1.
Site of Special Scientific Interest
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The acronym SSSI is often pronounced triple-S I. Sites notified for their biological interest are known as Biological SSSI/ASSIs, SSSI/ASSIs may be divided into management units, with some areas including units that are noted for both biological and geological interest. Biological SSSI/ASSIs may be selected for reasons, which for Great Britain is governed by published SSSI Selection Guidelines. Within each area, a series of the best examples of each significant natural habitat may be notified. Sites of particular significance for various groups may be selected —each of these groups has its own set of selection guidelines. In Scotland, the authority is Scottish Natural Heritage, the role in Wales is performed by Natural Resources Wales. In the Isle of Man the role is performed by the Department of Environment, Food, Geological SSSI/ASSIs are selected by a different mechanism to biological ones, with a minimalistic system selecting one site for each geological feature in Great Britain. Each of these sites is described, with most published in the Geological Conservation Review series, almost all GCR sites are subsequently notified as geological SSSIs, except some that coincide with designated biological SSSI management units. If the exposure becomes obscured, the feature could in principle be re-exposed elsewhere, Conservation of these sites usually concentrates on maintenance of access for future study. These are features which are limited in extent or physically delicate—for example, they include small lenses of sediment, mine tailings, caves, if such features become damaged they cannot be recreated, and conservation usually involves protecting the feature from erosion or other damage. Following devolution, legal arrangements for SSSIs and ASSIs differ between the countries of the UK, the Isle of Man ASSI system is a separate entity. Scottish Natural Heritage publishes a summary of the SSSI arrangements for SSSI owners and occupiers which can be downloaded from the SNH website, legal documents for all SSSIs in Scotland are available on the SSSI Register, hosted by The Registers of Scotland. Further information about SSSIs in Scotland is available on the SNH website, SSSIs are also covered under the Water Resources Act 1991 and related legislation. An SSSI may be made on any area of land which is considered to be of special interest by virtue of its fauna, flora, SSSI notification can cover any land within the area of the relevant nature conservation body, including dry land, land covered by freshwater. The extent to which an SSSI/ASSI may extend seawards differs between countries, in England, Natural England may notify an SSSI over estuarial waters and further adjacent waters in certain circumstances. Access on to SSSIs is the same as for the rest of the countryside of the relevant country, most SSSIs/ASSIs are in private ownership and form parts of working farms, forests and estates. In Scotland, people may use their rights of access to visit SSSIs. When creating a new SSSI/ASSI the designation hs legal effect from the date of notification. g, in Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage must also notify the relevant community councils and community group having registered an interest in the land. )
2.
Greater London
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London, or Greater London, is a region of England which forms the administrative boundaries of London. It is organised into 33 local government districts, the 32 London boroughs, the Greater London Authority, based in Southwark, is responsible for strategic local government across the region and consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The county of Greater London was created on 1 April 1965 through the London Government Act 1963, administratively, Greater London was first established as a sui generis council area under the Greater London Council between 1963 and 1986. The area was re-established as a region in 1994, and the Greater London Authority formed in 2000, the region covers 1,572 km2 and had a population of 8,174,000 at the 2011 census. In 2012, it had the highest GVA per capita in the United Kingdom at £37,232, the Greater London Built-up Area—used in some national statistics—is a measure of the continuous urban area of London, and therefore includes areas outside of the administrative region. The term Greater London has been and still is used to different areas in governance, statistics, history. In terms of ceremonial counties, London is divided into the small City of London, outside the limited boundaries of the City, a variety of arrangements has governed the wider area since 1855, culminating in the creation of the Greater London administrative area in 1965. The Greater London Arterial Road Programme was devised between 1913 and 1916, one of the larger early forms was the Greater London Planning Region, devised in 1927, which occupied 1,856 square miles and included 9 million people. The LCC pressed for an alteration in its boundaries soon after the end of the First World War, noting that within the Metropolitan, a Royal Commission on London Government was set up to consider the issue. The LCC proposed a vast new area for Greater London, with a boundary somewhere between the Metropolitan Police District and the home counties, protests were made at the possibility of including Windsor, Slough and Eton in the authority. The Commission made its report in 1923, rejecting the LCCs scheme, two minority reports favoured change beyond the amalgamation of smaller urban districts, including both smaller borough councils and a central authority for strategic functions. The London Traffic Act 1924 was a result of the Commission, Greater London originally had a two-tier system of local government, with the Greater London Council sharing power with the City of London Corporation and the 32 London Borough councils. The GLC was abolished in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its functions were devolved to the City Corporation and the London Boroughs, with some functions transferred to central government and joint boards. Greater London was used to form the London region of England in 1994, a referendum held in 1998 established a public will to recreate an upper tier of government to cover the region. The Greater London Authority, London Assembly and the directly elected Mayor of London were created in 2000 by the Greater London Authority Act 1999, in 2000, the outer boundary of the Metropolitan Police District was re-aligned to the Greater London boundary. The 2000 and 2004 mayoral elections were won by Ken Livingstone, the 2008 and 2012 elections were won by Boris Johnson. The 2016 election was won by Sadiq Khan, Greater London continues to include the most closely associated parts of the Greater London Urban Area and their historic buffers. Thus it includes, in five boroughs, significant parts of the Metropolitan Green Belt which protects designated greenfield land in a way to the citys parks
3.
