In 1845, the then Lord of the Manor of Hampstead, Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson, planned to build 28 villas on a wide strip of land east of the Vale of Health and the Hampstead ponds. He built a viaduct to carry the road over a swampy valley. Fortunately, he was thwarted in his attempts to develop these plans, although the viaduct remains and the swampy valley was later drained to form an ornamental pond. The Viaduct was built c 1845 and was known as Wilson's Folly, as Wilson had failed to obtain Parliamentary authority for the enclosure of his land.

All paintings by Lindy Newman

In the 1890s you could see Hampstead Village from the viaduct, but now you can't see a thing except trees.

An old postcard of the Viaduct

Walking to the southwest corner of East Heath brings you to the quaintly named vale of Health, a small and pretty enclave of mostly Victorian houses and the Vale of Health Pond. This particular pond (other ones were built in Tudor times) was built as a reservoir. At that time, the area was known as Hatch's Bottom, but it was apparently felt that people would be more likely to want water from "The Vale of Health"  rather than "Hatch's Bottom" , so the name was changed.        

1904 postcard showing Vale of Health Pond, the Vale of Health Hotel and the fairground

 All paintings by Lindy Newman

St Paul's visible through a gap in the trees from the Heath

A tree in the woods looking like a mythical creature

Pond on the Heath

                                                  Photo by Lindy Newman                                                                           Painting by Lindy Newman