Hampstead

(NW1) The name of this borough is clearly derived from ham, or hame, "a home"; and steede, "a place," and has consequently the same meaning as "homestead." Seymour, writing in 1735, gives a quaint description of Hampstead as follows: "This village .is much more frequented by good company than can well be expected, considering its vicinity to London, but such care has been taken to discourage the meaner sort from making it a place of residence that it is now become, after Scarborough and Bath and Tunbridge, one of the Politest Public Places in England." (Hampstead, G. E. Mitton, p. 3)