i 9 4 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 
numbers. The western side was dotted over with them. 
That the purchase of it for the public benefit has been 
appreciated it is not difficult to prove, when over 100,000 
visit it on a Bank Holiday. It was the commencement of 
building operations near the Flagstaff by the lord of the 
manor, Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson, in the heart of the 
Heath, that brought things to a crisis in 1866. A. case 
began against the lord of the manor, but he died before 
it was ended, and his brother, Sir John, being willing to 
compromise, the sum of ^47,000 was agreed on for the 
sale of the Heath to the Metropolitan Board of Works. 
The few houses dotted about on the Heath are those of 
squatters, who have established their right by the length 
of time they have been in possession. The small hamlet 
or collection of houses in the “ Vale of Health,’’ those 
near the “Spaniards” and round Jack Straw’s Castle, 
have existed from time immemorial, although few old 
houses of interest remain, and large, unsightly buildings 
have taken the place of the picturesque ones. In the 
Vale of Health the houses are chiefly given up to catering 
for holiday-makers. The “ Spaniards,” at the most 
northerly point of the Heath, is a genuine old house, 
and it still has a nice garden, although all the alleys 
and fantastic ornaments which made it popular, in the 
eighteenth century, have vanished. The name came from 
the fact that the first owner was a Spaniard. The next 
proprietor was a Mr. Staples, who “ improved and beauti¬ 
fully ornamented it.” The house was on the site of the 
toll-gate and lodge to Caen Wood, and its position saved 
that house from destruction, at the time of the Gordon 
riots. The rioters had burnt and wantonly destroyed 
Lord Mansfield’s house in Bloomsbury Square. Mad¬ 
dened with drink, and flushed with triumph at the success 
