Sheep on the Heath 5 - 15 September

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Camden Nature Corridor

Learn about our Society’s project with local green space managers to create the Camden Biodiversity Corridor, reaching from Hampstead Heath southward into Camden neighbourhoods. Creating one of London’s new “nature recovery networks”, the Corridor will make nature on the Heath more resilient to growing pressure from people and climate change, while bringing health-enhancing wildlife experiences to residents in some of the most nature-poor parts of our Borough.

Next Guided Walk

How will Hampstead Heath respond to climate change?

An expert walk co-led by Professor Jeff Waage, and the City of London's Head of Conservation, Jonathan Meares. Climate change is already changing the wildlife and the landscapes of the Heath. This walk will reveal those changes and demonstrate how management of the Heath is being directed towards helping to address the impact of global warming.

Date: Sun 02 Nov, 2025

Time: 9:30 am

Duration: 2 hours

Meet at: TBC

Walk led by: Professor Jeff Waage, Society Trustee, and Jonathan Meares, Head of Conservation City of London

UPDATE: No current updates

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Photographic Contest Winners

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Interactive Heath Map

Find your way around the Heath with our online map...

The Jenifer Ford Bequest

The estate of the late Jenifer Ford, a lifelong member of the Society and Hampstead resident and painter, bequeathed to the Society a collection of her paintings of Hampstead and the Heath.

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Plaques in Hampstead

Sir William Walton (1902-1983)

William Walton was born in Oldham, Lancashire.  In 1912 he entered Christ College Cathedral School in Oxford, where he studied for six years and he caught the attention of Sir Hubert Parry, who was best known for his choral song ‘Jerusalem’.  Walton became an undergraduate of Christ Church, Oxford at the age of 16 but, in 1923, he was ‘sent down’ with no degree or any firm plans.  He was next taken into the Chelsea home of the siblings Osbert and Edith Sitwell - he later recalled that he was taken in for a few weeks but stayed for fifteen years.  He had his first (scandalous) success in 1923 with Façade - the audience listened with breathless attention as Edith Sitwell’s voice was recited through a megaphone, behind a screen, to Walton’s music! Despite the fact that he found composing a difficult and laborious task he wrote the Crown Imperial coronation march for George VI in 1937 and the Orb & Sceptre Coronation march for Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.  In 1956 Walton sold his London home and moved to Ischia in Italy where he died in 1983.  His ashes are interred there, and a commemorative stone was dedicated 1983 in Westminster Abbey. This plaque was unveiled in 1986 by the conductor Norman del Mar who spoke of Walton’s dry wit and self-deprecating sense of humour.

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