1.
London Borough of Brent
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The London Borough of Brent is a London borough in north west London, and forms part of Outer London. The major areas are Kilburn, Wembley and Harlesden, most of the eastern border is formed by the Roman road Watling Street, which is now the modern A5. Brent has a mixture of residential, industrial and commercial land, Brent is home to Wembley Stadium, one of the countrys biggest landmarks, as well as Wembley Arena. The local authority is Brent London Borough Council, the borough has seen illegal dumping on the borough’s streets between 2013/14 and 2014/15 surge by 84 per cent, the most recorded by a local authority in England. Brent has the highest proportion of housing benefit claims by private tenants in the country as a percentage of all according to the Financial Times. Brent was formed in 1965 from the area of the former Municipal Borough of Wembley and its name derives from the River Brent which runs through the borough. Brent is divided into 21 Electoral Wards, some wards share a name with the traditional areas above, others include Barnhill, Dudden Hill, Fryent, Mapesbury and Welsh Harp. The Brent borough includes three parliamentary constituencies, Brent North, Brent Central, and Hampstead and Kilburn, which part of the London Borough of Camden. Before the 2010 United Kingdom general election it was divided into three constituencies contained wholly within the borough - Brent South, Brent East and Brent North, Brent London Borough Council is elected every four years, with currently 63 councillors being elected at each election. Labour regained control in 2010 and increased their majority at the 2014 election, as of the 2014 election the council is composed of the following councillors, - The leader of the Council is Labour Councillor Muhammed Butt. In 1801, the parishes that form the modern borough had a total population of 2,022. This rose slowly throughout the 19th century, as the district built up. When the railways arrived the rate of growth increased. The population peaked in the 1960s, when began to relocate from London. Brent is among the most diverse localities in the country, with large Asian and Indian, Black African, Black Caribbean, Irish, and Eastern European minority communities. In the 2001 Census, the borough had a population of 263,464 – of whom 127,806 were male, and 135,658 female. Of those stating a choice,47. 71% described themselves as Christian,17. 71% as Hindu,12. 26% as Muslim and 10% as having no religion. Of the population,39. 96% were in employment and 7. 86% in part-time employment – compared to a London average of 42. 64% and 8. 62%
2.
Cardamine impatiens
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Cardamine impatiens, the narrowleaf bittercress or narrow-leaved bitter-cress, is a plant species of the genus Cardamine belonging to the family Brassicaceae. It is a slender, biennial herb, that produces sterile leaves in the first year and its leaves are pinnate with several pairs of lanceolate, dentate leaflets and a terminal, slightly longer leaflet. The short petals surpass the calyx by half of its length, the seeds are arranged in one row on each side of the central membrane of the narrow pod and are ejected out in a shower due to the tension formed as the seed pod dries. It grows on walls, open ground in places in forests usually disturbed by man
3.
Humphry Repton
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His first name is often incorrectly rendered Humphrey. Repton was born in Bury St Edmunds, the son of a collector of excise, John Repton, in 1762 his father set up a transport business in Norwich, where Humphry attended Norwich Grammar School. At age twelve he was sent to the Netherlands to learn Dutch, however, Repton was befriended by a wealthy Dutch family and the trip may have done more to stimulate his interest in polite pursuits such as sketching and gardening. Returning to Norwich, Repton was apprenticed to a merchant, then, after marriage to Mary Clarke in 1773. He was not successful, and when his parents died in 1778 used his modest legacy to move to a country estate at Sustead. Repton also joined John Palmer in a venture to reform the mail-coach system, Reptons childhood friend was James Edward Smith, who encouraged him to study botany and gardening, Smith reproduces a long letter from Repton in his Letter and Correspondence. He was given access to the library of Windham to read its works on botany and his capital dwindling, Repton moved to a modest cottage at Hare Street near Romford in Essex. He was at first an avid defender of Browns views, contrasted with those of Richard Payne Knight and Uvedale Price and his first paid commission was Catton Park, to the north of Norwich, in 1788. That Repton, with no experience of practical horticulture, became an overnight success, is a tribute to his undeniable talent. To help clients visualise his designs, Repton produced Red Books with explanatory text and watercolours with a system of overlays to show before, in this he differed from Capability Brown, who worked almost exclusively with plans and rarely illustrated or wrote about his work. Reptons overlays were soon copied by the Philadelphian Bernard MMahon in his 1806 American Gardeners Calendar, to understand what was unique about Repton it is useful to examine how he differed from Brown in more detail. Brown worked for many of the wealthiest aristocrats in Britain, carving huge landscape parks out of old formal gardens, while Repton worked for equally important clients, such as the Dukes of Bedford and Portland, he was usually fine-tuning earlier work, often that of Brown himself. Where Repton got the chance to lay out grounds from scratch it was generally on a more modest scale. Around 1787, Richard Page, landowner of Sudbury, to the west of Wembley decided to convert the Page family home Wellers into a country seat and turn the fields around it into a private estate. In 1792 Page employed Humphry Repton, by then famous as an architect, to convert the previous farmland into wooded parkland. Repton often called the areas he landscaped parks, and so it is to Repton that Wembley Park owes its name, the original site that Repton so transformed was later built on in the construction of the short-lived Watkins Tower. The area landscaped by Repton was larger than the current Wembley Park and it included the southern slopes of Barn Hill to the north, where Repton planted trees and started building a prospect house – a gothic tower offering a view over the parkland. Repton may also have designed the lodge that survives on Wembley Hill Road
4.
Edward the Confessor
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Edward the Confessor, also known as Saint Edward the Confessor, was among the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England, and usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066. When Edward died in 1066, he was succeeded by Harold Godwinson, Edgar the Ætheling, who was of the House of Wessex, was proclaimed king after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but never ruled and was deposed after about eight weeks. As discussed below, historians disagree about Edwards fairly long reign and his nickname reflects the traditional image of him as unworldly and pious. Confessor reflects his reputation as a saint who did not suffer martyrdom, some portray this kings reign as leading to the disintegration of royal power in England and the advance in power of the House of Godwin, because of the infighting after his heirless death. About a century later, in 1161, Pope Alexander III canonised the late king, Saint Edward was one of Englands national saints until King Edward III adopted Saint George as the national patron saint c. His feast day is 13 October, celebrated by both the Church of England and the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Edward was the seventh son of Æthelred the Unready, and the first by his second wife, Emma of Normandy. Edward was born between 1003 and 1005 in Islip, Oxfordshire, and is first recorded as a witness to two charters in 1005 and he had one full brother, Alfred, and a sister, Godgifu. In charters he was always listed behind his older half-brothers, showing that he ranked behind them, during his childhood England was the target of Viking raids and invasions under Sweyn Forkbeard and his son, Cnut. Following Sweyns seizure of the throne in 1013, Emma fled to Normandy, followed by Edward and Alfred, Sweyn died in February 1014, and leading Englishmen invited Æthelred back on condition that he promised to rule more justly than before. Æthelred agreed, sending Edward back with his ambassadors, Æthelred died in April 1016, and he was succeeded by Edwards older half-brother Edmund Ironside, who carried on the fight against Sweyns son, Cnut. According to Scandinavian tradition, Edward fought alongside Edmund, as Edward was at most thirteen years old at the time, Edmund died in November 1016, and Cnut became undisputed king. Edward then again went into exile with his brother and sister, in the same year Cnut had Edwards last surviving elder half-brother, Eadwig, executed, leaving Edward as the leading Anglo-Saxon claimant to the throne. Edward spent a quarter of a century in exile, probably mainly in Normandy and he probably received support from his sister Godgifu, who married Drogo of Mantes, count of Vexin in about 1024. In the early 1030s Edward witnessed four charters in Normandy, signing two of them as king of England, Edward was said to have developed an intense personal piety during this period, but modern historians regard this as a product of the later medieval campaign for his canonisation. In Frank Barlows view in his lifestyle would seem to have been that of a member of the rustic nobility. He appeared to have a slim prospect of acceding to the English throne during this period, Cnut died in 1035, and Harthacnut succeeded him as king of Denmark. It is unclear whether he was intended to have England as well and it was therefore decided that his elder half-brother Harold Harefoot should act as regent, while Emma held Wessex on Harthacnuts behalf. In 1036 Edward and his brother Alfred separately came to England, Alfred was captured by Godwin, Earl of Wessex who turned him over to Harold Harefoot
5.
Kingsbury
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Kingsbury is a district of northwest London in the London Borough of Brent. The name Kingsbury means The Kings Manor and its ancient scope stretches north and west to include Queensbury and parts of Kenton and Wembley Park in other directions. Kingsbury was in 2001 a ward and in 2011 was identifiable with the Fryent, about 25% of Kingsbury is Fryent Country Park, forming the southern quarter. It is of highly mixed density, ranging from high rise to suburban to a wildlife reserve in the country park. Kingsbury was historically a parish of a fairly modest 6.9 square kilometres in the Hundred of Gore. Following local government redrawing of electoral wards Kingsbury corresponds to the Fryent and Barnhill wards and in all of its various older guises, the early English kings had parted with their manor of Kingsbury long before the Conquest. An estate called Tunworth, in the part of Kingsbury parish, was granted by Edwy to his thegn Lyfing in 957. Thereafter the overlordship of Kingsbury descended with Edgware manor, by 1086 on the Domesday survey of property, Ernulfs manor in Kingsbury had been subinfeudated to Albold as Lord. It was not mentioned again until 1317, when, under the name of the manor of Kingsbury, Kingsbury developed little in housing and population in the 19th century, remaining a polyfocal village. In this age, Oliver Goldsmith, writer and playwright, lived at Hyde Farm, Kingsbury, although it lay close to London, development started slowly, and it was not until after World War I that the district became built up. The number of inhabited houses in the parish increased from just 140 in 1901 to 3,937 in 1931. By 1951 this had risen to 11,776, between 1921 and 1931 Kingsburys population increased by 796%. John Logie Bairds experimental television transmissions from the United Kingdom to Berlin, Germany were transmitted from the block of Kingsbury Manor. From 1923 to 1979 Kingsbury Road was the location of the Vanden Plas specialist motor body works, body makers for Bentley and later part of Austin, BMC, the site is now Kingsbury Trading Estate. In 1894 Kingsbury was included in the district of Wembley. However, as Kingsbury had only three councillors on the district council to Wembleys nine, Kingsburys councillors felt the needs of the area were not well-served. In 1900 Kingsbury became an urban district with six councillors. The new council was immediately involved in controversy and in 1906 it failed to make a rate or meet its financial commitments, following an inquiry initiated by ratepayers, the councillors numbered nine, not halting fiscal accusations directed towards the initial three councillors
6.