Grid reference
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Grid references define locations on maps using Cartesian coordinates. Grid lines on maps define the system, and are numbered to provide a unique reference to features. Grid systems vary, but the most common is a grid with grid lines intersecting each other at right angles. The grid numbers on the east-west axis are called Eastings, numerical grid references consist of an even number of digits. Thus in a 6 digit grid reference 123456, the Easting component is 123, grids may be arbitrary, or can be based on specific distances, for example some maps use a one-kilometre square grid spacing. A grid reference locates a unique square region on the map, the precision of location varies, for example a simple town plan may use a simple grid system with single letters for Eastings and single numbers for Northings. A grid reference in this system, such as H3, locates a particular square rather than a single point and these points can then be located by someone else using grid references, even if using maps of a different scale. In the Universal Transverse Mercator system, grid reference is given by three numbers, zone, easting and northing, in the UTM system, the earth is divided into 60 zones. Northing values are given by the north, or south of the equator. Easting values are established as the distance from the meridian of a zone. The central meridian is arbitrarily set at 500,000 metres, a position 100 kilometres west of a central meridian would have an easting of 400,000 metres. Due to its popularity, and worldwide cover, the UTM system is used worldwide by NATO as well as countries, including Australia. In the United Kingdom, a grid system is used. Since the Eastings and Northings are one kilometre apart, a combination of a Northing, the convention is the grid reference numbers call out the lower-left corner of the desired square. In the example map below, the town Little Plumpton lies in the square 6901, even though the writing which labels the town is in 6802 and 6902, the more digits added to a grid reference, the more precise the reference becomes. To locate a specific building in Little Plumpton, a further two digits are added to the reference to create a six-digit reference. The extra two digits describe a position within the 1-kilometre square, imagine a further 10x10 grid within the current grid square. Any of the 100 squares in the superimposed 10×10 grid can be described using a digit from 0 to 9
4.
