Sitting 98 metres high, Parliament Hill boasts legendary views over London’s skyline, and may once have been a Bronze Age burial site.
But its name is thought to date back to the bitterly fought English Civil War between the Parliamentarians led by Cromwell, and the Monarchists backing King Charles I.
It was perhaps a camp or lookout point for troops loyal to Parliament, but legend also has it that Traitor’s Hill comes from Gunpowder plotters Guy Fawkes and Robert Catesby, who planned to watch the destruction of Parliament from the vantage point on November 5, 1605.
The name Traitor’s Hill was still in use in the 19th Century when the site was still common land – but perhaps Parliament Hill was a more palatable name when in 1875 Hampstead Heath was acquired for the people by the Metropolitan Board of Works.
Thirteen years later, Parliament Hill was bought for £300,000 and added to the Heath.
Livestock were still raised there for sale in London’s meat markets until the 1940s, but today it’s managed by the City of London Corporation and you are more likely to see lycra-clad joggers or bobble-hatted swimmers than cattle.
Girls school Parliament Hill takes its name from the mound, as does the lido, built by London County Council in 1938 for the princely sum of £34,000 – where everyone from Alastair Campbell to Benedict Cumberbatch have been spotted doing laps.
In 1939 Parliament Hill running track replaced earlier grass and cinder tracks used for cross-country running – and it’s still a venue for the English National Cross Country Championships as well as the Highgate Harriers, where the likes of Mo Farah have taken part in competitions.
The hill has been a favourite film location, Notes on a Scandal, starring Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench, Run Fatboy Run starring Simon Pegg and Thandi Newton, Before I Go To Sleep with Nicole Kidman, and superhero movies Eternals and Kraven the Hunter all shot scenes here.
Most recently Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy boasted location shoots on the hill as the widowed Bridget enjoys walks with her new lover, played by Leo Woodall.
Leading up from South Hill Park to the Heath is the street Parliament Hill, where famous past residents have included Animal Farm author George Orwell, who lived at No.77 for a few months in 1935 while working at a bookshop on South End Green.
It was while sharing a room in a flat here that he met and fell in love with his first wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy.
Today, the view from the top of ‘Parly Hill’ is legally protected, safeguarding its panoramic vistas for future generations.
