Feature - Russians: new guide books written by the Highgate Society
Published: 13 October, 2011
by DAN CARRIER
FROM a Romantic poet’s drug dealer to spooks spying on the Russians: new guide books written by the Highgate Society reveal some of the quirkier facts of the village perched on the top of the hill.
The five guide books, published this month, not only give the visitor a pleasant walk to follow, they also reveal some facts about the fabric and history of the area that are perhaps known to those who live here, but are not immediately obvious.
For example, while it is well known that Samuel Taylor Coleridge moved into Moreton House, Pond Square, in 1817 to receive treatment from his doctor friend James Gillman for his drug addictions and depression, it is not so well known that he’d walk up the High Street to number 44, where a friendly chemist would hand him a regular fix of his drug of choice, laudanum.
Behind Moreton House is the eyesore communications tower, on the corner of Swains Lane and Bisham Gardens: it was raised in 1939 and used for TV, the guide books says, but was quickly taken over by Whitehall to pick up signals from German bombers and disrupt direction-finding radio beams.
Sadly the authors haven’t shed any light on the rumours that during the Cold War, it was used to eavesdrop on the nearby Russian Trade federation, in Highgate West Hill.
While there are no longer 40 inns in the village, there are many pubs with long and illustrious histories.
As the guide points out, Highgate, being a major route into London from the north, had inns rather than taverns for people driving their livestock into town for sale.
The fields behind Highgate High Street were used for grazing while the stockmen settled in for the night.
Editor Richard Webber says the idea came from a guided walk he and other members of the Highgate Society did three years ago with an ecologist over Hampstead Heath.
They enjoyed the experience so much – having the bio-diversity laid bare for them – that they decided an urban version would be welcome.
Richard said: “There is so much knowledge about our area in the community, we were inundated with suggestions of things of interest to include.”
Other landmarks are given the once over: the Old Hall, now home to film-maker Terry Gilliam, was built by the Earl of Arundel in 1691.
Sir Francis Bacon is supposed to have caught the bout of pneumonia in the gardens of the Old Hall, which lead to his death while attempting to stuff a chicken full of snow to see the effect the cold has on preserving things.
Above all, the guide books lay bare the fabric of a village, celebrating its physical heritage in the well-preserved Georgian and older homes and shops that give it a sense of history.
They also celebrate the people who brought the buildings alive.
With the text drawn from contributions by many of the Society’s members, it lifts the lid on what the people living there deem important.
• The books cost £3 and are available from Highgate Cemetery, Lauderdale House, The High Tea Café, the Highgate Bookshop and Oxfam book shop all on Highgate High Street, and The Chemist on Swains Lane.