Note 30 — Chapter III · THE LONDON AND SUBURBAN HOMES.

“Jack Straw’s Castle, also known as the Castle Hotel, which stands on elevated ground near the large pond and the flagstaff, has been somewhat modernized of late years. It has been generally supposed that the name of this hostelry is derived from the well-known peasant leader in the terrible rising of Richard II.’s time; but Professor Hales assures us there is no sufficient authority for the tradition, for the present designation is perhaps not older than the middle of the eighteenth century, the original sign being most likely The Castle, without any preceding genitive, Richardson, for example, thus referring to it in ‘Clarissa Harlowe,’ 1748. For the connection of Jack Straw with Hampstead there is apparently no historic defence.”—The Home Counties Magazine, April, 1899.