Wembley
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Wembley is an area of northwest London, England, and part of the London Borough of Brent. It is home to the Wembley Arena and Wembley Stadium, Wembley formed a separate civil parish from 1894 and was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1937. In 1965, the merged with the Municipal Borough of Willesden to create the London Borough of Brent. Wembley is derived from the Old English proper name Wemba and the Old English Lea for meadow or clearing, the name was first mentioned in the charter of 825 of Selvin. The village of Wembley grew up on the hill by the clearing with the Harrow Road south of it, much of the surrounding area remained wooded. In 1547 there were but six houses in Wembley, though small, it was one of the wealthiest parts of Harrow. At the dissolution of the monasteries in 1543, the manor of Wembley fell to Richard Andrews and Leonard Chamberlayne, who sold it to Richard Page, Esq. of Harrow on the Hill, the same year. The Page family continued as lords of the manor of Wembley for several centuries, Wembley Park thus derived its name from Reptons habit of referring to the areas he designed as parks. There was a mill on Wembley Hill by 1673, in 1837, the London and Birmingham Railway was opened from London Euston through Wembley to Hemel Hempstead, and completed to Birmingham the following year. The changing names of the local station demonstrated the importance of the Wembley name. Sudbury station opened in 1845, renamed as Sudbury and Wembley in 1882, renamed as Wembley for Sudbury in 1910, renamed as Wembley Central in 1948, at the time of the Olympic Games. To modernise the service, a new Watford DC Line was built alongside the lines and Bakerloo line trains. Electric trains to London Euston began running in 1922, since 1917, there have been six platforms at what is now Wembley Central station. In 1880, the Metropolitan Railway opened its line from Baker Street through the side of Wembley. There are now three separate services, the London to Aylesbury Line, the Metropolitan line, and the Jubilee line. Only the latter two services have platforms at Wembley Park station, in November 1905, the Great Central Railway opened a new route for fast expresses that by-passed the congested Metropolitan Railway tracks. It ran between Neasden Junction, south of Wembley, and Northolt Junction, west of London, where a new joint main line with the Great Western Railway began. After a long planning and redevelopment process dogged by a series of funding problems and construction delays, Wembley Hill station was renamed Wembley Complex in May 1978, before getting its present name of Wembley Stadium in May 1987
7.
Kingsbury tube station
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Kingsbury is a London Underground station in northwest London, England. It is on the Jubilee line, in Zone 4, in the borough of Brent, although now only served by deep-level tube trains, the section of line serving the station is built to surface gauge, and trains to that larger LU loading gauge occasionally pass through. It was opened on 10 December 1932 as part of the Stanmore branch of the Metropolitan Railway and served by that companys electric trains. After the formation of London Transport in 1933 this branch became part of the LU Metropolitan line and was transferred to the Bakerloo line in 1939 then to the Jubilee line in 1979. The design style is similar to that of other Metropolitan Railway buildings of the period rather than to the concrete. The station entrance is in a parade of shops on the side of the A4006 Kingsbury Road. London Buses routes 79,183,204,305 and 324, night route N98 and non-TFL route 644 serve the station
8.
Jubilee line
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The Jubilee line is a London Underground line. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the network, although sections of track date back to 1932. The later stations are larger and have special safety features, both aspects being attempts to future-proof the line, the Jubilee line is coloured silver/grey on the Tube map, to mark the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II after which the line was named. Between Finchley Road and Wembley Park, the Jubilee line shares its route with the Metropolitan line, between Canning Town and Stratford, the line runs parallel to the Stratford International branch of the Docklands Light Railway. In 1932, the Metropolitan Railway built a branch from its line at Wembley Park to Stanmore. The line, as many others in the northwest London area, was designed to absorb commuter traffic from the new. At first, the Metropolitan had advocated a new line roughly following the line of the Edgware Road between the tube station and a point near Willesden Green. Indeed, construction advanced as far as the rebuilding of Edgware Road station to accommodate 4 platforms of 8-car length, things changed, though, with the formation of the London Passenger Transport Board and the subsequent absorption of the Metropolitan. The solution was now a new branch of the Bakerloo line from Baker Street to serve new stations at St, the new line rose between the Metropolitan tracks at Finchley Road, providing cross-platform interchange with the Metropolitan line. At Wembley Park, the new Bakerloo would run on to serve Kingsbury, Queensbury, Canons Park and Stanmore, the Bakerloo extension, built as above, opened in 1939. The planning for the Tube network immediately before and after World War II considered several new routes, Line C opened as the Victoria line, in stages, from 1968 to 1972. Work on the northeast–southwest route continued, the new line was to have been called the Fleet line after the River Fleet. In 1971, construction began on the new Fleet line, economic pressure and doubt over the final destination of the line had led to a staged approach. Under the first stage, the Baker Street-to-Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line was joined at Baker Street to a new 2, the new tube was to offer cross-platform interchange between the Bakerloo and Fleet at Baker Street, as pioneered on the Victoria line. The work was completed in 1979, as part of the works, Trafalgar Square and Strand stations were combined into a single station complex, Charing Cross. The existing Charing Cross station on the sub-surface District and Circle lines was renamed Embankment, another part of the works included a section of test tunnel, built near New Cross. When the planned route was altered, this section was abandoned as it was effectively useless. However, this idea was rejected because of the costs involved
9.
London Buses route 206
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This is a list of Transport for London contracted bus routes in London, England, as well as commercial services that enter the Greater London area. Bus services in London are operated by Abellio London, Arriva London, CT Plus, Go-Ahead London, Metroline, Quality Line, RATP Group Stagecoach London, Sullivan Buses, Tower Transit, tfL-sponsored operators run more than 500 services. Other operators soon saw the advantage, in that a route number was easier for the travelling public to remember. Bus routes run by London Transport were grouped as follows, the 1924 London Traffic Act imposed numbering known as the Bassom Scheme named after Chief Constable Arthur Ernest Bassom of the Metropolitan Police who devised it. Variant and short workings for many decades used letter suffixes, the numbers reflected the company that operated the route. The numbering was revised in 1934 after London Transport was formed, *Except 603 and 607, the number of Mobility Buses routes have declined because low-floor and wheelchair accessible buses run on all London Buses routes except for the heritage route. Night bus routes are often related to the day numerical equivalent, normally running the same route and this is normally to provide a night service to destinations served by tube or train during the day. There are also 24-hour routes, which run day and night, the vast majority run the same route at all times. Route 65 is classed as a 24-hour service, but unusually has an extension to its night service and these bus routes are not contracted to TfL and are therefore not London Buses. All but three run from the villages and towns outside Greater London to destinations within and they are painted in a colour chosen by the operator, so are not necessarily red like London Buses, and most of them do not accept Oyster cards. These routes are operated with a London Service Permit issued by TfL so they are recognised by TfL bus maps, there are four special express routes that run during the Notting Hill Carnival, 2X, 36X, 205X and 436X. This list shows some old routes that used to operate but do not exist anymore, services withdrawn before 1994 are not listed. Category, London bus operators Atkin, Michael, THIS SCEPTRED ISLE, The Guardian Carr, Ken, The London Bus Guide
10.
Capital Ring
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It is called a ring because the route completely encircles inner and central London. The official start of the route is the Woolwich foot tunnel, the idea originated in 1990 at one of the early meetings of the London Walking Forum and it was completed in September 2005. It passes through areas of both urban and suburban London. These are part of the South East London Green Chain and it starts from the Woolwich foot tunnel and ends in Crystal Palace Park. Points of interest in this include the Thames Barrier, Severndroog Castle, Eltham Palace. In this section, the trail comprises two walks, walk 4 and 5, points of interest in this section include Biggin Wood, Streatham Common, Tooting Bec Lido and Wandsworth Common. Here the Capital Ring comprises two walks, walk 6 and 7, Walk 6 consists of a brief walk through suburban Wimbledon Park, then crosses Wimbledon Common and then Richmond Park. While the route passes within about 100 metres of King Henry VIIIs Mound, with its view of St Pauls Cathedral. Walk 7 continues from Richmond along the Thames, before deviating through old Isleworth and it then continues along the Grand Union Canal to Osterley Lock. Here the Capital Ring comprises two walks, walk 8 and 9, points of interest in this section include the River Brent, the Wharncliffe Viaduct, Horsenden Hill and Harrow School. The Capital Ring comprises two walks, walk 10 and 11, in North London, Walk 10 starts from South Kenton railway station, crosses Preston Park and passes Preston Road underground station, before reaching Fryent Country Park. It then heads south and east to Brent Reservoir and West Hendon where it crosses the Edgware Road, M1 motorway and A41 to reach Hendon Park, Walk 11 starts at Hendon Park, again following the River Brent and Mutton Brook through Hampstead Garden Suburb. It passes East Finchley tube station, Cherry Tree Wood and Highgate Wood, from here it passes through Queens Wood to the Northern Lines Highgate tube station. The Capital Ring is made up of two walks, walk 12 and 13, Walk 12 covers Highgate to Stoke Newington, and walk 13 Stoke Newington to Hackney Wick. Walk 12 starts at the Priory Gardens entrance to Highgate tube station, after crossing the park it follows the New River past the Stoke Newington reservoirs. It then crosses Clissold Park and Abney Park Cemetery before reaching Stoke Newington railway station, Walk 13 heads east though the streets of Lower Clapton to Springfield Park before following the River Lee Navigation south through Lea Bridge to White Post Lane, near Hackney Wick railway station. In this area, the Capital Ring comprises two walks, walk 14 and 15, which pass through the used for the London 2012 Summer Olympics. Walk 14 follows The Greenway for most of its distance, authorities do not agree on the length of the route, probably because of the various station links
11.
Green Flag Award
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The Green Flag Award is the benchmark national standard for publicly accessible parks and green spaces in the United Kingdom. The scheme was set up in 1996 to recognise and reward green spaces in England and it is also seen as a way of encouraging others to achieve the same high environmental standards, creating a benchmark of excellence in recreational green areas. Any free to public park or green space is eligible to apply for an Award. Privately owned but publicly accessible parks have received such as Chavasse Park. The scheme is owned by the government through the Department for Communities and Local Government, a pilot scheme was started in 2007 in Scotland and three parks were given awards that year. Both primary and secondary schools may be awarded the Green Flag in recognition of steps taken towards making the school increasingly eco-friendly, meanwhile, the award goes to other countries too for example to Germany. Parks and green spaces are judged in April and May each year, parks must apply each year to keep their Green Flag Award, and winning sites are eligible to fly a Green Flag in the park for a year. This scheme, started in 2002, has adapted the criteria for voluntary organisations, between 2012 and 2017 both parties will be working to expand Green Flag Award into the social housing sector. The scheme was run by volunteers from its founding in the 1990s. It was then sponsored by the government and run by the Civic Trust till the latter went into administration in 2009, since then it has been managed by a consortium of Keep Britain Tidy, the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, and the charity Greenspace. Judges continue to be unpaid volunteers with experience and competence in the management of parks, Green Flag Award - home page
12.
