Literary London

Where the books were written, set, sold, printed and buried: from the Globe to the graves, the bookshops to the presses.

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Primrose Hill

Blake's line on the summit, the Martians' last stand in The War of the Worlds, and the start of the Twilight Bark.

In the storyFree

Photo by Louise Ireland, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Also in Outdoors & Nature.

The stone at the top carries William Blake's words, 'I have conversed with the spiritual Sun. I saw him on Primrose Hill', from a conversation Crabb Robinson wrote down. H. G. Wells ended The War of the Worlds here, with the last Martian machine dead in its pit on the hill and its cry fading over the city; Dodie Smith's Dalmatians start the Twilight Bark from the summit; and Sylvia Plath and Kingsley Amis lived on the streets below. The view over the Zoo to the whole of central London is why the writers came.

Where
Primrose Hill, Primrose Hill Road, NW3 3NA
Nearest station
Chalk Farm · 7 min walk

Hours

MondayOpen 24 hours
TuesdayOpen 24 hours
WednesdayOpen 24 hours
ThursdayOpen 24 hours
FridayOpen 24 hours
SaturdayOpen 24 hours
SundayOpen 24 hours

Hours from the page that lists them, checked 3 September 2026.

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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