SSSI notification
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The acronym SSSI is often pronounced triple-S I. Sites notified for their biological interest are known as Biological SSSI/ASSIs, SSSI/ASSIs may be divided into management units, with some areas including units that are noted for both biological and geological interest. Biological SSSI/ASSIs may be selected for reasons, which for Great Britain is governed by published SSSI Selection Guidelines. Within each area, a series of the best examples of each significant natural habitat may be notified. Sites of particular significance for various groups may be selected —each of these groups has its own set of selection guidelines. In Scotland, the authority is Scottish Natural Heritage, the role in Wales is performed by Natural Resources Wales. In the Isle of Man the role is performed by the Department of Environment, Food, Geological SSSI/ASSIs are selected by a different mechanism to biological ones, with a minimalistic system selecting one site for each geological feature in Great Britain. Each of these sites is described, with most published in the Geological Conservation Review series, almost all GCR sites are subsequently notified as geological SSSIs, except some that coincide with designated biological SSSI management units. If the exposure becomes obscured, the feature could in principle be re-exposed elsewhere, Conservation of these sites usually concentrates on maintenance of access for future study. These are features which are limited in extent or physically delicate—for example, they include small lenses of sediment, mine tailings, caves, if such features become damaged they cannot be recreated, and conservation usually involves protecting the feature from erosion or other damage. Following devolution, legal arrangements for SSSIs and ASSIs differ between the countries of the UK, the Isle of Man ASSI system is a separate entity. Scottish Natural Heritage publishes a summary of the SSSI arrangements for SSSI owners and occupiers which can be downloaded from the SNH website, legal documents for all SSSIs in Scotland are available on the SSSI Register, hosted by The Registers of Scotland. Further information about SSSIs in Scotland is available on the SNH website, SSSIs are also covered under the Water Resources Act 1991 and related legislation. An SSSI may be made on any area of land which is considered to be of special interest by virtue of its fauna, flora, SSSI notification can cover any land within the area of the relevant nature conservation body, including dry land, land covered by freshwater. The extent to which an SSSI/ASSI may extend seawards differs between countries, in England, Natural England may notify an SSSI over estuarial waters and further adjacent waters in certain circumstances. Access on to SSSIs is the same as for the rest of the countryside of the relevant country, most SSSIs/ASSIs are in private ownership and form parts of working farms, forests and estates. In Scotland, people may use their rights of access to visit SSSIs. When creating a new SSSI/ASSI the designation hs legal effect from the date of notification. g, in Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage must also notify the relevant community councils and community group having registered an interest in the land. )
5.
Hampton Court Palace
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Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the town of East Molesey, Richmond upon Thames, Greater London, England,11.7 miles south west and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Redevelopment began to be carried out in 1515 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, in 1529, as Wolsey fell from favour, the King seized the palace for himself and later enlarged it. Along with St Jamess Palace, it is one of two surviving palaces out of the many owned by King Henry VIII. In the following century, King William IIIs massive rebuilding and expansion project, work ceased in 1694, leaving the palace in two distinct contrasting architectural styles, domestic Tudor and Baroque. While the palaces styles are an accident of fate, a unity exists due to the use of pink bricks, King George II was the last monarch to reside in the palace. In addition, London Buses routes 111,216,411, the structure and grounds are cared for by an independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces, which receives no funding from the Government or the Crown. In addition the palace continues to display a number of works of art from the Royal Collection. The palaces Home Park is the site of the annual Hampton Court Palace Festival, Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, Chief Minister and favourite of Henry VIII, took over the site of Hampton Court Palace in 1514. It had previously been a property of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, over the following seven years, Wolsey spent lavishly to build the finest palace in England at Hampton Court. Wolsey rebuilt the manor house to form the nucleus of the present palace. Today, little of Wolseys building work remains unchanged, the first courtyard, the Base Court, was his creation, as was the second, inner gatehouse which leads to the Clock Court which contained his private rooms. The Base Court contained forty-four lodgings reserved for guests, while the court contained the very best rooms – the state apartments – reserved for the King. Henry VIII stayed in the apartments as Wolseys guest immediately after their completion in 1525. Perpendicular Gothic owed nothing historically to the Renaissance style, yet harmonised well with it and this blending of styles was realised by a small group of Italian craftsmen working at the English court in the second and third decades of the sixteenth century. They specialised in the adding of Renaissance ornament to otherwise straightforward Tudor buildings and it was one of these, Giovanni da Maiano who was responsible for the set of eight relief busts of Roman emperors which were set in the Tudor brickwork. Wolsey was only to enjoy his palace for a few years, in 1528, knowing that his enemies and the King were engineering his downfall, he passed the palace to the King as a gift. Wolsey died two years later in 1530, within six months of coming into ownership, the King began his own rebuilding and expansion. Henry VIIIs court consisted of one thousand people, while the King owned over sixty houses and palaces
6.