London in Bloom
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RHS Britain in Bloom is the largest horticultural campaign in the United Kingdom. It has been organised by the Royal Horticultural Society since 2002, the competition is entered by the communities of towns, villages and cities. Different categories exist for various sizes of settlements, groups are assessed for their achievements in three core pillars, Horticultural Excellence, Environmental Responsibility, and Community Participation. Over 1,600 communities around the UK enter each year, from these regional competitions, roughly 80 communities are selected to enter the national Finals of RHS Britain in Bloom. It is a campaign, estimated to involve more than 200,000 volunteers in cleaning up. Judging at the stage takes place around June/ July, judging for the national stage takes place in August. The results for the UK Finals are announced in September/ October, the competition covers the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. In 2006, the RHS introduced the Neighbourhood Awards, a grassroots campaign to Bloom, supporting smaller. His enquiries revealed that President de Gaulle had given orders to brighten up the country and the French Tourist Authority had set up the Fleurissement de France in 1959. Hay was so impressed that he approached the British Tourist Authority and it was piloted by the British Tourist Authority in 1963, and went national in 1964. Despite this impressive list, Roy Hay later reflected that the reaction of the horticultural trade. Nevertheless, regional committees were formed, and in 1964 Bath became the first national winner. From 1964 to 1969 inclusive there was a national winner. From 1970, however, the competition was divided up into a range of categories, the British Tourist Authority managed the competition until 1983 when the Government Department sponsoring the BTA felt that it should relinquish the responsibility. The Tidy Britain Group took over, it already had an association with the competition. To mark the changeover,1983 was celebrated as Beautiful Britain in Bloom Year, sir Lawrie Barratt of Barratt Developments expressed his support to the Tidy Britain Group for the competition and provided sponsorship until 1989. McDonalds began sponsoring the competition from 1990, which led to focus on littering behaviour, in 2001, the event was organised jointly by EnCams and the Royal Horticultural Society, and from November 2001 the RHS took full control as the organising body of Britain in Bloom. The competition currently has twelve entry categories, most of which are determined by population size and these communities take part in their regional competition, for example South West in Bloom
13.
Cross country running
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Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. Sometimes the runners are referred to as harriers, the course, typically 4–12 kilometres long, may include surfaces of grass, and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road. It is both an individual and a sport, runners are judged on individual times and teams by a points-scoring method. Cross country running is one of the disciplines under the sport of athletics. Although open-air running competitions are pre-historic, the rules and traditions of cross country racing emerged in Britain, the English championship became the first national competition in 1876 and the International Cross Country Championships was held for the first time in 1903. Since 1973 the foremost elite competition has been the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Cross country courses are laid out on an open or woodland area. The IAAF recommends that courses be grass-covered, and have rolling terrain with frequent, courses consist of one or more loops, with a long straight at the start and another leading to the finish line. Because of variations in conditions, international standardization of cross country courses is impossible, part of cross country runnings appeal is the natural and distinct characteristics of each venues terrain and weather. Terrain can vary from open fields to forest hills and even across rivers and it also includes running down and up hills. According to the IAAF, a cross country course has a loop of 1,750 to 2,000 metres laid out on an open or wooded land. It should be covered by grass, as much as possible, while it is perfectly acceptable for local conditions to make dirt or snow the primary surface, courses should minimize running on roads or other macadamized paths. Parks and golf courses often provide suitable locations, a course at least 5 metres full allows competitors to pass others during the race. Clear markings keep competitors from making wrong turns, and spectators from interfering with the competition, markings may include tape or ribbon on both sides of the course, chalk or paint on the ground, or cones. Some classes use colored flags to indicate directions, red flags for left turns, yellow flags for right turns, courses also commonly include distance markings, usually at each kilometer or each mile. The course should have 400 to 1,200 m of level terrain before the first turn, to reduce contact, however, many courses at smaller competitions have their first turn after a much shorter distance. Courses for international competitions consist of a loop between 1750 and 2000 meters, athletes complete three to six loops, depending on the race. Senior men compete on a 12-kilometre course, senior women and junior men compete on an 8-kilometre course. Junior women compete on a 6-kilometre course, in the United States, college men typically compete on 8 km or 10 km courses, while college women race for 5 km or 6 km
14.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
15.
Parks and open spaces in London
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There are many parks and open spaces in Greater London, England. Green space in central London consists of eight Royal Parks, supplemented by a number of garden squares scattered throughout the city centre. The centrepieces of Greater Londons park system are the eight Royal Parks of London, covering 1976 hectares, they are former royal hunting grounds which are now open to the public. Green Park 16 ha St. Notable examples open to the public are Russell Square in Bloomsbury, Lincolns Inn Fields in Holborn, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea contains over a hundred garden squares whose use is restricted to residents. The upkeep of these squares is paid for through a levy on top of residents council tax, in addition to these spaces, a large number of council-owned parks were developed between the mid 19th century and the Second World War. Crystal Palace Park, South London 80 ha Victoria Park 86.18 ha, some cemeteries provide extensive green land within the city — notably Highgate Cemetery, burial place of Karl Marx and Michael Faraday amongst others. All Outer London boroughs contain sections of the green belt. There are over a hundred registered commons in London, ranging in size from small fragments of land to large expanses, there are two historic lavender fields in the London Borough of Sutton. One, at Oaks Way, Carshalton Beeches is three acres in size and is run as a community project. The other, a 25-acre commercial site in Croydon Lane called Mayfield, is popular with tourists, situated on the North Downs of Surrey, the locality is ideal for lavender cultivation, owing to the chalky free-draining nature of the soil. It was known as the Lavender Capital of the World from the 18th to the early 20th centuries, with production of the plant centred here. There are several types of London greenways including The Greenway and the Thames Path
16.
Royal Parks of London
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The Royal Parks of London are lands originally owned by the monarchy of the United Kingdom for the recreation of the royal family. They are part of the possessions of The Crown. With increasing urbanisation of London, some of these were preserved as freely accessible open space, there are today eight parks formally described by this name and they cover almost 2,000 hectares of land in Greater London. Bushy Park, Greenwich Park and Richmond Park are in the suburbs, the Royal Parks agency also manages Brompton Cemetery, Grosvenor Square Gardens, Victoria Tower Gardens and the gardens of 10,11 and 12 Downing Street. Hampton Court Park is also a park within Greater London. The public does not have any right to use the Parks, as public access depends on the grace and favour of The Crown. The Royal Parks Agency manages the Royal Parks under powers derived from section 22 of the Crown Lands Act 1851, the current regulations are the Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations 1997. They are managed by The Royal Parks and are policed by the Royal Parks Operational Command Unit of the Metropolitan Police, the main form of funding for the Royal Parks is a central government grant. This contrasts with most of Londons other parks, which are funded by local borough councils, the Royal Parks generate additional income from commercial activities such as catering and staging public events such as concerts. The Royal Parks Foundation is a charity which raises funds to protect, support. They have a number of schemes such as adoption and champion programmes. The plan was welcomed by Royal Parks but it is yet to be implemented following the 2012 London Olympic games, the Royal Parks Parks and open spaces in London Walking in London Thurston, Hazel. Royal Parks For The People, Londons Ten, UK and USA, David and Charles. Includes listing of the Parks with black-and-white photographic plates
17.
Bushy Park
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Bushy Park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is the second largest of Londons Royal Parks, at 445 hectares in area, after Richmond Park. The park, most of which is open to the public, is north of Hampton Court Palace. It is surrounded by Teddington, Hampton, Hampton Hill and Hampton Wick, the parks acid grasslands are mostly just above the 25-foot contour. In September 2014 most of it was designated a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest together with Hampton Court Park and Hampton Court Golf Course as Bushy Park, the park is Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The area now known as Bushy Park has been settled for at least the past 4,000 years, there is also evidence that the area was used in the medieval period for agricultural purposes. A keen hunter, he established them as deer-hunting grounds and this period also saw the construction of the main thoroughfare, Chestnut Avenue, which runs from Park Road in Teddington to the Lion Gate entrance to Hampton Court Palace in Hampton Court Road. This avenue and the Arethusa Diana Fountain were designed by Sir Christopher Wren as an approach to Hampton Court Palace. The park has long been popular with locals, but also visitors from further afield. From the mid-19th century until World War II, Londoners came here to celebrate Chestnut Sunday, the customs were discovered and resurrected in 1993 by Colin and Mu Pain. Among those who served as ranger was King William IV, while Duke of Clarence, to ensure his consort Queen Adelaide, could remain at their long-time home after his death, he immediately appointed her as his successor as ranger. During World War I, Bushy Park housed the Kings Canadian Hospital, during World War II, General Dwight D. Eisenhower planned the D-Day landings from Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force at Camp Griffiss in the Park. A memorial by Carlos Rey dedicated to the Allied troops who fell on D-Day now marks the spot where General Eisenhowers tent stood, the nearby Eisenhower House is named in the Generals honour. Spaatz went on to command the US Army Air Forces throughout the European Theatre of Operations, also known by its US Army code, AAF-586, Camp Griffiss/Widewing was often confused with the wartime headquarters of Eighth Air Force Fighter Command at Bushey Hall, near Watford, Hertfordshire. It also has fishing and model boating ponds, horse rides, formal plantations of trees and other plants, wildlife conservation areas and herds of both red deer and fallow deer. As part of an upgrade of the facilities, the new Pheasantry Café was added. The work was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the closest railway stations are Hampton Court in East Molesey to the south, Hampton Wick to the east, Teddington and Fulwell to the north, and Hampton to the west. All are within a 10- to 20-minute walk, transport for London bus routes 111,216 and 411 pass the Hampton Court Gate on Hampton Court Road. R70, R68 and 285 buses stop near the two Hampton Hill Gates off the High Street, while the R68 also serves the Blandford Road Gate before continuing to Hampton Court Green via Hampton Hill
18.
