BBC News
By Rebecca Cafe
image copyrightGetty Images
image captionThe Hampstead Heath Act of 1871 set out how the land should be managed, decreeing that it must be preserved in its natural state and not be manicured
Hampstead Heath, a tranquil piece of countryside in the vast sprawl of London, has long been one of the capital s most cherished public spaces.
Popular with swimmers, nature lovers and many an author - CS Lewis is said to have been inspired to write The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe while walking there on a snowy day - the land was granted protected status 150 years ago.
BBC News
By Rebecca Cafe
image copyrightGetty Images
image captionThe Hampstead Heath Act of 1871 set out how the land should be managed, decreeing that it must be preserved in its natural state and not be manicured
Hampstead Heath, a tranquil piece of countryside in the vast sprawl of London, has long been one of the capital s most cherished public spaces.
Popular with swimmers, nature lovers and many an author - CS Lewis is said to have been inspired to write The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe while walking there on a snowy day - the land was granted protected status 150 years ago.
Hampstead Heath 150 years on: It always needs saving | Hampstead Highgate Express hamhigh.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hamhigh.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In the second quarter of the 19th century London was growing ever faster as a conurbation, the privately owned green space on its outskirts being sold off for housing.
The largely unregulated development of this kind and on this scale brought with it dangers to public health, and loss of amenity and open space.
So it was that public welfare campaigners, conservationists, politicians and newspapers came together to call for the saving and protection of the diminishing number of the capital s open spaces.
Some owners of these open spaces were sympathetic to the idea of preservation and cooperated to make their land public, but the Lord of the Manor of Hampstead was not one of them.