s of the best land stretching from Child's Hill to Belsize.
The old manor-house, which stood at the north-east corner of West End
Lane, was a long, low farmhouse building which contained a big hall. Mr.
Pool, a lessee, pulled it down and built a brick house on the site, and,
later, built a small house on the south side of the lane, where he went
to live himself. The Courts followed him, and were held there. There are
now on the site of the ancient manor-house two buildings side by side;
the one to which the ancient title has descended appears the more
modern. The Ferns next door looks older, in spite of Howitt's assertion
that the manor-house built by Mr. Pool is the same now bearing the name,
and The Ferns occupies the site of the former manor-house. There are
numerous substantial and comfortable houses in the vicinity. Frognal
Hall, near the west end of the church, was the residence of Isaac Ware,
architect, and here Lord Alvanley died.

To the north-west are a row of new buildings, forming a crescent on the
hill called Oakhill Park, and to one of these Miss Florence Nightingale
is a frequent visitor during the summer months. At the top of Frognal
Gardens the Editor of this survey lived. Returning again to West End
Lane, we find the hand of the modern builder everywhere apparent. Until
recently a mock antique erection in the Gothic style known as Frognal
Priory formed a feature in the landscape; this has quite disappeared. It
was built by a dealer in curios known as "Memory" Thompson about the end
of the eighteenth century, and was full of curiosities. The owner was
pleased to have visitors to inspect his property, and it is said that
one of his freaks was to leave five-shilling pieces lying about for them
to pick up. Lower down the Frognal Road all is modern, and we come into
the part formerly known as Shepherd's or Conduit Fields. There was a
spring here which used to be the principal source of the Hampstead
water-supply. The water was carried in pails by persons who thus earned
a livelihood. An old woodcut of this well is still extant; it is
represented as a spring with an arch over it. The building of
Fitz-John's Avenue, cutting right through the fields, quite destroyed
their character, and they are now more or less covered with streets.

Rosslyn House, which stood between Wedderburn and Lyndhurst Roads,
deserves a word of mention as one of the latest of the famous old
Hampstead houses to be destroyed. It was orig