"High on bleak Hampstead's swarthy moor"

Not my words but those of Macaulay describing Hampstead's Whitestone Pond - it was of course such a high spot that it was the location of one of the Armada Beacons of 1588.

There is still a white stone (though I haven't taken the time to hunt it down yet) which apparently reads "4 miles from St Giles Pound: 4.5miles from Holborn Bars".

Now the area feels curiously drab and run down - part of autumn of course, but on a wider point the signage has had some attention but needs proper repair and so it's welcome that the refurbishment application for Heath House has attracted a section 106 payment and combined with some serious investment between camden and the Corporation of London (time and money) the area is to get a serious facelift.
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/02/blue-plaque-for-george-crabbe-in.html

Of course it could be so much better and this now lying on the route of the Olympic cycle ride.

It was the Horse Pond whereby carriages comming from up the hill or preparing to descend the hill would pause to water and also to clean their wheels of the mud from the journey - usually these were the coal carriages.

It was also much in use during the construction of the underground as the earth from the Hampstead Tunnel was taken up to Inverforth House to build the Pergola foundations.
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/07/tranquil-and-idyllic-thanks-to-northern.html

For details of the Whitestone Pond development appraisal have a look via this link on Camden website:
http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/content/council-and-democracy/having-your-say/consultations/street-policy/whitestone-pond/whitestone-pond---development-appraisal/whitestone-pond---development-appraisal-consultation.en;jsessionid=AAE99ABE37AC44CA586B8C65AF730265.node2

Those Royal Crests on the walls of the underground stations

I was on Swiss Cottage tube platform yesterday and noted that the tiling on the walls was glistening which caused me to notice the details.

I know they are heraldic but does anyone out there know the reason/origin or local connection to the specific tiles? The horse is related to many a supporter in a crest, the Lion in a St Geroge's cross over water of the Thames, the Royal Swan with the crown round the neck and three blades are all clasic symbols from royal crests.

I think there are more embossed tiles than the four I have captured here (my train came along so i ran out of photography time!), but there is something curiously iconic about them.

I also realised that I have a penchant on this blog for Swiss Cottage - it features quite a bit:
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/05/swiss-cottage-formerly-swiss-tavern.html

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/06/boxing-fights-at-swiss-cottage.html

I realise that they are all part of the amazingly iconic brand that makes up the London Underground - http://www.brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=224 - and I guess that there is no specific link with Swiss Cottage. That in fact in this instance they relate to the City - perhaps even stations and areas that this line passes through - but I also suspect that there is some very obscure and arcane reason that justified them in the first place. Anyone out there know?

Boxing fights at Swiss Cottage...

When we were kids, my sister and I always knew when we were close to our relatives cos we had reached Swiss Cottage - either on the bus or in the car. It was for us the landmark that we had reached London.

By nature of the colours, decor, design and signage I always had some sort of image that it had been the early retirement project of a former swiss guard, that a swiss person had one lived there... all good daydream stuff.

The current site of the pub is not quite how many local folk remember it - it was fronted by a grill and pub until the 1960's - now you can sit outside and enjoy the road of the vehicles that circle the giratory system. :-)

The 'cottage' appears to date from about 1804 or 1805 and the pub from the 1840's and was The Swiss Tavern, now Ye Olde Swiss Cottage - it's architecture is pretty amazing especially given the increasingly high rise nature of the local area what with the Swiss Cottage development itself around the Library and Sports Centre and also the residential blocks of the Finchley Road.

It seems it's more mundane and more connected with the pub and musical hall traditions and is in fact named after an opera of the 19th century.

The pub and music tradition is often overlooked and pubs were often drinking holes at which the stars of the stage were discussed and championed - the Lillie Langtree in Kilburn for example (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillie_Langtry).

Former champion boxer Frank Redmond was the landlord of the pub in the 1840's and is attributed with being the first landlord. he was a public figure and used the pub as a venue for running races and outdoor boxing events.

Notable jewish fighter Barney Aaron won £50 when Frank Redmond forfeited their bout in August 1827. Two months later, on October 23, Barney defeated Redmond in 1 hour and 12 minutes, in a bout that went 42 rounds.

The swiss theme was made popular by the opera Le Chalet which was performed in 1834, first in Paris and later in London (but untraced).

The architectural swiss theme certainly had popularity in the victorian era and whilst it stands out now as being slightly eccentric it had currency then: http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/london/swiss.shtml

Swiss Cottage is also one of five underground stations named after nearby pubs...

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/05/swiss-cottage-formerly-swiss-tavern.html

The 13th train line colour for London

When does a bench mean more than just the bench itself...?

Well here at Hampstead Heath Station (now in zone 2 - hurrah!) the benches have been repainted this orange (ish) colour for the new Overground livery colours.

It got me thinking about the other colours of the map and a bit of research (not tricky research you understand) yielded that the London Underground map has twleve colour coded lines and this makes a 13th on the famous TfL map of London:

• Bakerloo Line (Brown)
• Central Line (Red)
• Circle Line (Yellow)
• District Line (Green)
• East London Line* (Orange)
• Hammersmith & City Line (Pink)
• Jubilee Line (Silver)
• Metropolitan Line (Purple)
• Northern Line (Black)
• Piccadilly Line (Dark Blue)
• Victoria Line (Light Blue)
• Waterloo & City Line (Pale Blue)

Harry Beck famously takes the credit for the first meaningful diagramtic map of the transport system in 1933. There are all sorts of little features that might go un-noticed at first glance. For example the Thames is either a straight line or at 45 degrees. There is a direct differentiation between stops and interchanges. The map itself at concept was very controversial and within London Transport management structures quite political and laden with personal relationships.

The reality however is the impressive map we have today and one of the results is that the benches at Hampstead Heath station have been repainted as part of the livery coding that started with Harry Beck working in his spare time to design a better map...

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/communityandeducation/2443.aspx

http://www.design-technology.info/alevelsubsite/page5.htm

http://www.harrybeck.co.uk/