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Suburbs: Highgate

John of Jerusalem, built in 1271. The establishment was called High-bury, because it stood upon higher ground than their previous residence which had borne the name of Tolentone, or lower town. Holloway reminds us that this was once a miry hollow between Highgate and Islington. Barnsbury is the bury, or town, built upon the rising land, anciently distinguished by a number of straggling barns. Islington has always been a favourite suburb in modern times, and even our Anglo-Saxon ancestors must have been delighted with its situation, lying high and dry beyond the fens, with a clear, swift-flowing stream meandering through it. The name means "watered-meadow town."

King's Cross derived its name from a wretched statue of George IV., set up in honour of his accession in 1820, and demolished to make way for the London terminus of the Great Northern Railway in 1842. The parish of St. Pancras is so called after the church dedicated to the boy-saint who was martyred by Diocletian in the early days. of Christianity. Agar Town, now entirely swept away by modern improvements, was designated after William Agar, a miserly lawyer who acquired the lease of the land for building purposes in 1840.

Somers Town is the property of Lord Somers, and London Districts and Suburbs.

Camden Town, of the Earl of Camden. Kentish Town was formerly written "Kestestown"; but even that was a corruption of "Kantelowes Town," erected upon the Manor of Kantelowes. The modern spelling of this family name is Cantlowes. Primrose Hill is still a pleasant eminence whereon primroses grow, despite the encroachments of bricks and mortar all around. Highgate is a title expressive of the elevated situation of the village that sprang up around the toll-gate established on the common highway from Barnet to Gray's Inn Road about the year 1400. Holly Village, Highgate, was so called by its foundress, the Baroness Burdett-Coutts- Bartlett, after her residence, Holly Lodge, hard by. Hampstead signifies a farmhouse or homestead.

The word is Saxon: ham, a home, and stede, a place.