Green Park
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The Green Park, usually known without the article simply as Green Park, is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is located in the City of Westminster, central London, Green Park covers 19 hectares between Hyde Park and St. Jamess Park. The park consists almost entirely of mature trees rising out of turf, the park is bounded on the south by Constitution Hill, on the east by the pedestrian Queens Walk, and on the north by Piccadilly. It meets St. Jamess Park at Queens Gardens with the Victoria Memorial at its centre, to the south is the ceremonial avenue of the Mall, and the buildings of St Jamess Palace and Clarence House overlook the park to the east. Green Park tube station is an interchange located on Piccadilly, Victoria. Tyburn stream runs beneath Green Park, the park is said to have originally been swampy burial ground for lepers from the nearby hospital at St Jamess. It was first enclosed in 16th century when it formed part of the estate of Poulteney family and he laid out the parks main walks and built an icehouse there to supply him with ice for cooling drinks in summer. The Queens Walk was laid out for George IIs queen Caroline, it led to the reservoir that held drinking water for St Jamess Palace, called the Queens Basin. The park was known as a duelling ground, one particularly notorious duel took place there in 1730 between William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath and John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol. In 1820, John Nash landscaped the park, as an adjunct to St. Jamess Park, on 10 June 1840, it was the scene of Edward Oxfords assassination attempt on Queen Victoria, on Constitution Hill. The Royal Parks website, The Green Park Virtual journey into Green Park
19.
Greenwich Park
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Greenwich Park is a former hunting park in Greenwich and one of the largest single green spaces in south-east London. One of the Royal Parks of London, and the first to be enclosed, it covers 74 hectares and it commands fine views over the River Thames, the Isle of Dogs and the City of London. The park is open year round, the estate of some 200 acres was originally owned by the Abbey of St. Peter at Ghent, but reverted to the Crown in 1427 and was given by Henry VI to his uncle Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. He built a house by the river, Bella Court, the former evolved first into the Tudor Palace of Placentia and then into the Queens House and Greenwich Hospital. Greenwich Castle, by now in disrepair, was chosen for the site of the Royal Observatory by Charles II in 1675, in the 15th century the park was mostly heathland and probably used for hawking. In the next century, deer were introduced by Henry VIII for hunting, james I enclosed the park with a brick wall, twelve feet high and two miles long at a cost of £2000, much of which remains and defines the modern boundary. In the 17th century, the park was landscaped, possibly by André Le Nôtre who is known at least to have designed plans for it, the public were first allowed into the park during the 18th century. Samuel Johnson visited the park in 1763 and commented “Is it not fine. ”, the famous hill upon which the observatory stands was used on public holidays for mass ‘tumbling’. In the 1830s a railway was driven through the middle of the lower park on a viaduct. However, the London and Greenwich Railway was later extended beneath the ground via a tunnel link between Greenwich and Maze Hill which opened in 1878. In 1888 the park got a station of its own when Greenwich Park railway station was opened, the station was not successful, with most passengers preferring the older Greenwich station, and in 1917 Greenwich Park station and the associated line closed. Greenwich Park was used for outdoor London scenes including representing the street, Constitution Hill in the 2009 film The Young Victoria starring Emily Blunt, the park is roughly rectangular in plan with sides 1000 metres by 750 metres and oriented with the long sides lying NNW to SSE. In what follows this direction is taken to be N to S for ease of exposition and it is located at grid reference TQ390772. The park is on two levels with a number of dips and gullies marking the transition between them. The lower level lies to the north, from there a walk uphill reveals the southern part - a flat expanse that is, essentially. Roughly in the centre, on the top of the hill, is the Royal Observatory, at the northern edge is the National Maritime Museum and Queens House, and beyond those Greenwich Hospital. To the east is Vanbrugh Castle, to the south is Blackheath and in the south western corner is the Rangers House, looking out over heath. To the west lie the architecturally fine streets of Chesterfield Walk, the Observatory is on the top of the hill
20.
Hyde Park, London
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Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in London and one of its Royal Parks. The park is divided by the Serpentine and the Long Water, the park is contiguous with Kensington Gardens, which are often assumed to be part of Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens has been separate since 1728, when Queen Caroline divided them. To the southeast, outside the park, is Hyde Park Corner, during daylight, the two parks merge seamlessly into each other, but Kensington Gardens closes at dusk, and Hyde Park remains open throughout the year from 5 a. m. until midnight. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was held in the park, for which the Crystal Palace, the park became a traditional location for mass demonstrations. The Chartists, the Reform League, the suffragettes, and the Stop the War Coalition have all held protests there, many protesters on the Liberty and Livelihood March in 2002 started their march from Hyde Park. Hyde Park is also a ward of the City of Westminster, the population of the ward at the 2011 Census was 12,462. Hyde Park was created for hunting by Henry Vlll in 1536, Charles I created the Ring, and in 1637 he opened the park to the general public. In 1652, during the Interregnum, Parliament ordered the then 620-acre park to be sold for ready money and it realised £17,000 with an additional £765 6s 2d for the resident deer. In 1689, when William III moved his residence to Kensington Palace on the far side of Hyde Park, public transport entering London from the west runs parallel to the Kings private road along Kensington Gore, just outside the park. In the late 1800s, the row was used by the wealthy for horseback rides, the first coherent landscaping was undertaken by Charles Bridgeman for Queen Caroline, under the supervision of Charles Withers, the Surveyor-General of Woods and Forests, who took some credit. It was completed in 1733 at a cost to the public purse of £20,000, the 2nd Viscount Weymouth was made Ranger of Hyde Park in 1739 and shortly after began digging the Serpentine lakes at Longleat. The Serpentine is divided from the Long Water by a bridge designed by George Rennie, one of the most important events to take place in the park was the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Crystal Palace was constructed on the side of the park. The public did not want the building to remain after the closure of the exhibition and he had it moved to Sydenham Hill in South London. At the age of twenty-five, Decimus Burton was commissioned by the Office of Woods and he laid out the paths and driveways and designed a series of lodges, the Screen/Gate at Hyde Park Corner and the Wellington Arch. The Screen and the Arch originally formed a single composition, designed to provide a transition between Hyde Park and Green Park, although the arch was later moved. An early description reports, It consists of a screen of handsome fluted Ionic columns, the extent of the whole frontage is about 107 ft. The two side gateways, in their elevations, present two insulated Ionic columns, flanked by antae, all these entrances are finished by a blocking, the sides of the central one being decorated with a beautiful frieze, representing a naval and military triumphal procession
21.
Kensington Gardens
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Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, are among the Royal Parks of London. The gardens are shared by the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and sit immediately to the west of Hyde Park, the gardens cover an area of 270 acres. The open spaces of Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park, Kensington Gardens are Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The Gardens are fenced and more formal than Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens are open only during the hours of daylight, whereas Hyde Park is open from 5 am until midnight all year round. Kensington Gardens has been regarded as smart because of its more private character around Kensington Palace. However, in the late 1800s, Hyde Park was considered fashionable, because of its location nearer to Park Lane. Kensington Gardens was originally the section of Hyde Park, which had been created by Henry VIII in 1536 to use as a hunting ground. Bridgeman created the Serpentine between 1726 and 1731 by damming the outflow of the River Westbourne from Hyde Park. The part of the Serpentine that lies within Kensington Gardens is known as The Long Water, at its north-western end in an area known as The Italian Garden, there are four fountains and a number of classical sculptures. At the foot of the Italian Gardens is a boundary marker. The land surrounding Kensington Gardens was predominantly rural and remained undeveloped until the Great Exhibition in 1851. Many of the original features survive along with the Palace, and now there are public buildings such as the Albert Memorial, the Serpentine Gallery. The park also contains the Elfin Oak, an elaborately carved 900-year-old tree stump, the park is the setting of J. M. Barries book Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, a prelude to the characters famous adventures in Neverland. The fairies of the gardens are first described in Thomas Tickells 1722 poem Kensington Gardens, both the book and the character are honoured with the Peter Pan statue by George Frampton located in the park. Rodrigo Fresáns novel Kensington Gardens concerns in part the life of J. M. Barrie and of his creation Peter Pan, the Infocom interactive fiction game Trinity begins in the Kensington Gardens. The player can walk around many sections of the gardens, which are described in moderate detail, list of public art in Kensington Gardens Citations Bibliography Official website The Garden a poem by Ezra Pound set in Kensington Gardens
22.
Regent's Park
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Regents Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It lies within north-west London, partly in the City of Westminster, the population of the Camden ward at the 2011 Census was 13,528. It contains Regents University London and the London Zoo, the park is Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The park has a ring road called the Outer Circle and an inner ring road called the Inner Circle. Apart from two roads between these two, the park is reserved for pedestrians. The south, east and most of the west side of the park are lined with elegant white stucco terraces of houses designed by John Nash, Running through the northern end of the park is Regents Canal, which connects the Grand Union Canal to the former London docks. The northern side of the park is the home of London Zoo, winfield House, the official residence of the U. S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, stands in private grounds in the western section of the park. Nearby is the domed London Central Mosque, better known as Regents Park mosque, located to the south of the Inner Circle is Regents University London, home of the European Business School London, Regents American College London and Webster Graduate School among others. Primrose Hill is also the given to the immediately surrounding district. The public areas of Regents Park are managed by The Royal Parks, the Crown Estate Paving Commission is responsible for managing certain aspects of the built environment of Regents Park. The park lies within the boundaries of the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, the Crown Estate owns the freehold of Regents Park. In the Middle Ages the land was part of the manor of Tyburn, in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Henry VIII appropriated the land, and it has been Crown property ever since, except for the period between 1649 and 1660. It was set aside as a park, known as Marylebone Park. It was then let out in small holdings for hay and dairy produce, when the leases expired in 1811 the Prince Regent commissioned architect John Nash to create a masterplan for the area. However, most of the terraces of houses around the fringes of the park were built. Nash did not complete all the detailed designs himself, in some instances, the scheme is considered one of the first examples of a garden suburb, and continues to influence the design of suburbs. The park was first opened to the public in 1835. On 15 January 1867, forty people died when the ice cover on the lake collapsed
23.
