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A carousel at a bank holiday fair |
The Heath for all seasons
A new exhibition charts the ongoing popularity of Hampstead Heath, writes Jane Wild
HAMPSTEAD Heath once attracted inquisitive crowds with a ski jump complete with real snow imported from Norway.
Donkey rides previously enthralled visitors, and even Charles Dickens and Karl Marx have enjoyed a ride.
And it has been enshrined in our language forever: Hampstead Heath being your teeth in Cockney rhyming slang.
Now an exhibition at Burgh House is charting the delights that have drawn people to the Heath from Victorian times.
For All Seasons: Fun and Leisure on Hampstead Heath takes a look at how the Heath has long been a destination for relaxation and recreation.
Families would make their way to the Heath from across London, by tram or train from Liverpool Street.
Its appeal was so legendary it entered into popular songs and musicals of the time.
Kite flying, tobogganing, swimming and skating have all been enjoyed there.
These pastimes and the changing face of the Heath through the seasons are all explored in the exhibition, which even includes a pair of the original skis used on the ski jump in the early 1950s.
Photographs include shots by celebrated photographer John Gay, and some offer a fascinating window into an era long passed.
One black and white image is quaintly titled The Cockney Child’s “Sea-Side” and shows throngs of neatly dressed children paddling in one of the ponds.
Other attractions are a 1930s poster proclaiming coconut shies at the famous bank holiday fairs that are still popular today.
Forthcoming related events include a family fun day on Sunday 17 September, 2-5pm.
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