Kingston upon Thames
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Kingston upon Thames, also known as Kingston, is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned, Kingston is situated 10 miles southwest of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Kingston lies approximately 33 feet above sea level, Kingston was part of a large ancient parish in the county of Surrey and the town was an ancient borough, reformed in 1835. It has been the location of Surrey County Hall from 1893, most of the town centre is part of the KT1 postcode area, but some areas north of Kingston railway station have the postcode KT2 instead. The population of the town itself, comprising the four wards of Canbury, Grove, Norbiton, Kingston was called Cyninges tun in 838, Chingestune in 1086, Kingeston in 1164, Kyngeston super Tamisiam in 1321 and Kingestowne upon Thames in 1589. The name means the manor or estate from the Old English words cyning. It belonged to the king in Saxon times and was the earliest royal borough and it was first mentioned in 838 as the site of a meeting between King Egbert of Wessex and Ceolnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury. Kingston lay on the boundary between the ancient kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia, until in the tenth century when King Athelstan united both to create the kingdom of England. Probably because of the symbolic location, several tenth-century kings were crowned in Kingston, Æthelstan in 925, Eadred in 946. Other kings who may have been crowned there are Edward the Elder in 902, Edmund in 939, Eadwig in 956, Edgar in about 960 and Edward the Martyr in 975. It was initially used as a block, but in 1850 it was moved to a more dignified place in the market before finally being moved to its current location in the grounds of the guildhall. Well known aviation personalities Sydney Camm, Harry Hawker and Tommy Sopwith were responsible for much of Kingstons achievements in aviation. British Aerospace finally closed its Lower Ham Road factory in 1992, part of the site was redeveloped for housing but the riverside part houses a community centre. The growth and development of Kingston Polytechnic and its transformation into Kingston University has made Kingston a university town, Kingston upon Thames formed an ancient parish in the Kingston hundred of Surrey. The parish of Kingston upon Thames covered an area including Hook, Kew, New Malden, Petersham, Richmond, Surbiton, Thames Ditton. The town of Kingston was granted a charter by King John in 1200, but the oldest one to survive is from 1208, other charters were issued by later kings, including Edward IVs charter that gave the town the status of a borough in 1481. The borough covered a smaller area than the ancient parish, although as new parishes were split off the borough. The borough was reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, becoming the Municipal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames and it had been known as a Royal borough through custom and the right to the title was confirmed by George V in 1927
7.
Surbiton
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Surbiton is a suburban area of south-west London within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated next to the River Thames,11.0 miles south west of central London, Surbiton possesses a mixture of Art-Deco courts, more recent residential blocks and grand 19th century townhouses blending into a sea of semi-detached 20th century housing estates. See the article on Thomas Pooley for his rôle in the establishment of the town of Surbiton. See also the article on the Municipal Borough of Surbiton for the period 1855–1965 and this resulted in the line being routed further south, through a cutting in the hill south of Surbiton. Surbiton railway station opened in 1838, and was originally named Kingston-upon-Railway and it was only renamed Surbiton to distinguish it from the new Kingston railway station on the Shepperton branch line, which opened on 1 January 1869. The present station has an art deco façade and it was once home to Surbiton Studios which were owned by Stoll Pictures, before the company shifted its main production to Cricklewood Studios. The Pre-Raphaelite painters John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt came to Surbiton in 1851,26 years before Richard Jefferies, Millais used the Hogsmill River, in Six Acre Meadow, Tolworth, as the background for his painting Ophelia. Holman Hunt used the fields just south of this spot as the background to The Hireling Shepherd, in the mid-1870s the novelist Thomas Hardy lived in a house called St. Davids Villa in Hook Road, Surbiton for a year after his marriage to Emma Gifford. H. G. Wells, in his comic novel The Wheels of Chance, describes the cycle collision of Mr Hoopdriver and a Young Lady in Grey, the young lady approaching along an affluent from the villas of Surbiton. The writer Enid Blyton was governess to a Surbiton family for four years from 1920, at a house called Southernhay, middelton, who broadcast on gardening during the Second World War, lived in Surbiton, where he died suddenly outside his home. The artist who brought Rupert the Bear to life for a whole generation Alfred Bestall sketched out his cartoons from his home in Cranes Park, other names for the town include the Surbs and the Tron in reference to 80s movies The Burbs and Tron. Surbiton station features in the 2009 film version of Harry Potter, filming took place in November 2007. The station also appears in Agatha Christies Poirot, The Adventure of the Clapham Cook, a TV adaptation of the story by Agatha Christie. Surbiton receives a mention in the seventh chapter of the James Bond novel On Her Majestys Secret Service by Ian Fleming. The guitarist and singer-songwriter Eric Clapton purchased one of his first guitars from a shop in Surbiton called Bells, Surbiton is served by a number of regular bus services. London Buses routes 71,281,406,418,465, K1, K2, K3, Surbiton railway station provides rail links with London, Surrey and Hampshire. For education in Surbiton see the main Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames article, until the early 19th century, Surbiton, like Norbiton, lay in the parish of All Saints, Kingston upon Thames. As a result, Surbitons three parish churches all date back to the Victorian era, the two Anglican ones, Saint Marks and Saint Andrews, are located in the town centre
8.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
9.
