Balloon View of London from Hampstead Heath - HAMPSTEAD HEATH - 2013

A Balloon View of London (1851)


The view is as seen from Hampstead - presumably a tethered balloon on the Heath.

The Crystal Palace is clearly visible in Hyde Park, and 1851 was the year of the Great Exhibition there - so perhaps this map was commissioned in connection with that.

The old Euston station, with its arch, is also obvious, though not King's Cross or St Pancras, which were not finished until the 1860s. The ground seems to be cleared in preparation for building there, though.

The streets have changed quite a lot in places.

Little of South London away from the river has been developed at this point - Bermondsey and Rotherhithe just fade away into fields, for example.

The further away from the Heath, the less accurate the depiction - Rotherhithe Peninsula was never that peninsular, and the dock details look a bit sus. The London Bridge - Deptford railway is there in all its glory, though.

The north-south inversion's not so bad, but the tilted balloon's eye view perspective is a bit disorienting!