West End Lane is now absorbed into West Hampstead. There were several good houses on both sides of the way; they were mostly hidden within high walls, and set in park-like grounds that gave them a wealthy and exclusive air like those in Frognal. At one time (1799) Josiah Boydell had a house here, from which he subsequently removed to Frognal. New West End House, the residence of Mr. John Miles, of Stationers’ Hall Court, from 1813 to December, 1856, had at the first date no house nearer than Old West End House (the Beckfords) between it and the Edgware Road. It is said that the rumbling of the cannon on the field of Waterloo was heard in Mr. Miles’s garden. Mr. Miles died in 1856, and for seventy-six years afterwards his widow continued to reside at West End House, where she died on April 18, 1889, in her ninety-ninth year.[115] The house and 13 acres of land were purchased by Colonel Frazer for £32,500. His death occurred a very short time afterwards, and in 1895 it was suggested to purchase the estate for a public park and recreation-ground for West Hampstead. Old West End House must have been a place of considerable importance. In 1811 it was to be sold; it was then Miss Beckford’s, the after Duchess of Hamilton. The house, with gardens, pleasure-grounds, and offices, occupied an area of 21 acres. From 1796 to 1802 this house was in the occupation of Mrs. Walpole, widow of the Hon. Richard Walpole. It was subsequently tenanted by various families. CHAPTER VII. _HEATH STREET TO THE UPPER FLASK AND SPANIARDS._ Heath Street[116] is long and straggling, with nothing remarkable in it but the florid-looking new fire-brigade office at its entrance on the left, in a line with what is called the Mount,[117] one of the several little hills on which Hampstead is built, and which has been cut through to form the roadway and street beneath it. Some good private houses and gardens crest the Mount, and some fine old elm-trees, for the growth of which Hampstead has always been remarkable, remain on the same side of the way. A little distance along Heath Street on the left is Grove Passage, and nearly opposite a lane leading to the rather depressed neighbourhood of New End, in which the workhouse is situated. Just beyond Grove Passage lie Silver Street and Golden Square, with nothing in their present appearance, except irony, to suggest the etymology of the names. Further on to the right is Elm Row, leading past Christ Church to Cannon Road and Squire’s Mount.