[2] The heath is rambling and hilly, embracing ponds, recent and ancient woodlands, a lido, playgrounds, and a training track, and it adjoins the former stately home of Kenwood House and its estate.

Running along its eastern perimeter is a chain of ponds – including three open-air public swimming pools – which were originally reservoirs for drinking water from the River Fleet.

Archaeological discoveries on Hampstead Heath, including tools from the Mesolithic, pits, postholes, and charred stones, point to the presence of a hunter-gatherer community around 7000 BC.

[4] Documentary evidence of Hampstead Heath dates from 986, when Ethelred the Unready granted five hides of land at "Hemstede" to the Abbot of Westminster.

[6][7] From 1808 to 1814 Hampstead Heath hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain which connected the Admiralty in London to its naval ships in the port of Great Yarmouth.

This came partly from individuals who held certain rights under the ancient system of copyhold, and also from influential figures who valued the heath as a natural asset and a place of recreation.

However, because of landslips and problems of water penetration, attempts to build a viaduct to carry the road failed and the entire project was abandoned.

"[12][16] Pressure then grew to purchase the East Park Estate and the 200 acres (81 ha) Parliament Hill Fields, but no funds were available for this.

Finally, Kenwood House and its adjacent ground were incorporated into the Heath in 1928 following a bequest by their owner, the Earl of Iveagh.

The Heath & Hampstead Society opposed the scheme on the basis that the tunnels would drain the sub-soil and that the vibration of passing trains would damage trees.

[22] But the claims were refuted by the railway company, who argued that the tunnels would be passing through impermeable clay at a depth of more than 200 feet (61 m) and would therefore have no effect on the Heath's ecology.

The initiative aimed to enhance biodiversity through controlled grazing, utilizing a flock of five rare-breed Norfolk Horn and Oxford Down.

[27][28][29] Part of the heath sits astride a sandy ridge that runs from east to west and rests on a band of London clay.

[30][31] As the sand was easily penetrated by rainwater which was then held by the clay, a landscape of swampy hollows, springs and man-made excavations was created.

With the passage of the 2010 Flood and Water Management Act the City of London was advised that all the dams on the heath would need to comply with the reservoir safety regulations.

However, with the dam project being now completed, many locals have begun to accept the changes as wildlife begins to soften the border between the artificial and the natural in this area.

To the north east of the heath is a derelict site within the conservation area comprising the grounds and mansion of the former Caen Wood Towers (renamed Athlone House in 1972).

In 1942 the building was taken for war service by the Royal Air Force and was used to house the RAF Intelligence School, although the 'official' line was that it was a convalescence hospital.

The Operational Record (Form 540) of RAF Station Highgate (currently in the National Archives, Kew) was declassified in the late 1990s and shows the true role of this building in wartime service.

The NHS sold off this part of their estate in 2004 to a private businessman who is currently redeveloping much of the site; however the House and its gardens fall within the conservation area of Hampstead Heath.

The skyscrapers of Canary Wharf and the City of London can be seen, along with St Paul's Cathedral and other landmarks, all in one panorama, parts of which are protected views.

[25] In the south-east of the heath, on the southern slopes of Parliament Hill, is the Gospel Oak Lido open air swimming pool, with a running track and fitness area to its north.

[45][46] After neglect in recent decades the garden and pergola are in the care of the City of London Corporation, are being restored, and are open to the public but locked at night.

Running events include the weekly parkrun[63] and the annual Race for Life in aid of Cancer Research UK.

[68] John Atkinson Grimshaw, Victorian-era painter, painted an elaborate night-time scene of Hampstead Hill in oils.

Hampstead Heath also provided the backdrop for the opening scene in Victorian writer Wilkie Collins' novel The Woman in White.

[citation needed] Hampstead Heath forms part of the location for G. K. Chesterton's fictional story "The Blue Cross" from The Innocence of Father Brown.

[citation needed] Notting Hill (1999) featured scenes shot at the heath, located primarily around Kenwood House, where Julia Roberts' character was filming a movie.

[72] Colin Wilson slept rough (in a sleeping bag) on Hampstead Heath to save money when he was working on his first novel, Ritual in the Dark.

[citation needed] Hampstead is a 2017 film directed by Joel Hopkins about Harry Hallowes, who claimed squatter's rights on a corner of the heath on which he lived in a makeshift camp.