Finchley Rd + Frognal

 

The station opened in 1860. Frognal was mentioned in the early 15th century as a customary tenement and in 1740 Frognal field was the eastern abutment of Northfield, part of the demesne. By the 17th century there were several cottages and houses at Frognal; by then the name probably indicated the road leading from the church and manor farm northward to the heath, between the demesne on the west and Hampstead town on the east. By the end of the 18th century the name also applied to the houses built on the site of the manor farm buildings in Frognal Lane. The Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskell lived at 10 Frognal and ran a salon of influence in the 1940s, and as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1950. General Charles de Gaulle lived from 1942 to 1944 in 99 Frognal (the site of the 17thC Frognal House). Frognal’s name does signify that this was once a nook frequented by frogs.

 

20 Maresfield Gardens was Sigmund Freud’s last residence after fleeing Nazi Austria in 1938. He died here the following year but his daughter Anna continued to live and work in the house until 1982. Visitors can now see the library and study, which contain the great man’s personal collection of antiquities and books, as well as his psycho­analytic couch. The station is about five minutes' walk from Finchley Road tube station, and is marked as an official out-of-system interchange. The typical service at the station in trains per hour is: 4 westbound to Richmond via Willesden. 2 westbound to Clapham Junction (West London Line). 6 eastbound to Stratford via Camden Road, Highbury and Hackney. The exterior is singularly unbecoming, resembling a 'hole-in-the-wall entrance to an insalubrious dive. The station is in Travelcard Zone 2 and has wi-fi, payphones and a waiting room, but no toilets.

 

Connections: London Buses routes 13, 82 and 113 and night routes N13 and N113 serve the station.

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