Primrose Hill - History

History

Like Regent's Park, Primrose Hill was once part of a great chase appropriated by Henry VIII. Later, in 1841, it became Crown property, and, in 1842, an Act of Parliament secured the land as public open space. The built up part of Primrose Hill consists mainly of Victorian terraces. It has always been one of the more fashionable districts in the urban belt that lies between the core of London and the outer suburbs, and remains expensive and prosperous. Primrose Hill is an archetypal example of a successful London urban village, due to the location and the quality of its socio-historical development. In October 1678 Primrose Hill was the scene of the mysterious murder of Edmund Berry Godfrey, and in 1792 the radical Unitarian poet and antiquarian Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams) organised here the first meeting of Gorsedd Beirdd Ynys Prydain. According to the diary of Narcissus Luttrell, Primrose Hill was once known as "Greenberry Hill" after the execution of Messrs. Green, Berry and Hill for the murder of Edmund Godfrey, but there is no trace of such a name before 1679.