Church Row

Church Row in Hampstead, London, is a remarkably preserved Georgian street built from 1710 onwards that served as home to scientist Henry Cavendish, author H. G. Wells, and comedian Peter Cook. At Number 34, Cavendish tested air quality in 1782, while Wells wrote at Number 17 between 1909 and 1912. The adjacent St John's Churchyard contains the grave of painter John Constable.

London · from the walk “Hampstead Uncovered: Village Secrets & Heath Legends” · Generated

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Church Row, Hampstead, London NW3 6UU

Which famous historical figures lived on Church Row in Hampstead?

Take a look around you. This is Church Row... and it may be the most perfectly preserved Georgian street in all of London.......... Mavis Norris, in her Book of Hampstead, called it "the show piece of Hampstead," and the Pevsner Architectural Guides simply declared it "the best street in Hampstead." Houses started to be built here from about seventeen ten onwards, and construction continued throughout most of the eighteenth century. Three hundred years on... and remarkably little has changed.......... Now, look toward the far end of the street, where the spire of Saint John's Church rises above the rooftops. Those beautiful wrought iron gates at the churchyard entrance were purchased in seventeen forty seven from Cannots in Edgware, the seat of James, First Duke of Chandos — friend and patron of the composer Händel. Originally wrought about seventeen fifteen. So those gates once graced a palace where Händel himself composed!......... But the stories on this street go far beyond architecture. Can you guess who once lived at Number thirty four, right at the end by the church? Between seventeen eighty two and seventeen eighty five, Henry Cavendish — the man who would later Weigh The Earth — lived in that house. During his first winter here, he busied himself with experiments on the freezing temperature of mercury. And from his house, he sighted on the weathercock of the parish church next door, surveying the countryside with a quadrant. In seventeen eighty two, he used his eudiometer to compare the good air of Hampstead to used air from an oratorio concert. He was literally measuring whether Hampstead air was healthier than London's!......... Further along, at Number seventeen, a very different kind of genius moved in. The writer H. G. Wells bought this house in nineteen oh nine and lived there with his wife Jane and two sons until nineteen twelve. When they first viewed the house, the Wells family hadn't noticed the proximity of the churchyard's overflow burial ground just steps from their front door. They had to contend with a constant stream of horse drawn funeral processions filing solemnly past their window. You'd think the author of The War of the Worlds could handle a few ghosts! Wells immersed himself in writing The History of Mister Polly here, though he later recalled he wrote much of it in emotional turmoil. He relaxed by pedaling out classical music on a pianola recommended to him by his great friend and frequent visitor... George Bernard Shaw.......... And that same Number seventeen? The comedian Peter Cook lived there from nineteen sixty five to nineteen seventy one. One house... two comic geniuses... a century apart.......... Now, if you walk down to the churchyard at the end... it becomes one of the most extraordinary burial grounds in London. You'll find the graves of painter John Constable, inventor of the marine chronometer John Harrison, and architect Norman Shaw. The comedian Peter Cook and Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell are also buried here, as are the Llewelyn Davies family, who as children inspired J. M. Barrie's classic, Peter Pan. And here's the wonderful twist — the villain Captain Hook was played by Gerald Du Maurier in the original nineteen oh four production... and he's buried Right next to the Llewelyn Davies graves. Gerald was the brother of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and uncle to the boys who inspired Peter Pan. Captain Hook and the Lost Boys... reunited forever in Hampstead earth.

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