You would think ‘Chalk Farm’ would have something to do with chalk, but it doesn’t. In Anglo Saxon times there was a village here called Caldecote, which just meant ’cold cottages’.  This became Chalcot in mediaeval times. It was an ignorant inn keeper who built a pub on the site of Chalcot Farm and and converted Chalcot to Chalk House. There’s a Chalcot Estate (formerly the Eton Estate).

Much more interesting than this, in my opinion, is how the Roundhouse Theatre came about. In 1851 the London to Birmingham Railway was being built and Chalk Farm was one end of the line. So the railway company constructed “the Round House” to hold the turntable on which the trains could be turned round, to be sent back to Birmingham.  When Chalk Farm ceased to be a rail terminus, the Round House was no longer needed and in 1960 it was turned into a theatre.

In the 19th century, much of the land was owned by Eton College who developed it for housing. The Eton Estate which covered much of the local area was redesigned by Camden Council in the 1960s and renamed Chalcot’s Estate after the mediaeval name.

This is a small area around Chalk Farm tube station. Eton College Road to the west (between Adelaide Road and Haverstock Hill) contains three large mansion blocks known as the Etons. Prince of Wales Road ends near the tube station and contains large red brick council blocks as well as terraces of Victorian houses. Chalk Farm continues east to the railway lines which divide it from Kentish town. Roads off Chalk Farm Road contain Edwardian houses. Adelaide Road contains large Victorian terraced houses near the railway lines. There are blocks of flats in this area too, including council-built Beaumont Walk. Street like Harmood Street and Clarence Way contains attractive small brick-built houses. Hartland Road contains Georgian houses. Kelly Street near Kentish Town Road is the centre of a conservation area, including Healey Street and Grafton Crescent, which have attractive small terraced houses.