Historic Royal Palaces
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Historic Royal Palaces is an independent charity that manages some of the United Kingdoms unoccupied royal palaces. In 1998 it became an independent charity, which is contracted by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and it receives no funding from the Government or the Crown, depending on the support of visitors, members, donors, volunteers and sponsors. 4.25 million people visited the palaces in the 2014–15 financial year, occupied royal palaces, such as Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, are maintained by the Royal Household Property Section, and some are open to the public. The organisation is jointly curated by Lucy Worsley and Tracy Borman, list of British royal residences Tales from the Palaces
10.
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
11.
River Thames
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The River Thames is a river that flows through southern England, most notably through London. At 215 miles, it is the longest river entirely in England and it also flows through Oxford, Reading, Henley-on-Thames and Windsor. The lower reaches of the river are called the Tideway, derived from its tidal reach up to Teddington Lock. It rises at Thames Head in Gloucestershire, and flows into the North Sea via the Thames Estuary, the Thames drains the whole of Greater London. Its tidal section, reaching up to Teddington Lock, includes most of its London stretch and has a rise, in Scotland, the Tay achieves more than double the average discharge from a drainage basin that is 60% smaller. Along its course are 45 navigation locks with accompanying weirs and its catchment area covers a large part of South Eastern and a small part of Western England and the river is fed by 38 named tributaries. The river contains over 80 islands, in 2010, the Thames won the largest environmental award in the world – the $350,000 International Riverprize. The Thames, from Middle English Temese, is derived from the Brittonic Celtic name for the river, Tamesas, recorded in Latin as Tamesis and yielding modern Welsh Tafwys Thames. It has also suggested that it is not of Celtic origin. A place by the river, rather than the river itself, indirect evidence for the antiquity of the name Thames is provided by a Roman potsherd found at Oxford, bearing the inscription Tamesubugus fecit. It is believed that Tamesubugus name was derived from that of the river, tamese was referred to as a place, not a river in the Ravenna Cosmography. The rivers name has always pronounced with a simple t /t/, the Middle English spelling was typically Temese. A similar spelling from 1210, Tamisiam, is found in the Magna Carta, the Thames through Oxford is sometimes called the Isis. Ordnance Survey maps still label the Thames as River Thames or Isis down to Dorchester, richard Coates suggests that while the river was as a whole called the Thames, part of it, where it was too wide to ford, was called *lowonida. An alternative, and simpler proposal, is that London may also be a Germanic word, for merchant seamen, the Thames has long been just the London River. Londoners often refer to it simply as the river in such as south of the river. Thames Valley Police is a body that takes its name from the river. The marks of human activity, in cases dating back to Pre-Roman Britain, are visible at various points along the river
12.
