TheUpper Flask was a tavern near the top ofHampstead hill in the 18th century which sold flasks of water from thespa atHampstead Wells. It was located inHeath Street. It was the summer meeting place of the great literary and political figures of theKit-Kat Club such asWalpole. The tavern business ceased in the 1750s and the grand house subsequently became the private residence of ladies and gentlemen such asLady Charlotte Rich,George Steevens andThomas Sheppard.
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It took its name from the flasks of spring water which were sold there, like theLower Flask andThe Flask in nearbyHighgate. The Upper Flask was the most select of these, being in a grandJacobean house near the summit of Hampstead hill, where it commanded good views of London and the surrounding villages. It was patronised byWhig grandees andliterati who attended the famousKit-Kat Club and removed its summer meetings to the "Upper FlasK".[1] Later, the company includedJohn Keats,Leigh Hunt andPercy Bysshe Shelley.[2] They would drink their ale under an old mulberry tree in the grounds and one of the members,Sir Richard Blackmore, wrote:[3]
Or when,Apollo-like, thou'st pleased to lead
Thy sons to feast on Hampstead's airy head:
Hampstead, that, towering in superior sky,
Now withParnassus does in honour vie.
The Upper Flask appears in the popular novel,Clarissa, written bySamuel Richardson, in 1748. The eponymous heroine stays there while seeking to escape from the villain Lovelace, who threatens her virtue.[3]
In the 1750s, the proprietor Samuel Stanton, died.[3] The property went to his relations who used it as a private house known asUpper Bowling Green House after the nearbybowling green.[3] Subsequent residents includedLady Charlotte Rich, daughter of the Earl of Warwick; the writer and practical joker,George Steevens; and the MP forFrome,Thomas Sheppard.[3] Steevens bought the place in 1771 and lived there until his death in 1800. Hismagnum opus during this time was his fifteen-volume edition ofShakespeare's plays which was published in 1793. He worked on this in a concentrated effort for about 18 months, commuting each day by foot from Hampstead toIsaac Reed's offices atStaple Inn. At this time, the house was fenced in and its grounds included a fine lawn and pleasant trees.[4]
Eventually, the site was donated byLord Leverhulme forQueen Mary's Maternity Home which was constructed in place of the old building and opened there in 1922.[1]
51°33′39″N0°10′44″W / 51.5607°N 0.1788°W /51.5607; -0.1788
