T Ramsey - View of Pond Street, Hampstead [c.1755]

T Ramsey - View of Pond Street, Hampstead [c.1755], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This charming painting shows Hampstead in the 1750s, when it was already a fashionable retreat from London, celebrated for its healthy air. Fine houses were built on its slopes, attracting permanent residents or those who came from the summer to escape the stench and noise of London, as John Constable’s family were to do in the 1820s. Hampstead had developed as a spa in the early eighteenth century. In 1698 Susannah Noel, mother of the Earl of Gainsborough, lord of the manor of Hampstead, had given the ‘Well of medicinal waters….for the sole use and benefit of the poor of the Parish.’ The Wells formally opened to the public in 1706. Those who braved the highwaymen and footpads on the road out of London came both for benefit of health and to shop, play cards and dance in the assembly room known as the Long Room. 

[Oil on canvas, 73.3 x 116.2 cm]