Camden Town. It always seems to me like somewhere you’re going through on the way to somewhere else. What is it with Camden Town, and Kentish Town?  It strikes me as a bit affected to start calling areas ‘Town’ is if you really have to make sure people realise it’s not just an extension of London’s housing sprawl, which is what it really is.  It seems like the locals were always trying to sound a lot grander than they really were. Royal College Street sounds very grand, but actually it was named after the local veterinary college.

In the 18th century the area was owned by the Earls of Camden, hence the name. The construction of Regent’s Canal through the area brought industry and destroyed the previous rural nature of the place. There was some house building, but the real development was the construction of yards and tracks for the London & Birmingham and the Midland Railways.

Camden Town is separated from Regent’s Park by the railway lines on the west leading to Euston. Much of the best property in Camden Town lies between Camden High Street and the railway lines. Gloucester Crescent north of Parkway is regarded as having the best properties in the area with large Victorian terraced houses from the 1840s. There are equally popular Victorian terraced houses in streets south of Parkway which include Albert Street, a wide tree-lined road with large family houses with gardens, and Allington Road with slightly smaller properties.

Next in popularity are the streets between Camden High Street and Camden Street around Bayham Street, such as Greenland Road and St Martin’s Close.

Between Kentish Town Road and Camden Road there is a group of streets called “the Rochesters” (because Rochester appears in most of the names) and this area contains quality houses equivalent to those in Gloucester Crescent.

On the south side of Camden Road lies Camden Square, with attractive gardens and large mid-Victorian family homes. North Villas and South Villas running off the square have large villas from a slightly later Victorian period. As you would expect from a square intended for the rich, mews were constructed nearby, and nice houses can be found in Camden Mews and Murray Mews. Rochester Square contains attractive Edwardian villas.