After the indulgence of hog roast and mulled wine, ballet dancers and celebrity guests at yesterday’s Highgate Christmas Festival in Pond Square, it would be easy to sleep through most of Mitzvah Day, being gently lulled out of one’s hangover by memories of Highgate’s ‘beautiful people’, surrounded by a haze of twinkling lights. But Mitzvah […]
What does Guy Fawkes’ Night – the 5th of November – mean to Hampstead and Highgate? And did Guy Fawkes’ gang really plan to watch London burn from Parliament Hill? I was brought up ‘in bonfire’, as my parents were members of a village bonfire society. So Guy Fawkes’ Night has always held a […]
I knew it was coming, but didn’t want to tempt fate by mentioning it in advance. But as it is now in newsagents – and was on the front page of the Hampstead and Highgate Express’ on Hallowe’en itself – here it is. An interview with yours truly, about my forthcoming book Haunted Highgate, and […]
I actually popped down to Swains Lane last night (Hallowe’en) against all my own advice to others. Yes, I am very ashamed of myself and have chastised myself appropriately ever since. But my reason for going there was that I wanted to see for myself exactly what if any disturbance was going on, just on […]
Happy Hallowe’en all my lovely readers! It seems a little superfluous writing a Hallowe’en blog entry when the blog’s reason d’etre is to discuss a little village where EVERY day feels like Hallowe’en. But Highgate has had a few bad run ins with morbid thrill-seekers in the past, and I wouldn’t want to be accused […]
Mal’s not just for Hallowe’en! Many Highgate Villagers – and some visitors – will be aware of the strange deathly neighbour who smiles down at them seemingly in perpetuity from his window in South Grove. Affectionately nicknamed “Mal”, this underfed resident has been hanging round for years, despite his home changing hands several times. Who […]
In the 15th century, a black mass allegedly took place in Highgate which could have altered the history of the monarchy today. Today the site of this rite, where wax figures of the king are said to have been melted in the fire, is a harmless golf course. But why was Highgate chosen as the […]
On Friday 25th October this year North London Paranormal Investigations asked me onto their regular Friday night radio show – but not just any show – their Hallowe’en Special! Mickey Gocool, founder of N.L.P.I. has carried out many investigations into paranormal activity in the Highgate and North London area, including at The Gatehouse public […]
Hi everyone, Wow, the site has only been live for a day and has had over 2000 hits! I’m going to have to upgrade server imminently it seems, but that was planned / hoped for as a possibility and so all should be cool. Google Analytics tells me that some of you are missing out […]
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Waterlow Park, situated between Highgate Hill, Highgate Cemetery East and Swains Lane, is a large expanse of green space where one could almost imagine that one was hundreds of miles away from London. The park was gifted to the public by Sir Sidney Waterlow in 1889, who had already donated adjacent Lauderdale House to St […]
After many months of burning the midnight oil the site is finally live. And so – I am sending out my creation into the big, bad world. Please be kind to it! Creating the site has been a learning curve, and there have been a few inevitable setbacks and delays along the way. But I […]
ON BEHALF OF THE BISHOPSGATE INSTITUTE I WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND AN INVITATION TO READERS TO HELP US BOTH SOLVE A PUZZLE. The image to the right – which you may recognise from this site’s banner – is used with kind permission of the Bishopsgate Institute who are very enthusiastic about this project. You […]
This week I was flattered to be offered a half hour interview with LA based Gareth Davies and his UK based co-host Reeves Cooke of Para-Talk radio. My episode was number 70 – perhaps fitting when one considers how much the year 1970 influenced the Highgate mythos. The Para-Talk, which has an international audience, is […]
The Serpentine Mist Form of Swain’s Lane PLUS: a Forty Year Old Mystery Finally Solved? Guest Blog kindly contributed by Redmond McWilliams Date of investigation: Friday, December 9th, 2011 (9-10pm GMT). Being much intrigued by the two separate attacks that were allegedly carried out by the Highgate ‘Vampire’ on both a male student and a […]
Highgate Cemetery West, opened in 1839, is a well-maintained working cemetery, and a testament to the Victorian fascination with death. But it wasn’t always so serene. This sprawling 20 acre necropolis, built on the grounds of the long-since demolished Ashurst House, was almost closed for good in 1975 after falling into a state of severe […]
This site is still a baby, finding its feet. If something isn’t working for you, let us know and the technical team will look into it. If you are using Windows XP (you shouldn’t be – it won’t be supported by Microsoft after March 2014) then you won’t see the pop ups on the interactive […]
An entity, tall and swathed in black, has been seen gliding silently among the trees in nearby Highgate Woods by numerous independent witnesses and seemingly causing the temperature in the immediate vicinity to drop. Highgate Wood, which once formed part of the Bishop of London’s hunting grounds, is bordered at their southern extremity by Archway […]
The secretion of a hoard of objects in a hidden compartment at Lauderdale House, a mansion dating from 1582 which is situate in Waterlow Park, Highgate, lends itself not to the question of WHETHER witchcraft was practiced there – but by who and when. The discovery of these artifacts took place at some stage between […]
St Michael’s Church was erected on the site of the (by then) dilapidated Ashurst House in 1832. Coleridge, who spent his final years at Highgate, is buried in the crypt and it is here that one also finds the remains of the foundations of Ashurst House, along with the wine cellar. Only one haunting appears […]
Opened for business in 1860, the Highgate Cemetery East is sometimes uncharitably seen as a poor country cousin to Highgate Cemetery West. Its lack of grandiose architecture or outre landscaping seem however to have saved it from the ravages of vandalism which its next door neighbour has been subject to over the decades. But the […]
This steep and unforgiving lane, practically vertical in places, separates the East and West cemeteries at Highgate. It takes its name from the pig herders who from at least the 1300s used it to drive swine from the higher ground above Highgate down to Smithfields Market. A high stone wall encloses Highgate Cemetery West on […]
Number 1 Avenue Road, on the borders of Hornsey, Highgate and Crouch End,will be familiar to many local residents who grew up in the area during the 1960s and 1970s because of its eerie reputation. The neo-gothic mansion was originally erected in 1876, and before the fire which devastated the house in 1969 it was […]
Hillcrest has been in the news quite a bit recently because of Haringey Council’s decision not to carry out much needed maintenance work. This has has left parts of the estate despairing of ever receiving vital repairs. But when it was first conceived, the estate was considered a model achievement in the realms of social […]
View Larger Map Click and drag to explore the Flask for yourself, thanks to the ingenuity of Glyn, the Flask’s manager. Glyn is dubious about the pub still being haunted, but he pulls a good pint and runs an excellent pub! This bright, clean and cheerful coaching house, which dates from at least the […]
