This image is John Constable's painting, View of Highgate, painted in the first quarter of the 19th-century. The landscape is painted likely from the position of the artist from within Hampstead Heath, looking towards the center Gate House area of Highgate. Constable was a very influential painter, most notably for his proto-impressionist style that serves as a predecessor to many of the French impressionists like Renoir and Monet. The work of art depicted in this image and the reproduction thereof are in the public domain worldwide. The reproduction is part of a collection of reproductions compiled by The Yorck Project. The compilation copyright is held by Zenodot Verlagsgesellschaft mbH and licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

           Highgate is a residential district in northern London nestled along the borders of three London boroughs: Camden, Haringey, and Islington. Included within the borders of Highgate is a portion of Hampstead Heath, the revered Highgate Cemetery, and the parish church of St. Michael. The district, sitting atop a hill and placed at a higher elevation than Greater London to the south, has historically been a place generally occupied by the wealthy. By the 19^th-century, the district had expanded irregularly and incrementally most likely because “it had been easier to encroach on the common or the waste bordering the bishop of London's lands” than other private estates (Baggs). At this time, Highgate was known for little other than its place as a residential district. There was a theater and a coaching trade but little other industry was present in Highgate at this time. The opening of the Archway Road in 1813 likely had a deleterious effect on the small local economy, but it did help to create a sense of exclusivity in the area—an attitude that Charles Dickens would have been aware of at the time of his writing David Copperfield.

            Much like many other geographic locations, Dickens pulled upon his own experiences and personal engagements with his inclusion of Highgate as the home of Steerforth. Dickens personally lived in Highgate for a short period of time in 1832. In fact, Dickens was living there during the construction of the parish church, St. Michael’s Church. The other major connection between Dickens and the Highgate area is the Highgate Cemetery. Dickens’ parents are buried in one side of the cemetery alongside his daughter, Dora, who passed away in her infancy. The other side of the cemetery contains the graves of many of Dickens contemporary artists, novelists, and thinkers such as George Eliot and Karl Marx.

           Despite these personal connections, it does not seem that Dickens himself felt the connection to Highgate that he did to other parts of London. In his book Dickens’s London, author Peter Clark asserts that “Dickens never internalized Highgate. It is a retreat from the city for his characters, outsiders who settle there,” (Clark 7). This assertion is supported in David Copperfield as David seems to not consider Highgate any more than with its association to Steerforth. Very little textual description is given to Highgate other than when David states that from his room in Steerforth’s house, he can see “all London lying in the distance like a great vapour, with here and there some lights twinkling through it,” (Dickens 300). This description relays that for David (and by extension Dickens), Highgate is perceived by its proximity to London—by both its connection and its separation from the city. This relationship highlights an interesting geographical dynamic and points towards the existence of a sort of proto-suburban space, exclusive but can not exist without the urban space it orbits.  

Baggs, A P, Diane K Bolton, M A Hicks, and R B Pugh. "Hornsey, including Highgate: Highgate." A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6, Friern Barnet, Finchley, Hornsey With Highgate. Eds. T F T Baker, and C R Elrington. London: Victoria County History, 1980. 122-135. British History Online. Web. 18 September 2020. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol6/pp122-135.

Clark, Peter. Dickens’s London. Haus Publishing, 2012. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=nlebk&AN=1246160&site=eds-live&scope=site.