Richmond Park
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Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, was created by Charles I in the 17th century as a deer park. The largest of Londons Royal Parks, it is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation and its landscapes have inspired many famous artists and it has been a location for several films and TV series. Richmond Park includes many buildings of architectural or historic interest, the Grade I-listed White Lodge was formerly a royal residence and is now home to the Royal Ballet School. Historically the preserve of the monarch, the park is now open for all to use and includes a course and other facilities for sport. It played an important role in world wars and in the 1948 and 2012 Olympics. Richmond Park is the largest of Londons Royal Parks and it is the second-largest park in London and is Britains second-largest urban walled park after Sutton Park, Birmingham. Measuring 3.69 square miles, it is comparable in size to Pariss Bois de Vincennes and it is almost half the size of Casa de Campo and around three times the size of Central Park in New York. Of national and international importance for conservation, most of Richmond Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The largest Site of Special Scientific Interest in London, it was designated as an SSSI in 1992, excluding the area of the course, Pembroke Lodge Gardens. In its citation, Natural England said, Richmond Park has been managed as a deer park since the seventeenth century. In particular, Richmond Park is of importance for its diverse deadwood beetle fauna associated with the ancient trees found throughout the parkland, in addition the park supports the most extensive area of dry acid grassland in Greater London. The park was designated as an SAC in April 2005 on account of its having a number of ancient trees with decaying timber. A public open space since the mid C19, Richmond Park is located in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is close to Richmond, Ham, Kingston upon Thames, Wimbledon, Roehampton, day-to-day management of the Royal Parks has been delegated to The Royal Parks, an executive agency of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The Royal Parks Board sets the direction for the agency. Appointments to the Board are made by the Mayor of London, the Friends of Richmond Park and the Friends of Bushy Park co-chair the Richmond and Bushy Parks Forum, comprising 38 local groups of local stakeholder organisations. Although welcoming the principles of the new arrangements, the forum. Richmond Park is enclosed by a wall with several gates
24.
St James's Park
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St Jamess Park is a 23-hectare park in the City of Westminster, central London. The park lies at the southernmost tip of the St Jamess area, the park is the most easterly of a near-continuous chain of parks that comprises Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens. The park is bounded by Buckingham Palace to the west, the Mall to the north, Horse Guards to the east and it meets Green Park at Queens Gardens with the Victoria Memorial at its centre, opposite the entrance to Buckingham Palace. St Jamess Palace is on the side of The Mall. The closest London Underground stations are St Jamess Park, Green Park, Victoria, the park has a small lake, St Jamess Park Lake, with two islands, West Island, and Duck Island, named for the lakes collection of waterfowl. A resident colony of pelicans has been a feature of the park since pelicans were donated by a Russian ambassador in 1664 to Charles II. While most of the time the wings are clipped, there is a pelican who can be flying to the London Zoo in hopes of another meal. The Blue Bridge across the lake affords a view west towards Buckingham Palace framed by trees. Looking east the view includes the Swire Fountain to the north of Duck Island and, past the lake, the grounds of Horse Guards Parade, with Horse Guards, the Old War Office and Whitehall Court behind. To the south of Duck Island is the Tiffany Fountain on Pelican Rock, and past the lake is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with the London Eye, the Shell Tower, and the Shard behind. In 1532, Henry VIII bought an area of marshland through which the Tyburn flowed from Eton College. It lies to the west of York Place acquired by Henry from Cardinal Wolsey, it was purchased in order to turn York Palace, subsequently renamed Whitehall, a 775 metre by 38 metre canal was created as evidenced in the old plan. The king opened the park to the public and used the area to entertain guests and mistresses, such as Nell Gwyn. The park became notorious at the time as a place for impromptu acts of lechery, as described by John Wilmot. In the late-17th and early-18th centuries cows grazed on the park, at the same time, Buckingham House was expanded to create the palace, and Marble Arch was built at its entrance, whilst The Mall was turned into a grand processional route. It opened to public traffic 60 years later in 1887, the Marble Arch was moved to its current location at the junction of Oxford Street and Park Lane in 1851 and the Victoria Memorial was erected between 1906 and 1924. Media related to St Jamess Park at Wikimedia Commons Visitor information at the Royal Parks website
25.
Urban park
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The design, operation and maintenance is usually done by government, typically on the local level, but may occasionally be contracted out to a private sector company. A park is an area of space provided for recreational use. Grass is typically kept short to discourage insect pests and to allow for the enjoyment of picnics, trees are chosen for their beauty and to provide shade. An early purpose-built public park, although financed privately, was Princes Park in the Liverpool suburb of Toxteth and this was laid out to the designs of Joseph Paxton from 1842 and opened in 1843. The land on which the park was built was purchased by Richard Vaughan Yates, the creation of Princes Park showed great foresight and introduced a number of highly influential ideas. First and foremost was the provision of space for the benefit of townspeople. Nashs remodelling of St Jamess Park from 1827 and the sequence of processional routes he created to link The Mall with Regents Park completely transformed the appearance of Londons West End. Liverpool had a presence on the scene of global maritime trade before 1800. The latter was commenced in 1843 with the help of public finance, frederick Law Olmsted visited Birkenhead Park in 1850 and praised its qualities. Indeed, Paxton is widely credited as having one of the principal influences on Olmsted. Another early public park is the Peel Park, Salford, England opened on 22 August 1846, in The Politics of Park Design, A History of Urban Parks in America, Professor Galen Cranz identifies four phases of park design in the U. S. As time passed and the area grew around the parks, land in these parks was used for other purposes, such as zoos, golf courses. These parks continue to draw visitors from around the region and are considered regional parks, because they require a higher level of management than smaller local parks. According to the Trust for Public Land, the three most visited parks in the United States are Central Park in New York, Lincoln Park in Chicago. In the early 1900s, according to Cranz, U. S. cities built neighborhood parks with swimming pools, playgrounds and civic buildings and these smaller parks were built in residential neighborhoods, and tried to serve all residents with programs for seniors, adults, teens and children. Green space was of secondary importance, as urban land prices climbed, new urban parks in the 1960s and after have been mainly pocket parks. One such example of a park is Chess Park in Glendale. This award-winning park was given an award by the American Society of Landscape Architects and these small parks provide greenery, a place to sit outdoors, and often a playground for children
26.
Alexandra Park, London
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Alexandra Park is an 80 hectare, Green Flag Award and Green Heritage winning landscaped park, dominated by Alexandra Palace, in the Borough of Haringey in north London. The name is widely used locally to describe the neighbourhood directly to the north of the park. Alexandra Park is split between hilly terrain and flat ground and it is adjacent to Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green. It is dominated by Alexandra Palace, from 1936 to 1981, the BBC transmitted TV programmes from a tall mast built onto one of the towers of the palace. In 1980, most of the palace was gutted by a huge fire, the building has since been restored and is now a conference and exhibition centre. The vast, tree-lined sloping hill has views over London. On a clear day, the Crystal Palace Transmitter on the far south-east side of London is visible, an Act of Parliament in 1900 created the Alexandra Palace and Park Trust. The Act required the Trustees to maintain the Palace and Park and make available for the free use. The park is named after Queen Alexandra, the wife of King Edward VII, the park has a secondary school named after it called Alexandra Park School. Until September 1970, Alexandra Park hosted horse racing, including many evening meetings that were televised by the BBC, the racecourse in the park grounds was nicknamed the Frying Pan owing to its shape, and boasted an ornate Victorian grandstand and cast-iron railings. Its most prestigious race was the London Cup, Alexandra Park Cricket and Football Club is situated within the old racecourse providing sporting facilities for the local community. It was declared a Local Nature Reserve in 2013, and is also a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade 1. The Park hosts a variety of events throughout the year including, food and craft beer festivals, a summer festival, at the foot of Muswell Hill, the park is host to a farmers market most weeks selling fresh organic produce as well as other products. Alexandra Park also hosts a weekly 5 kilometer Parkrun each Saturday morning, the Friends of Alexandra Park also organise Fungi, Tree, Wild Flower, History, Bat Walks etc. Events coming up in the Park, a medium-sized lake attracts a variety of waterfowl in all seasons, and used to have a large enclosure housing a small herd of fallow deer. The deer were moved to Devon early 2016, the area to the north of the park is known locally as Alexandra Park. The areas identity has been reinforced by its website, Alexandra Park Neighbours. Alexandra Park Racecourse Friends of Alexandra Park - website promoting and protecting Alexandra Park in North London Alexandra Palace official website
27.
Arnos Grove
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Arnos Grove /ˈɑːrnɒs ɡroʊv/ is an area in the south west corner of the London Borough of Enfield, England. It is close to Enfields borders with two other boroughs, Barnet and Haringey, Arnos Grove was previously considered part of Southgate, and then New Southgate. The modern district of Arnos Grove is centred on the end of Bowes Road. The road running from Morton Crescent to Southgate is also called Arnos Grove, the areas name derives from that of an estate called Arnoldes Grove or Arnos Grove, i. e. grove or copse of the Arnold family. The Arnolds were local landowners who are mentioned in documents dating from the 14th century, until the 1930s Arnos Grove was largely undeveloped and rural, and not considered to be an area in its own right. Instead, it was considered to be part of Southgate, although in the late 19th century the area of Colney Hatch began to grow nearby, Arnos Grove was, until the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, owned by the Nuns of Clerkenwell. It was known as Armholt Wood in the 14th century, locals called the estate Arno’s and the next owner, Sir William Mayne, renamed the house and estate Arnos Grove, which is now pronounced as though it never had an apostrophe. In 1777, it was bought by Isaac Walker, the estate was owned from 1777 to 1918 by Walkers of the Taylor Walker brewing family, who bought the nearby Minchenden estate to increase the area of Arnos Grove to over 300 acres. The New River loop ran through the Arnos Grove estate until the nineteenth century, the Arnos Grove mansion was also sold in 1928 to the North Metropolitan Electricity Supply Company. The house was sold to Legal & General in 1975 and renamed Southgate House, in 1997-8 the bulk of the property was converted into a residential care home called Southgate Beaumont with the southern part developed into luxury apartments. On 19 September 1932 Arnos Grove tube station was opened, as part of the extension of the London Underground Piccadilly line to Cockfosters. In the years that followed Arnos Grove changed from an area to being fully developed – the part of the estate to the north of Arnos Park was, for example. The main public facilities at Arnos Grove were built in the 1930s and these include Arnos Pool and Bowes Road Library, both of which underwent major refurbishment in the mid-2000s, like Arnos Grove tube station. The southward expansion of Arnos Grove, which was initiated by the bias of facilities to the south of the estate, was aided by the destruction of parts of New Southgate during World War II. There is now an almost continuous line of shops between Arnos Grove and New Southgate, via Betstyle Circus, making the areas closely linked, today, seven bus routes link Arnos Grove and New Southgate stations. The nearby Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum has been redeveloped as Princess Park Manor, one of the main features of Arnos Grove is Arnos Park. Arnos Park is a remnant of the Arnos Grove estate, and was opened in 1928 after having been purchased by Southgate Council, the Pymmes Brook flows through the park, which contains diverse woodland but is mostly grassy fields. A large brick viaduct, with 34 numbered arches, carries the Piccadilly line beyond Arnos Grove tube station towards Southgate through the end of the park
28.
