by Whitestone Pond (map reference 26277 TREASURER: Wilfrid Meadows 86250), also the purpose of the granite pil- PUBLICATIONS lar nearby (26283 86275), and of a granite SECRETARY: Christopher Wade nilhir in North End (26145 86989). marked No17 of the CAMDEN HISTORY SOCIETY MAR1973 Forthcoming Events Harry Llewellyn Gordon We have four events in the near future. The programme of the Society's events Shortly after Peter Knowles-Brown's lec- for the coming year is enclosed with this ture on 29 March on 'The Life of a Hamp- Newsletter. Additional events and more stead Shopkeeper from 1891', we have news on existing ones will come through Horace Shooter's lecture on the history the Newsletter. The first additional event of Nonconformist Chapels of Hampstead will be an exhibition of more than thirty on Tuesday, 3 April. Mr Shooter has, Paintings and Drawings of Camden, by with a lot of original research, made this Harry Llewellyn Gordon in the Lending subject his speciality. For this event we Library at Swiss Cottage for three weeks are guests of the Rosslyn Hill Chapel. from 14 April. Later, in the week of the Annual General Peter Carey, Camden's Visual Arts Meeting, on Friday, 18 May, Mrs Lena Manager, who is kindly arranging the Jeger, MP, will speak on 'Bloomsbury - exhibition for us, says that Harry Gordon The Beginning and the Future'. This will has lived and worked in Camden Town and be at 7. 30pm at the Holborn Library Hall, Swiss Cottage and his drawings include 32-38 Theobald's Road, WCl. Members the pubs, streets, music halls, theatres will then be able to see an exhibition of and markets of the borough. items kindly loaned by the Departments of Planning and Communications, and Libraries and Arts. Refreshments will be served after the lecture. Hampstead Village at the turn of this century - the scene for the talk by Peter Knowles-Brown on March 29th. Annual General Meeting Camden History Review In keeping with the practice of the past Our first Camden History Review is now two years, we shall again hold our Annual at the printers and, all being well, we General Meeting in one of the borough's hope to publish at the end of April. If the m31ny interesting buildings, this time at response is encouraging, we, intend to Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent's Park Road, publish a new Review every year. NWl. It is on 14 May. The business meeting will commence at 6. 30pm and The first issue is written almost entirely refreshments will be available immediately by our own members.