Whitestone Pond & Judges' Walk

Whitestone Pond in Hampstead sits at 440 feet above sea level, making it the highest point in inner London. The historic pond served as a 1588 Spanish Armada warning beacon site and is the source of the lost River Westbourne, which feeds the Serpentine in Hyde Park. Adjacent to the pond is Judges' Walk, famous for a legend that Westminster judges held open-air courts there during the 1665 Great Plague.

London Β· from the walk β€œHampstead Uncovered: Village Secrets & Heath Legends” Β· audio ~4 min Β· Generated

Whitestone Pond, Heath Street, Hampstead, London NW3 1QS

How high above sea level is Whitestone Pond in London?

Take a deep breath. You are standing at the very Summit of inner London... and you probably didn't even notice.......... This flagstaff beside Whitestone Pond stands four hundred and forty feet above sea level β€” inner London's highest point. Look around you. On a clear day, the views from here stretch all the way to the hills of Surrey. And this modest pond at your feet? It has a history that reaches back Centuries.......... Originally, this was just a small dew pond called the Horse Pond, fed solely by rain and dew. Ramps were later added to allow horses to access the pond to drink and wash their hooves after the punishing climb up Hamp-stead Hill. The white stone itself β€” the milestone that gave this pond its name β€” marked the distance: four miles from Saint Giles's Pound, four and a half miles from Holborn Bars.......... But here's what makes this hilltop truly extraordinary. This was the site of a beacon established to provide warning of the approach of the Spanish Armada in fifteen eighty-eight. Imagine it... A system of signal beacons had been erected along the English and Welsh coasts to warn London that the Armada was approaching. And This hilltop β€” the highest point for miles β€” was one of the final links in that chain. Fire blazing against the night sky, visible from Woodcock Hill to the north and the streets of London to the south.......... Now... look just beyond the pond to that shaded, tree-lined path. That's Judges' Walk. And it hides one of Hamp-stead's most persistent legends. The story goes that during the Great Plague of London, the judges removed from Westminster and held their courts in this very airy spot. In the spring and summer of sixteen sixty-five, an outbreak of Bubonic Plague spread from parish to parish until thousands had died. Those who could, including most doctors, lawyers and merchants, fled the city. King Charles the Second and his courtiers left in July for Hampton Court and then Oxford.......... The idea that judges came Here β€” to this windswept ridge, far above the pestilent city β€” and dispensed justice under canvas tents... it's a magnificent image. But is it True? Historian Thomas Barratt noted that "no actual proof of this has hitherto been brought forward." He suggested instead that since so many judges had lived in this charming locality, it was only natural the walk should bear their name. Another historian, Christopher Wade, noted the path had previously been called Prospect Walk, King's Bench Avenue, and Upper Terrace Avenue before settling on its current name in the early twentieth century.......... And one more detail you might have missed. This area, lying above the pond, is the source of one of London's lost rivers β€” the River Westbourne. The water that once gathered here eventually flowed all the way through Kilburn and Bays-water, filled the Serpentine in Hyde Park, and emptied into the Thames near Chelsea Bridge. You can still see its iron pipe crossing overhead at Sloane Square Tube station!......... So this unassuming pond... is a summit, a beacon site, a source of a lost river, and the backdrop to one of London's greatest plague legends. Not bad for a puddle on a hilltop.

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