Barking Park
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Barking Park, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, in east London, is a park covering just under 30 hectares to the east of Barking town centre. It lies north of Longbridge Road, and is near the boundary with Loxford, the park was the first council-controlled park in the Borough, and was established as a classic Victorian park in 1896. It was officially opened on 9 April 1898 by Councillor C. L. Beard JP, the parks most significant feature is a 910 metre long boating lake on the north side of the park. Rowing boats were introduced first, and then on 1 April 1953, motor boats, the paddle steamer continued to operate on the lake until 1967. Other facilities include tennis and basketball courts, two bowling greens, a playground, a waterpark, football pitches and a flower garden. A lido was built in 1931 but this was closed permanently in 1988, the longstanding park cafe was demolished and a roller-skating park built on the site. The park contains a war memorial, renovated in 2000, for men of the Barking Town Urban District who fell in World War I, every year on Remembrance Day a commemorative ceremony is held at the war memorial preceded by music from a local marching band. In 2006 the council received stage one funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to develop a proposal for restoration, funding of over £3 million was approved, and works were completed between 2010 and 2012, including two lengthy new pathways, a childrens play area and splash park. Barking Park Light Railway, a passenger railway, opened in the early 1950s. After being replaced by a diesel locomotive named Little Nan. About halfway along the line, trains went through a level crossing. When trains were not running, the level crossing afforded access to the park from the adjacent Park Avenue and it now features new trains, and new 7 1⁄4 in gauge track, with wheelchair-friendly station access. The new train ran a few times during 2008 but the official grand re-opening took place at Easter in 2009. The previous level crossing was removed, Barking Park, Barking and Dagenham Council Barking Park Light Railway
29.
Barra Hall Park
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Barra Hall Park is an 11. 06-hectare formal park situated near the centre of Hayes in the ward of Townfield in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The park came into existence in December 1923, the main entrance to the park is off Freemans Lane. There are ten entrances altogether, spread around the perimeter of the park, later alterations by the UDC brought the total to £7,000. In 1965, Hayes UDC was integrated into the London Borough of Hillingdon, the Barra Hall building was originally a manor house, formerly known as Grove House. In the late eighteenth century it was home to Alderman Harvey Combe and it passed ownership and in 1871 was bought by Robert Reid. Reid was an auctioneer and surveyor and claimed to descend from the Reids of Barra, after enlarging and refacing the building he changed its name to Barra Hall in 1875. Army Cavalry were stationed here during World War I, on 6 October 2005, a renovated Barra Hall was opened as a Sure Start childrens centre. Barra Hall Park features ornamental lawns, recreational areas, rose and shrub beds, seasonal bedding. The main building within the grounds is a grade-two listed manor house, there is also Barra Hall Open Air Theatre, a bandstand, a refreshment kiosk and a childrens play area. Hayes towns annual carnival, a feature of local life since the 1950s, culminates in a fête. Barra Hall Open Air Theatre is a community venue for music, theatre, on Sunday 5 August 2012, Jeremy Dellers art installation Sacrilege was installed in the park from 10. 30am to 6pm. An estimated 1,400 people visited on the day, the park features a tree sculpture titled Man looking for his dog by Tom Carver Harvey. Parts of Bend it Like Beckham were filmed in the park, parts of Chocolat were filmed in the Barra Hall building. The 195 and H98 stop near Barra Hall Park on Church Road, Hayes town centre is approximately 1 km away, with its many other regular bus services. The closest train station is Hayes and Harlington, which is a little over 1 km walk away, street parking may be found on the surrounding roads near to the entrances
30.
Battersea Park
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Battersea Park is a 200 acre green space at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth in London. It is situated on the bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea and was opened in 1858. The park occupies marshland reclaimed from the Thames and land used for market gardens. Prior to 1846 the area now covered by the park was known as Battersea fields, on 21 March 1829, the Duke of Wellington and the Earl of Winchilsea met on Battersea fields to settle a matter of honour. When it came time to fire, the Duke aimed his duelling pistol wide, Winchilsea later wrote the Duke a groveling apology. Running along the riverside from the fields were industrial concerns and wharves, including a pottery, copper works, lime kiln, chemical works, the site of Battersea Power Station was partly occupied by the famously bawdy Red House Tavern, patronised by Charles Dickens. Access was via the rickety wooden Battersea Bridge or by ferry from the Chelsea bank, the Act was passed in 1846 and £200,000 was promised for the purchase of the land. The Commission for Improving the Metropolis acquired 320 acres of Battersea Fields, of which 198 acres became Battersea Park, opened in 1858, and the remainder was let on building leases. The park was laid out by Sir James Pennethorne between 1846 and 1864, although the park which was opened in 1858 varied somewhat from Pennethornes vision, the park’s success depended on the successful completion of the Chelsea Bridge, declared open in 1858 by Queen Victoria. In her honour, the road alongside the edge of the Park was called Victoria Road. Prince of Wales Road was laid out along the southern boundary, the park hosted the first football game played under the rules of the recently formed Football Association on 9 January 1864. The members of the teams were chosen by the President of the FA, from the 1860s, the park was home to the leading amateur football team Wanderers F. C. winners of the first FA Cup, in 1872. One team they are known to have played at the park was Sheffield F. C. the worlds oldest football team, in 1924, a war memorial by Eric Kennington was unveiled by Field Marshal Plumer and the Bishop of Southwark. It commemorates the over 10,000 men killed or listed as missing presumed dead whilst serving with the 24th East Surrey Division and it is now Grade II* listed. During both wars, anti-aircraft guns and barrage balloons were installed to help protect London from enemy air raids, shelters were dug, part of the park was turned over to allotments for much needed vegetables and a pig farm was also set up. Maintenance of the park was reduced as the war took priority. In 1951 the northern parts of the park were transformed into the Pleasure Gardens as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations, popular attractions included the Guinness Clock, designed by Jan Le Witt and George Him, and the Far Tottering and Oyster Creek Branch Railway. Another part of the transformation was the addition of Battersea Fun Fair, with rollercoasters, swings, roundabouts, the fun fairs most spectacular ride was a rollercoaster called The Big Dipper, which opened in 1951
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Blackheath, London
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Blackheath is an area of south-east London, divided between the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Lewisham, located east of the town of Lewisham, and south of the town of Greenwich. It is notable for its pubs, village-y feel. The name is recorded in 1166 as Blachehedfeld and means the dark coloured heathland and it is formed from the Old English blæc and hǣth and refers to the open space that was the meeting place of the ancient hundred of Blackheath. The name was applied to the Victorian suburb that developed in the 19th century and was extended to the areas known as Blackheath Park. An urban myth is that Blackheath was associated with the 1665 Plague or the Black Death of the mid-14th century, virtually every part of London has a local tradition about plague pits under, say, a local school or shop. The sheer number of bodies meant that the traditional churchyards became, as one put it. During the seventeenth century Blackheath was, along with Hounslow Heath, in 1673 the Blackheath Army was assembled under Marshal Schomberg to serve in the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The Roman road that became known as Watling Street crosses the northern edge of Blackheath, probably heading for the mouth of Deptford Creek. Blackheath was a point for Wat Tylers Peasants Revolt of 1381. Wat Tyler is remembered by Wat Tyler Road on the heath, after pitching camp on Blackheath, Cornish rebels were defeated in the Battle of Deptford Bridge, just to the west, on 17 June 1497. With Watling Street carrying stagecoaches across the heath, en route to north Kent, in 1909 Blackheath had a local branch of the London Society for Womens Suffrage. The Vanbrugh Pits are on the north-east part of the heath, the site of old gravel workings, Vanbrugh Pits have long been reclaimed by nature and form one of the more attractive parts of the generally rather flat Blackheath. It is particularly attractive in spring when the extensive gorse blossoms, the pits are named after Sir John Vanbrugh, architect of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, who had a house nearby, adjacent to Greenwich Park, now called Vanbrugh Castle. Mince Pie House built for his family, survived until 1911, the sizeable estate of Blackheath Park, created on lands of Wricklemarsh Manor by John Cator is situated east of Blackheath. The Cator Estate was built on part of the formerly owned by Sir John Morden. The Cator Estate also contains innovative 1960s Span houses and flats by the renowned Span Developments, St Michael and All Angels Church, designed by local architect George Smith and completed in 1830, was dubbed the Needle of Kent in honour of its tall, thin spire. All Saints Church, situated on the heath, designed by the architect Benjamin Ferrey, another Anglican church, St John the Evangelists, was designed in 1853 by Arthur Ashpitel. The Pagoda is an example of a beautiful property situated in Blackheath
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Brockwell Park
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Brockwell Park is a 50.8 hectare park located between Brixton, Herne Hill and Tulse Hill, bordered by Brixton Water Lane, Norwood Road, Tulse Hill, and Dulwich Road in South London. The park commands views of the skyline of the city and Central London, at the top of the hill within the park stands Brockwell Hall. The Brockwell Lido, a Grade II listed art deco building near the top of the park, is a swimming pool popular with swimmers and bathers. Its attached café/restaurant is also popular, other amenities in Brockwell Park include tennis courts, a bowling green, a BMX track and a miniature railway. The park is home to the Lambeth Country Show, which takes place in July. An annual fireworks display takes place around November 5. There are two festivals held in Brockwell Park in the summer, Brockwell Park is open from 7. 30am to 15 minutes before sunset every day. The Grade II* listed Brockwell Hall was built between 1811-1813 when the area was part of Surrey and was the seat of glass merchant John Blades Esq. The land and house were acquired by the London County Council in March 1891 and opened to the public on 2 June in the following summer, at the unveiling, Bristowe died of a heart attack on the steps of the hall. In 1901 the LCC acquired a further 43 acres of land north of the original park, in the 1920s, there were 13 cricket pitches in the park, which attracted crowds of up to 1,500. Brockwell Park was home to the Galton Institute, a bust of Thomas Bristowe was returned to the Park and unveiled on its 120th birthday,2012. Pop singer Adele told the Sun that she was not performing at festivals in 2011, preferring sitting in Brockwell Park with my friends. Brockwell Park is the setting for the video of Do Your Thing by local band Basement Jaxx. The park is a key location in Mo Hayders crime novel The Treatment
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Burgess Park
