The volume is the second to cover parts of Middlesex which lay from 1889 until 1965 within the administrative county of London and contains histories of the parishes of Hampstead and Paddington. Before their inclusion in GreaterLondon the parishes embraced the metropolitan borough of Hampstead and most of that of Paddington with a total population of over 200000. Queen's Park built in a detached part of Chelsea parish is included in the account of Paddington. Hampstead rose northward from Chalk Farm to the heath and Finchley and less steeply north-eastward from Kilburn High Road. Hampstead town encroached upon the heath which was waste of the medieval manor. There was roadside settlement at Kilburn and piecemeal building elsewhere on the heath. The town's healthy elevation attracted rich Londoners before and after its spell as a fashionable spa in the early 18th century. Narrow and hilly streetshelped to preserve it in the 19th as fields and parkland were covered by mainly middle- and upper middle-class suburbs including Belsize Park and Swiss Cottage. The heath protected by influential residents became a playgroundfor Londoners. In the 20th century Hampstead was also noted for its artistic and intellectual life. Paddington smaller but more populous lay between Edgware Road and Bayswater Road which converged at Tyburn gallows near MarbleArch. Early settlements were Paddington Green Westbourne Green and Bayswater. Northern and southern halves became separated by lines of road canal and railway. Systematic house-building began soon after 1800 in Tyburnia and Bayswater before spreading beyond the industrial belt to form Maida Vale and a humbler district towards Queen's Park. Parts of southern Paddington near Hyde Park rivalled Belgravia while Whiteley's stores made Westbourne Grovea busy shopping centre. Institutions included the G. W. R. termi-nus St. Mary's hospital and the Metropolitan music hall. By 1900 lodging houses and small hotels had multiplied as had canalside slums which were cleared only after war damage and further decay. Both parishes today contain residential areas that have remained expensive and others where redevelopment has given way to refurbishment. Hampstead retains a compact centre including 18th-century buildings with large later houses in the avenues to the south and west. Paddington urbanized and with more municipal housing retains its ambitious layout of streets and squares where many stuccoed terraces s. Language: English