There was a hamlet called Kentish Town, also called St Pancras, in the Middlesex Forest in mediaeval times. The name probably comes from the Celtic word “Ken” meaning river and “ditch” meaning the Fleet River which passed through the area (now inside a Victorian iron pipe). It was a secluded village until the end of the 18th century when it began its conversion into a London suburb. Housing development commenced in the 1840s with villas for the moderately well-to-do. In the 1860s, when the Midland Railway came through the area, working class housing was created on a grand scale. Karl Marx lived for many years and died in Kentish Town.

Kentish Town takes in the area between Highgate Road and Dartmouth Park Hill, and runs up as far as Highgate Cemetery. Dartmouth Park Avenue has particularly large detached houses and is popular for flats. St Albans Road and Croftdown Road near Hampstead Heath contain both individual houses and mansion blocks and council houses. The most sought-after houses in Kentish Town are in Grove Terrace, a terrace of Georgian houses built before Dartmouth Park. This is a quaint corner, with Regency cottages in Little Green Street, and later Victorian cottages in College Lane.

West Kentish Town is on the other side of Highgate Road, and is an area dominated by council estates. But there are nuggets of more desirable housing. St Leonard’s Square and Queen’s Crescent, and the cul-de-sacs off it, contain attractive terraces close to Kentish Town Road. There are groups of Victorian houses to be found in Inkerman Road and Willes Road. Former schools in the area have been converted into flats.

On the east side of Kentish Town Road, is the Bartholomew Estate which is a conservation area of Victorian property south of Kentish Town station and the railway lines. Council properties are also scattered among the private properties. There are semi-detached Victorian houses to be found in Bartholomew Road and Villas. Between the Bartholomew Estate and Kentish Town station is the Christ Church Estate, also of Victorian houses, with Gaisford Street and Caversham Road as the principal streets here. North of the station, Lady Margaret Road runs north to Brecknock Road and contains large Victorian semi-detached houses. Running across it are streets such as Falkland Road and Montpellier Grove with smaller terraced and semi-detached houses with painted facades. Leighton Grove and Leighton Crescent to the east also contain Victorian houses, mainly split into flats.