Changes to local roads

After seeking our views last year, Camden Council is making some changes to roads around Mill Lane.  These are intended to make things safer for pedestrians - particularly children going to school.

Mill Lane itself is to get two new zebra crossings.  Work to install these has already begun - adding to the density of roadworks already happening in the area thanks to the Thames Water excavations.

A 20 mph speed limit is to be imposed on the roads around Beckford School - Dornfell Street, Broomsleigh Street, Glastonbury Street and Ravenshaw Street.  80 per cent of the 186 respondents to Camden's survey supported this measure.  But only 48 per cent expressed support for raising the junction - bringing the road level to that of the pavement - where Dornfell Street meets Ravenshaw Street.  So this proposal will not proceed.

Parking in Ravenshaw, Broomsleigh, Glastonbury and Dornfell Streets

Controlled zone
Originally uploaded by Grievous Angel.

You may have seen in the latest edition of Spotlight - the Liberal Democrats' local newsletter - that Camden will review the operation of the controlled parking zone in the four streets around Beckford School (Ravenshaw, Broomsleigh, Glastonbury and Dornfell Streets). The council will seek the opinions of residents.  There's also to be further consultation on the parking zone in the Greek roads north of Mill Lane (Achilles Road, Agamemnon Road, etc.)

One of the questions likely to be put to residents is whether the controlled hours in these streets should be extended to all day, as is already the case on Mill Lane and elsewhere in West Hampstead.

This development follows the completion of last year's consultation on parking controls across the borough.  A report on the results of the consultation was considered by councillors in November.  Referring to the streets south of Mill Lane, the report draws attention to campaigning activity undertaken in the neighbourhood at the time of the consultation:

"The consultation results show that opinion is divided about hours of control. A ‘survey’ was undertaken by some residents in this sub-area indicating an interest in longer hours, though this was not undertaken as a formal petition with signatures. Correspondence was received from residents in this area questioning the motives behind those undertaking the survey, who had misrepresented the Council’s own consultation, claiming that the Council was going to split the zone. Given concerns that the ‘survey’ may be biased the detailed findings are not included here."

Based on this information, and a petition from residents of the Greek roads seeking longer controlled hours, councillors decided that further consultation was appropriate in the CA-P(c) area which covers the Greek roads and some of the streets south of Mill Lane. (See earlier post for a map of the zone.)  The report says this further consultation will cost council tax payers £25,000.

The council will discuss the likely shape of the consultation with local groups before sending a questionnaire to homes in the area.  Councillor Flick Rea has told Northwest 6 that it will be several months before we receive the survey:

"It will not be until early summer at earliest.  A notice will be sent round by Camden - as before to set up a Steering Committee which will decide the terms of the consultation. Then every household will receive a consultation form.  The terms are likely to be the introduction of all day restrictions in common with most of the rest of West Hampstead."

The council may also undertake parking occupancy surveys in order to inform the final decision.

West Hampstead roadworks

Thames Water roadworks in Broomsleigh Street

2008 will not bring early relief from the extensive roadworks being carried out around West Hampstead by Thames Water.

Thames Water has confirmed to the Ham & High that the excavations - including these pictured in Broomsleigh Street - will continue until the summer.  The work is due to be completed in June.

Life in Victorian West Hampstead

Hampstead Cemetery
Originally uploaded by outblissed

Northwest 6 has received an email from someone tracing her family history:

My great grandfather Benjamin OVENS, a policeman, lived with his family at 19 Ravenshaw Street from 1889. Can anyone help me with ideas of where the children would have gone to school, which church the children might have been baptised, and where the very young children might have been buried in 1890 and 1895?

For such questions Kilburn and West Hampstead Past is an invaluable source.

It tells us that Beckford School was open for business by this time, although it was called Broomsleigh Street school at this stage (its name was changed in 1931). As the nearest school to Ravenshaw Street, it is the most likely possibility for the one that the Ovens children attended. It was built specifically to cater for the increasing numbers of children in the proliferation of streets being developed in West Hampstead in the late 19th century, of which Ravenshaw Street was one.

Another possibility is Emmanuel School, on Mill Lane. This was a well-established school by this time but, then as now, was too small to meet demand.

Emmanuel Church at West End Green had not opened at this time. The children may have been baptised in its predecessor, the Emmanuel mission church which stood on the corner of Aldred Road and Mill Lane. (Presumably this was the corner opposite The Pavement, the row of shops on Mill Lane which begins at this corner and which dates from 1888.) If the minister at Emmanuel wasn't to the Ovens family's taste, the children may have been baptised at St Cuthbert's church in Fordwych Road which opened in 1887.

