In our previous blog story, we told how the locals fought to save West End Green in the 1880s. http://kilburnwesthampstead.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-fight-for-west-end-green.html Here we reveal the struggle of residents some ten years later, to stop the nearby Fortune Green being built on by speculators. They realised how important it was to save open spaces as public recreational land, in the face of the overwhelming development going on all around them in the late 1880s and 1890s. The Early History of The Green The derivation of the name is unknown. Fortune Green is clearly shown on early maps such as Rocque’s (1746) and was much larger than it is today. In the early nineteenth century, three cottages were built on the Green, next to the ‘Prince of Wales’ beershop, which stood roughly where is now a kitchen and bathroom showroom on Fortune Green Road. Prince of Wales pub on Fortune Green Like West End Green, Fortune Green was part of the ‘waste’ of the manor of Hampste...
Stories about the history of Kilburn, Willesden, West Hampstead and other parts of London by Dick Weindling and Marianne Colloms. You can contact us using the drop down button on the right side of the page next to search. If you want to be alerted about new stories please send your email. Our companion blog has stories about Hampstead, Camden Town, Holborn and Swiss Cottage: https://historyofcamden.blogspot.com/