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Burgess Park is a public park situated in the London Borough of Southwark, in an area between Camberwell to the west, Walworth to the north, Bermondsey to the east and Peckham to the south. At 56 hectares, it is one of the largest parks in South London, unlike most other parks in London, Burgess Park was carved out of a highly built-up area of the city. Virtually all the now occupied by the park was previously housing, industry. An important stage in the construction of the park was the closure of the Grand Surrey Canal in the early 1970s, which terminated at Addington Wharf on Walworth Road. The Canal served the Surrey Commercial Docks, and the area near Camberwell was full of 19th century streets, houses and industrial buildings, the stretch of canal now incorporated in the Park is the site of Camberwell Wharf, which was virtually straight. Other land incorporated in the park was occupied by housing, while some of this housing was in poor condition, a lot of perfectly serviceable homes were demolished to build the park, and this has resulted in strong local feelings about the park. Named Burgess Park in 1973, it is not complete and contains some former roads which have been stopped up. There are listed buildings in the Park, remnants of the streets once occupied the site, a lime kiln, the library, baths and wash houses. There are also several bridges, which used to cross the canal. There is a thriving Friends of Burgess Park, the park also plays host every August to the Carnaval Del Pueblo, Europes largest celebration of Latin American culture. Burgess Park is one of 11 parks throughout Greater London chosen to receive money for redevelopment by a public vote, Burgess Park received £2m towards better footpaths, more lighting, refurbished public toilets and new play areas for children. Facilities in Burgess Park Friends of Burgess Park Burgess Park - landscape architecture
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Clissold Park
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Clissold Park is a designated community park in Stoke Newington, within the London Borough of Hackney. Its facilities include childrens playgrounds, sports fields, a green, tennis courts, the café and some other attractions including terrapins in its lakes, as well as deer, quail. The park also remains of the New River, and the Capital Ring has some of its paths running through a small section of the park. Clissold House was built, in the half of the 18th century, for Jonathan Hoare. The park was created to be his idyll, and the stretch of water which wends its way around the house was part of the New River. A fountain was erected in 1890 commemorating them, later, the two wildlife ponds were named after them too. Clissold House, the former villa within the park, is a Grade II listed building, in 2007, Clissold Park was voted the Heart of Hackney, in an I Love Hackney Poll organised by Hackney Council. On 30 March 2007 the Heritage Lottery Fund announced the award of a development grant to put forward a bid for a full £4.5 million Park Restoration Grant, the work should restore the park and house to its original 18th-century design. Funding was received from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Big Lottery Fund, Clissold Park received a Green Flag award in July 2008. Clissold House was added to the English Heritage Heritage at Risk Register in 1991, there are no London Underground stations nearby, but within one mile are Manor House, Finsbury Park and Arsenal. The nearest railway stations are Canonbury and Stoke Newington, Clissold Park, and its pond, feature in the Hank Wangford song, Jogging with Jesus. The album Ham by London-band The Chap features a song entitled, the London-based Astrophonica record label features a song by label owners Fracture & Neptune, titled Clissold named after the Park. In Nick Hornbys novel Slam, the character Sam and his girlfriend Alicia often go to Clissold Park, the Aphex Twin track 19 w early morning clissold sunrise is part named after the park. Clissold Park User Group Hackney Tennis Club, Clissold Park
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Crystal Palace Park
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Crystal Palace Park is a Victorian pleasure ground, used for cultural and sporting events. The park features full-scale models of dinosaurs in a landscape, a maze, lakes, and this site contains the National Sports Centre, which includes an athletics stadium. The park is situated halfway along the Norwood Ridge at one of its highest points and this ridge offers views northward to central London, eastward to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge and Greenwich, and southward to Croydon and the North Downs. The park remains a major London public park, after the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, Joseph Paxton appealed for the retention of The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, but the government decreed that the Palace be removed. Paxton formed the Crystal Palace Company, and the issue raised £1.3 million for the purchase of the Palace. The 389 acre site consisted of woodland and the grounds of the known as Penge Place owned by Paxtons friend. Between 1852 and 1854, an enlarged and redesigned Crystal Palace was rebuilt at the new site, the development of ground and gardens of the park cost considerably more than the rebuilt Crystal Palace. The series of fountains constructed required the building of two 284 ft high towers, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, at either end of the palace. The sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was commissioned to make 33 lifesized models, completed in 1854, of the newly discovered dinosaurs, the park was also given a gift of a megatherium skull by Charles Darwin. The rebuilt Crystal Palace was opened by Queen Victoria in June 1854, rail access to the park became possible when the Crystal Palace railway station opened in 1854. In 1864, Thomas Webster Rammell experimented with a 600-yard pneumatic railway in the tunnel between the Sydenham and Penge gates to the park, in 1865, another station, the Crystal Palace railway station opened, but this station closed in 1954. The park has used for various sporting activities from its early days. The Crystal Palace Park Cricket Ground was created on the site in 1857, in 1894, the two largest fountains were grassed over and the south basin was converted to a football stadium in 1895. The stadium was used for the FA Cup Finals for 20 years starting with the 1895 FA Cup Final until 1914, Crystal Palace F. C. also played their home games at the stadium from 1905 to 1915. A400 ft-long Marine Aquarium was built in 1872 on a part of The Crystal Palace site left vacant after a fire in 1866, in 1911, the Festival of Empire was held at the park and the park was transformed with buildings designed to represent the British Empire. Many buildings remained at the site until the 1940s, in 1936, The Crystal Palace burnt down. The south water tower was demolished soon afterwards due to fire damage, the north water tower was demolished in 1941, perhaps to eliminate landmarks that German bombers might use to orient themselves during air raids in the Second World War. The park also housed one of the pioneer speedway tracks, which opened for business in 1928, the Glaziers raced in the Southern and National Leagues up to 1933 when the promotion moved on to a track in New Cross
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Dulwich Park
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Dulwich Park is a 30. 85-hectare park in Dulwich in the London Borough of Southwark, south London, England. The park was created by the Metropolitan Board of Works from former farmland, while the initial design was by Charles Barry, it was later refined by Lt Col J. J. Sexby. It was opened in 1890 by Lord Rosebery, in 2004–6, the park was restored to its original Victorian layout, following a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Dulwich Park contains a café, boating lake and numerous sporting facilities, various types of recumbent bicycles are available for hire. Cars have not been permitted to drive inside the park since 2003, with the exception of disabled badge holders and it is home of Dulwich Park Runners, a minor running club. On 20 December 2011, a sculpture by Barbara Hepworth, Two Forms that resides in the park, was cut from its plinth, old College Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club London Borough of Southwark — Dulwich Park Dulwich Park Friends
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Finsbury Park
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Finsbury Park is a public park in the ward of the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks laid out in the Victorian era, the park borders the districts of Finsbury Park, Harringay, Stroud Green, and Manor House. The park has a mix of ground, formal gardens, avenues of mature trees. There is also a lake, a play area, a cafe. Sports facilities in the park include football pitches, a green, an athletics stadium. Unusually for London, the hosts two facilities for American sports, an American football field, home to the London Blitz. Parkland Walk, a park, provides a route that links the park with Crouch Hill Park, Crouch End. The park was landscaped on the extremity of what was originally a woodland area in the Manor or Prebend of Brownswood. It was part of a large expanse of woodland called Hornsey Wood that was cut further and further back for use as grazing land during the Middle Ages, in the mid-18th century a tea room had opened on the knoll of land on which Finsbury Park is situated. Londoners would travel north to escape the smoke of the capital, around 1800 the tea rooms were developed into a larger building which became known as the Hornsey Wood House/Tavern. A lake was built on the top of the knoll with water pumped up from the nearby New River. There was boating, a shooting and archery range, and probably cock fighting, the Hornsey Wood Tavern was destroyed in the process of making the area into a park, but the lake was enlarged. Once the park had opened, a pub across the road from its entrance along Seven Sisters Road called itself the Hornsey Wood Tavern after the original. This pub was renamed the Alexandra Dining Room and closed for business in April 2007. In 1841 the people of Finsbury in the City of London petitioned for a park to alleviate conditions of the poor, the present-day site of Finsbury Park was one of four suggestions for the location of a park. Originally to be named Albert Park, the first plans were drawn up in 1850, renamed Finsbury Park, plans for the parks creation were ratified by an Act of Parliament in 1857. Despite some local opposition, the park was opened in 1869, during the First World War the park was known as a location for pacifist meetings
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Forster Memorial Park
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Forster Memorial Park, is a public park in London Borough of Lewisham. It is located between Bellingham Road and Whitefoot Lane, Catford – an area referred to as Southend or Southend Village. The nearest stations are Bellingham and Beckenham Hill, the land where the park now stands was donated by H. W. Forster, first MP for Bromley and later Governor General of Australia. The Forster family had lived at Southend Hall from the early 19th century and had an estate covering what was then a rural outpost of London in the county of Kent. The land for the park was donated in memory of H. W. Forster’s two sons, Alfred and John Forster, who died in World War I, and was opened by his daughter in 1922. The park was expanded again in 1937, when land to the north was bought from the Forster Estate Company. The park, which is accessed from Whitefoot Lane, extends to 17 hectares and is unusual for an area in that its central area of open grassland is surrounded by relict ancient woodland. This wood includes ash, hornbeam and oak trees, the woodland’s shrub layer has been found to include some wild service tree, a rare species in the UK that is almost exclusively found in ancient woods and hedgerows. The area has managed since 1999 by the borough’s environmental taskforce. Their work includes removal of invasive species, such as sycamore, the park includes a children’s play area, BMX track, cycle route and cycling proficiency area and a football pitch. Excalibur Estate History of Southend Village, including historic maps Nature conservation report from Lewisham Borough Council
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Hampstead Heath
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Hampstead Heath is a large, ancient London park, covering 320 hectares. This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London Clay. The heath is rambling and hilly, embracing ponds, recent and ancient woodlands, a lido, playgrounds, and a training track, the south-east part of the heath is Parliament Hill, from which the view over London is protected by law. Running along its perimeter are a chain of ponds – including three open-air public swimming pools – which were originally reservoirs for drinking water from the River Fleet. The heath is a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation, lakeside concerts are held there in summer. The heath first entered the books in 986 when Ethelred the Unready granted one of his servants five hides of land at Hemstede. This same land is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as held by the monastery of St. Peters at Westminster Abbey. Over time, plots of land in the manor were sold off for building, particularly in the early 19th century, the main part of the heath was acquired for the people by the Metropolitan Board of Works. Parliament Hill was purchased for the public for £300,000, Golders Hill was added in 1898 and Kenwood House and grounds were added in 1928. From 1808 to 1814 Hampstead Heath hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain which connected the Admiralty in London to its ships in the port of Great Yarmouth. The City of London Corporation has managed the heath since 1989, before that it was managed by the GLC and before that by the London County Council. In 2009, the City of London proposed to upgrade a footpath across the heath into a service-road, the proposal met with protests from local residents and celebrities, and did not proceed. The heath sits astride a sandy ridge that rests on a band of London clay and it runs from east to west, its highest point being 134 metres. As the sand was easily penetrated by rainwater which was held by the clay. Hampstead Heath contains the largest single area of land in Greater London. Buses serve several roads around the heath, the heaths 320 hectares include a number of distinct areas. Hampstead Heath is an important refuge for wildlife, including snakes, foxes, rabbits, slow worms, squirrels. Common kingfishers, jackdaws, pipistrelles and Daubentons bats are seen over the ponds, some introduced species have also thrived at the site, for example muntjac deer, terrapins and ring-necked parakeets