Finally, where were the very young children buried? Almost certainly at Hampstead Cemetery, at Fortune Green. Now "full up", the cemetery had been relatively recent developed in the 1890s having been consecrated for burials in 1876. However, even by then it must have been filling up rapidly as it was extended in 1901.

If you have any further knowledge or memories which can help answer this query, then please share them here.

Jingle Bell Rock

Bopping Santa, 2005

More on the Cheery House.  The little Santa may not bop away with the same vigour that he displayed in previous years.  But he can still belt out that catchy tune. 

But what is he singing?

Jingle Bell Rock was originally released in 1957 by Bobby Helms, who went on to record several further versions.  Before gaining its current renown on the West Hampstead cultural scene, the song was also recorded by Brenda Lee and, more recently, Billy Idol.  Further details on Wikipedia.

As a service to Northwest 6 readers, I've tracked down the lyrics so that you can call to mind the words during those annoying moments over the Christmas period when you can't get the tune out of your head.  Enjoy.

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air

What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh

Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell rock

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air

What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh

Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle bell rock

(Continue ad infinitum)

Cheery House, 2007

This is fast becoming an annual landmark. This year more than ever, it's impossible to walk by this house on Broomsleigh Street without seeing a little gathering outside admiring the illuminations, or a car pull up to disgorge a payload of children keen to experience the sight.



Can there be a better decorated house in West Hampstead?

West Hampstead excavations

You can't have failed to notice the huge roadworks being carried out throughout the neighbourhood.  Navigating between Mill Lane and West End Lane is like a game of snakes and ladders with many of the roads blocked off.

Local resident, Ed, emailed Northwest 6 to ask if we could shed light on what's going on. 

Do you know what the council are fixing by digging the enormous hole at the bottom of Broomsleigh St by the railway line? I live on Narcissus Road, not too far away, and we've 2x similar holes on Solent and Holmdale roads respectively. They seem to be filling them with a concrete cylinder and filling them over.

In fact, the works are being undertaken for Thames Water to improve flood defences.  Apparently, the cylinder being driven beneath Broomsleigh Street will extend all underneath the railway to the Peace Park on the other side. 

The work was initiated in response to flooding in the area in 2002.

Changes proposed for local roads

Camden Council is seeking your views on plans aimed at making local roads safer for pedestrians.  There would be a 20mph speed limit in the roads around Beckford School (Broomsleigh, Dornfell, Glastonbury and Ravenshaw Streets) and a raised junction at the end of Dornfell Street where it meets Ravenshaw Street.

It is also proposed to add two new zebra crossings to Mill Lane.

If you live in this area of West Hampstead, you should already have received a consultation pack.  You have until 11 January  2008 to submit your views.

Hot afternoon, sleepy streets

A good day for photographing the neighbourhood.

Mill Lane



Mill Lane shops



Broomsleigh Street



Play Street



Flowers, Dornfell Street



Glastonbury Street
All originally uploaded by Grievous Angel.

The cheery house

Things to like about West Hampstead: third in an occasional and totally subjective series.



This was the picture on one of the Christmas cards we received. Which suggests that what we call the cheery house in Broomsleigh Street - complete this year with singing Santa - is becoming something of a local institution.

It always brings a smile to our young one. However, news from Cardiff suggests the general public's enthusiasm for this kind of thing may be waning. Hopefully, not here.

More things to like about West Hampstead:

Roni's Bagel Bakery

Plaques to ordinary folk

Have you seen this cat?

Guy - in Broomsleigh Street - emails Northwest 6 for help in tracing a missing cat:

Over the last few months a particularly friendly large black cat has more or less made herself at home with us. Each night on our return from work she would be waiting at the back door to be let in. We have never fed her and we were in the process of purchasing a collar on which we were going to write our phone number so that her owners, if in fact she had any, could contact us. We've become quite attached to her but didn't want to steal her away from her home, but given the amount of time she spent with us, we were dubious as to whether she had an owner at all. Unfortunately we weren't able to execute our collar and number plan. As of Tuesday last week she hasn't been around for us to put the collar on her. We are now a bit concerned that something has happened to her or she has returned to her home given the recent cold snap.

She is entirely black with no other markings and kind of squarks rather than meow's. She has a habit of sitting back on her hind legs when she's trying to get attention.

If you have any information to help put Guy's mind at rest, please email Northwest 6 or leave a comment here on the site.