The hamlet of the Vale of Health ... probably the most isolated community in inner London, though it's cheek-by-jowl with the city's best known park, Hampstead Heath. It was originally known as Hatchett's Bottom, and seems to have been marshy and distinctly unhealthy, so the name was either ironic or a deliberate rebranding. It's now a collection of fifty or so houses along a small web of streets and alleyways, with a fairground workers' caravan park attached. ![]() You reach the Vale of Health along what is basically a cul-de-sac from East Heath Road. It's surrounded by the Heath on all sides. There's a few hundred yards between the Vale and the nearest other houses. Legend has it that the romantic poets spent time here. Blue plaques reveal that D.H. Lawrence, Rabindranath Tagore and the historian Barbara Hammond once lived in the Vale of Health. Thee's not much here though apart from some charming and well-appointed houses - no pub, cafe, place of worship ... nothing which serves as a focus for the community. ... and the source of the Fleet The Vale of Health is sometimes cited as the source of the most renowned of London's lost rivers, the Fleet. Whitestone Pond stands at a higher altitude, near Jack Straw's Castle at the brow of the Heath. But that's the source not of the Fleet but of the Westbourne, which flows much more to the west. There were two main tributaries of the Fleet, rising either side of Parliament Hill - and their damming created both the Highgate and Hampstead ponds. So it reasonable to imagine that one of the sources of the Fleet lies close to here. ![]() The river now flows underground - in culverts, pipes, and beyond the bounds of the Heath in Bazalgette's sewers, until it spills into the Thames near Blackfriars Bridge. But every ditch stream and rivulet round here - even the distinctly puny one featured in this photo which I came across this afternoon - once fed and nourished the river Fleet. So where exactly did the Fleet once run? The most authoritative answer is given in a fold-out map at the back of Nicholas Barton's The Lost Rivers of London, first published in 1962. I came across a copy this weekend priced at a fiver at the excellent Walden Books in Harmood Street - here's a samizdat copy of part of that map: You can still follow the Fleet in London's street names - Fleet Road in Gospel Oak, Anglers Lane in Kentish Town, Turnmill Street in Clerkenwell, Fleet Street near Blackfriars. And it all starts near the Vale of Health.
18 Comments
27/11/2017 10:26:18
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31/1/2018 08:18:37
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
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27/6/2018 06:50:42
With so many things going around in our super mobile society, it could be difficult to find some me time for yourself. However, if you manage a little time to pamper and maintain yourself, it'll surely help you in accepting the challenges of life with optimism and confidence. Cheers to life!
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15/1/2019 06:59:42
Thanks for the valuable information and insights you have so provided here...
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7/3/2019 06:12:05
Excellent and very exciting site. Love to watch. Keep Rocking.
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1/5/2019 16:13:15
Wonderful Blog!
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1/5/2019 16:17:25
Thank you very much for writing such an interesting article on this topic. This has really made me think and I hope to read more..
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24/5/2019 08:45:53
Wow, Fantastic Blog, it’s so helpful to me, and your blog is very good,
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17/8/2019 14:54:24
I have been here and this is the most subtle place in the London because it is far from the city noise and is in the heart of the forest. I really felt elevated here from stress. I have used CBD products and that are same because they helps you to tackle with the stress as well so its better to come here if you are stressful if can't better try CBD.
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8/2/2021 11:39:15
I learn some new stuff from it too, thanks for sharing your information.
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