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London Air Park
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London Air Park, also known as Hanworth Air Park, was a grass airfield in the grounds of Hanworth Park House, operational 1917-1919 and 1929-1947. It was on the edge of Feltham, now part of the London Borough of Hounslow. In the 1930s, it was best known as a centre for flying, society events, visits by the Graf Zeppelin airship. Hanworth Park House was built by the Duke of St Albans to replace Old Hanworth Park which was burnt down in 1797, for remains of earlier house see remains listed in Tudor Court and Tudor Close, and Ann Stanhope. It is a two-storeys stock-brick structure and has a tall basement, Hanworth Park House has an impressive 11 French casement windows on both floors, opening on to balcony, a central open pediment and a hipped slate roof, sloping down on all sides. Both floors have cast iron columns or trellis, the ground one has a central Portland stone, Doric, tetrastyle, fluted columned front porch, with a frieze end cornice. In front,17 wide Portland stone steps lead to the house with plain balustrades, a rosette frieze is above the each level. The west side has a balcony on brackets to ground floor, inside the style is Greek stone and plaster with some later alteration. The staircase is of cast iron balusters and with a central glazed lantern above. At the end of 1915, the Whitehead Aircraft Co Ltd, headed by John Alexander Whitehead, manufactured six B. E. 2b aircraft for the Royal Flying Corps, at his factory in Richmond. That was followed by an order for one hundred Maurice Farman MF.11 Shorthorns, Whitehead then purchased the whole of Hanworth Park, plus an area northwest of the park. Since 1915, Hanworth Park House, in the centre of the park, was occupied by the British Red Cross for recuperation of wounded servicemen, the Longford River, flowing northwest-southeast, was partly culverted and covered, to permit aircraft to taxy over it. The original company was taken over by Whitehead Aviation Construction Co Ltd, the first Pups, initially built at Whiteheads Richmond works, were flown from Hanworth aerodrome in early 1917. In 1917, the aerodrome was officially designated an Aircraft Acceptance Park, the factory employed 600 workers in 1916, and by 1918 covered 325,000 sq ft. In 1917, the Whitehead Flying School was formed, using Caudron G. 3s, production of Pups ended in early 1918, when 820 had been completed. The final aircraft production was of 500 Airco D. H. 9s, Whitehead offered several projected aircraft designs, a seaplane was built, but never flown. In 1920, diversification plans failed, Whitehead Aircraft was dissolved,2,000 workers were dismissed, in January 1924, Feltham Garden Suburbs Ltd acquired Hanworth Park and other assets of Whitehead Aircraft. In 1926, Aston Martin purchased buildings at the end of the industrial site nearest to Feltham
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Holland Park
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Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west London. Holland Park has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive large Victorian townhouses, and high-class shops and restaurants. Though there are no boundaries, they are roughly Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road to the west, Holland Park Avenue to the north. Holland Park Avenue is at the boundaries of the four wards of Norland, Holland, Pembridge. Holland Park is about 22 hectares in area, the northern half of the park is semi-wild woodland, the central section around the ruins of Holland House is more formal with several garden areas, and the southernmost section is used for sport. Today the remains of the form a backdrop for the open air Holland Park Theatre. The green-roofed Commonwealth Institute lies to the south, in 2010, the park set aside a section for pigs whose job was to reclaim the area from nettles etc. in order to create another meadow area for wild flowers and fauna. Cattle were used subsequently to similar effect, the district was rural until the 19th century. Most of it was formerly the grounds of a Jacobean mansion called Holland House, in the later decades of that century the owners of the house sold off the more outlying parts of its grounds for residential development, and the district which evolved took its name from the house. It also included some areas around the fringes which had never been part of the grounds of Holland House, notably the Phillimore Estate. In the late 19th century a number of artists and art collectors lived in the area. The group were known as The Holland Park Circle. Holland Park was for the most part comfortably upper middle class when originally developed. Of the nineteenth-century residential developments of the area, one of the most architecturally interesting is The Royal Crescent designed in 1839, the stucco fronted crescent is painted white, in the style of the many Nash terraces which can be elsewhere in Londons smarter residential areas. Today many of these four houses have been converted to apartments. The Royal crescent is listed Grade II, aubrey House is situated to the North-East of the park. Holland Park is now one of the most expensive districts in London or anywhere in the world. Several foreign countries maintain their embassies here, pete Townshends song How Can You Do It Alone includes the narrators reference to a flasher walking up Holland Park Road
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Mayesbrook Park
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Mayesbrook Park is a 43 hectare public park in Dagenham in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It is owned and managed by the borough council, the southern end, which is mainly a large lake, is a Local Nature Reserve. The area covered by the park was part of the historic Manor of Jenkins. The park, which was opened in 1934, was created to meet the need for space for the London County Councils Becontree Housing Estate. The park has a car park, a play area, football pitches, a cricket pitch and pavilion, an athletic track, tennis courts, basketball court. The Mayesbrook Park project has used green infrastructure engineering to address flood water management needs, the southern end has two large lakes which are rich in wildlife, newly planted woodland and rough grassland. The Mayes Brook runs along the western edge, there is access from Lodge Avenue. Mayesbrook is also a ward of the London Borough of Barking, the population of the ward at the 2011 census was 10,342. London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
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Mountsfield Park
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Mountsfield Park is a public park in Catford, near to Hither Green within the London Borough of Lewisham. The nearest railway stations are Hither Green, Catford and Catford Bridge, the house and some 2.5 hectares of parkland lying to the south of it were bequeathed for a park by his widow in 1903, with the park opening to the public in August 1905. Over time, the park was enlarged, with land bought from the School Board for London. An area used for a time as a football ground by Charlton Athletic FC was added to the park in 1923/4. A bombed row of houses in George Lane was added after World War II, a former museum for Stainton’s entomology collections was a tearoom until its demolition in 1981. Today, the park extends to 13 hectares and there are entrances on Stainton Road, Brownhill Road, George Lane, the biggest gates to the Park are on Carswell Road. Facilities include football pitches, tennis courts, ball court and children’s play area, because of its size, location and parking, it is often used for large events, including Lewisham Borough Council’s People’s Day event in July, typically attracting crowds of over 30,000. The park also includes a bandstand, community garden, meadow grassland and it is considered a key park by the borough and has a park keeper on Saturdays and Mondays. Lewisham Council Mountsfield Park page Friends of Mountsfield Park Mountsfield Park archaeological impact assessment by the London Museum, detailing park history and topography
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Old Deer Park
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Old Deer Park is an area of open space within Richmond, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. It is 147 hectares in extent of which 90.37 hectares is classed as private, the park is bounded generally by the River Thames to the west, Kew Gardens to the north, and urban areas of Richmond town to the east and south. Owned by the Crown Estate, the forms part of a larger historic landscape stretching from Richmond to Kew. The low-lying parts of the park alongside the river constitute flood storage areas, a long-term strategy is now being implemented in order to arrest and reverse this decline. In the mid-16th century, Richmond Palace was a residence of Queen Elizabeth I. After the death of Elizabeth, at Richmond, in 1603 a hunting park was established by King James I by means of adding monastic land to the existing park and this then became known as The New Park of Richmond. The present name Old Deer Park was adopted after 1637, following the establishment by King Charles I of the much larger Richmond Park on the side of the town. The majority of Old Deer Park is now occupied by the Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club, within the clubs boundaries are two 18-hole courses, plus a separate area within which lies the Grade I listed Kings Observatory, established by King George III in 1769. To the south-west of the Observatory, under the fairway of the 14th hole of the golf course, lie the foundations of the former Carthusian Sheen Priory. Construction of the line westwards from Richmond Station in 1847/8 restricted the access from Richmond Green to Old Deer Park. This heightened the sense of separation between town and park – alleviating this problem is also part of the new strategy, beside the River Thames in the park are a pair of stone obelisks. They were built in 1874 and were used by the Kings Observatory to observe the transit of Venus across the Sun that year. However, a legend says that they were erected in the 18th century as memorials to two men who lost their lives in a duel over a woman, who drowned herself in the river. The park was used to accommodate 5,000 of the 8,000 Scouts attending the 1st World Scout Jamboree in 1920, the public open spaces are occasionally used for circuses, funfairs and other events. The Old Deer Park has been used a venue for cricket since at least 1867, during its history, the ground has played host to a number of Middlesex Second XI and Surrey Second XI matches. Despite historically being within Surrey, the ground has played host to List-A matches involving Middlesex, in 2001 the Middlesex Cricket Board played their only List-A match at the ground in the 2001 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy against Berkshire. From 2000 to 2004, the ground held 5 List-A matches, starting in the 2003 Twenty20 Cup against Kent, Middlesex have used the ground for 5 Twenty20 matches to date. In local domestic cricket, the ground is the venue of Richmond Cricket Club
45.
Parsloes Park
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Parsloes Park is a 58 hectare public park in Dagenham in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It is owned and managed by the borough council, a small area opposite the Wren Road entrance is managed for wildlife and designated as a Local Nature Reserve called Parsloes Park Squatts. The park derives its name from the Passelewe family, who owned the land in the thirteenth century, the land was acquired by the London County Council in 1923. The park was opened by MP Christopher Addison on 13 July 1935 and it has a childrens play area, football pitches, tennis courts, a basketball court, a bowling green, and a lake. Parsloes Park Squatts is an area of acid grassland with a historic hedge. There are entrances in Parsloes Avenue, Gale Street and Wren Road, Parsloes is also a ward of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. The population of the ward at the 2011 Census was 9,839
