PARKS
See Also: CITY OF LONDON-MANAGED PARKS & OPEN SPACES; COUNTRY HOUSES; COUNTRYSIDE; GARDENS
& PLANTS; LOCAL
GOVERNMENT The Metropolitan Board of Works; PLEASURE GARDENS; THE ROYAL PARKS; SOCCER Park Football; MENU
John
Evelyn's Fumifugium (1661) may have been the first book on
pollution. In it, he argued that green
spaces should be created in order that London's smoke could dispel.
Website:
https://londongardenstrust.org (London Parks & Gardens Trust)
www.royalparks.org.uk
Battersea Park
Battersea
Fields was a stretch of open land that Londoners had long used for assorted
scurrilous purposes, such as duelling and enjoying themselves. In large part, the mischief and the
merry-making were focused upon The Red House tavern.
The Rev
the Hon. Robert Eden (1799-1870), the Vicar of Battersea, and the builder and
property developer Thomas Cubbitt were the driving forces behind the creation
of Battersea Park.1
In 1846
the Commission for Improving the Metropolis secured an Act of Parliament that
enabled it to purchase the land for the creation of a park. The ground was laid out under the supervision
of Her Majesty's Commissioners for Woods.
The marshy soil was consolidated with earth that had been excavated
during the construction of the Victoria Dock in east London. The leisure ground was opened to the public
in 1853.
Battersea
Park's Sub-Tropical Garden was the first one to be developed in Britain. It was established by John Gibson in 1863.
The
park contains a children's zoo and in its south-western portion a wooden
adventure playground.
Location:
Battersea Park, Albert Bridge Road, SW11 4NJ
See
Also: BUILDING MATERIALS Excavation Spoil; COUNTRYSIDE Fields
Website:
www.wandsworth.gov.uk/batterseapark www.batterseapark.org (The Friends of Battersea Park)
1. Eden became a bishop in 1847 and inherited the family barony two
years later.
Local Parks
Burgess
Park
Location:
Albany Road, SE5 0AL
Website:
www.southwark.gov.uk/parks-and-open-spaces/parks/burgess-park
Hilly
Fields
While
in Deptford Octavia Hill noticed some flowers.
They had been picked at Hilly Fields.
When she heard that it was to be built on, she helped a campaign led to
it being bought and becoming a public park in 1896. Deptford Common, to the north, had already
been built upon. Its highest point is
175ft.-high.
Location: Hilly Fields, SE4 1LB
See
Also: HERITAGE The National Trust; HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS Octavia Housing
Website:
https://lewisham.gov.uk/inmyarea/openspaces/parks/hilly-fields www.hilly.org.uk (The Friends of Hilly Fields.)
Holland
Park Park
Holland
Park Park
Location:
Ilchester Place, W8 6LU (red, pink)
Website:
www.rbkc.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/parks/holland-park
Maryon-Wilson Park
Hanging
Wood stretched from Charlton to Woolwich Common. Maryon Wilson Park is a residual part of it.
Assheton
Gorton (1930-2015) was the production designer on the movie Blow-Up
(1966). Its director Michelangelo
Antonioni wanted its colour to be highlighted.
This led to some of the park's grass being painted green.
Location:
Thorntree Road, Charlton, SE7 8AE
Website:
www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/directory_record/3778/maryon_wilson_park
St
George's Gardens
By the
late 19thC many of London's churchyards had become insanitary. Some of them no longer had any space for
corpses to be interred and thus were locked up.
The city's parks were big or private.
The 12th Earl of Meath worked with Octavia Hill to secure the
Open Spaces Act of 1881. The first
derelict burial ground to be converted into a park was that of St George s
Bloomsbury.
Location:
Wakefield Street, WC1H 8HZ (blue, orange)
83
Lancaster Gate, W2 3NA. Lord Meath's home. (orange, brown)
See
Also: CHURCH OF ENGLAND CHURCHES St George s
Bloomsbury Way; GRAVEYARDS
Website:
www.friendsofstgeorgesgardens.org.uk
Southwark Park
Southwark
Park (c.1863) in Bermondsey was the first park to be opened by the
London Board of Works.
Northala Fields
The
four man-made cone-shaped structures at Northala Fields near Northolt were
created from a million tons landfill from the creation of Westfield Shopping
Centre and the reconstruction of Wembley Stadium. The site cover 26 hectares of former sportsfields. Its previous usage was undermined when the
sports pavilion burnt down. The scheme
was led by Peter Fink, a landscape architect.
Location:
Kensington Road, Northolt, UB5 6UR
See
Also: BUILDING MATERIALS Excavation Spoil
Website:
www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201136/parks_in_the_borough/663/greenford_parks/2 http://northalafielfdscafe.co.uk (its caff)
The Open Spaces Society
The
Commons Preservation Society evolved into being the Open Spaces Society.
Website:
www.oss.org.uk
The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
Location:
E20 2ST
Website:
www.queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk
Victoria Park
James Pennethorne
was a pupil of John Nash and took over his practice. Victoria Park (1845) was modelled upon
Regent's Park. It contains the
Burdett-Coutts fountain. It used to have
a pagoda.
The
Bathing Lake was used for people to clean themselves rather than for leisure.
Location:
Crown Gate West, Old Ford Road, E3 5SN
David
Backhouse 2024