River Colne, Hertfordshire
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The Colne is a river in England which is a tributary of the River Thames. Just over half its course is in south Hertfordshire, downstream, the Colne is the boundary between Buckinghamshire and London and finally between corners of Berkshire and Surrey. Although their main purpose was not drinking water, these artificial streams can be likened to the New River in scale, crossing its route, viaducts and canals, such as the Grand Union Canal have been recognised for pioneering engineering during the Industrial Revolution. Digging for gravel and clay along its course south of Rickmansworth has created a long belt of pits which have flooded to become lakes. Many of these are important habitats for wildlife and protected as nature reserves, the river, meadows and many once gravel-producing lakes form the Colne Valley regional park in total covering 43 square miles. The Colne rises perennially from a river at a spring in North Mymms Park in Hertfordshire. Two occasionally dry tributaries, a brook and the Mimmshall Brook start 2.5 to 4 mi from the source at golf courses in Barnet, at Borehamwood and in fields by Northaw Place. This underground stretch under the old centre of North Mymms runs for 1.1 mi from swallow holes of the two brooks in the part of that parish named Water End. The Colne Brook splits off as a distributary between New Denham and Uxbridge, after this, at West Drayton, the Frays River rejoins and the Wraysbury River and Duke of Northumberlands River divide off. The Colnes drainage basin is bordered by a range of Thames tributaries to the east and west, including the Crane, Brent and Lea to the east and Wye to the west. To the north of Tring a modest ridge acts as a watershed, separating the Colnes drainage basin from that of the River Great Ouse, which flows north and east towards the Wash. The villages of Colney Heath east of St Albans, London Colney south of St Albans, Colney Street north of Radlett and Colnbrook between Slough and Heathrow take their name from the river. Three Rivers district covers an area of Hertfordshire named after the River Colne, the river underwent considerable change in the 1790s, when the Grand Junction Canal was routed along the valley and still takes the river channel for part of its course. Construction began from Brentford, where it used for 3 miles the channel of the River Brent, to reach the Midlands it continued along the river channel until its junction with the River Gade, which it ran parallel to, but did not take over the channel. The Slough Arm was built in 1882 which required three aqueducts to carry it close to its junction with the Grand Junction, to cross the Frays River, the River Colne and the Colne Brook. There are two London Coal Duty markers beside the river, which points at which duty became payable on coal entering the London area. It is 5 feet high and is painted white, the second is a stone obelisk,13 feet high, with a square base, which was erected at Colne Bridge in 1861. It was moved from its position to the other side of the river in 1984
13.
Deer park (England)
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In medieval and Early Modern England, a deer park was an enclosed area containing deer. It was bounded by a ditch and bank with a park pale on top of the bank. The ditch was on the increasing the effective height. Some parks had deer leaps, where there was an external ramp, some deer parks were established in the Anglo-Saxon era and are mentioned in Anglo-Saxon Charters, these were often called hays. After the Norman conquest of England in 1066 William the Conqueror seized existing game reserves, Deer parks flourished and proliferated under the Normans, forming a forerunner of the deer parks that became popular among Englands landed gentry. The Domesday Book of 1086 records thirty-six of them, initially the Norman kings maintained an exclusive right to keep and hunt deer and established forest law for this purpose. In due course they also allowed members of the nobility and senior clergy to maintain deer parks, at their peak at the turn of the 14th century, deer parks may have covered 2% of the land area of England. James I was an enthusiast for hunting but it became less fashionable, the number of deer parks then declined, contemporary books document other more profitable uses for such an estate. Deer parks are notable features in their own right. To establish a park a royal licence was required, known as a licence to empark—especially if the park was in or near a royal forest. Because of their cost and exclusivity, deer parks became status symbols, thus the ability to eat venison or give it to others was also a status symbol. Consequently, many parks were maintained for the supply of venison. Small deer parks which functioned primarily as household larders were attached to many smaller manors, such grants acted as common features of the mediaeval social machinery. King Henry VIII appointed Sir William Denys an Esquire of the Body at some date before 5 June 1511. This grant is witnessed by a charter on parchment, to which is affixed a rare example of a great seal of Henry VIII. It clearly was handed down with the deeds of the manor on the termination of the Denys era at Dyrham. The charter is of exceptional interest as it is signed as witnesses by men of the greatest importance in the state, also that they may have free warren in all their demesne lands within the said manor. Thomas Surrey, Treasurer of England and George Shrewsbury, steward of our household, Charles Somerset Lord Herbert, our chamberlain and George Neville of Abergavenny, barons
14.
Fallow deer
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The fallow deer is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. Some taxonomers include the rarer Persian fallow deer as a subspecies, the male fallow deer is known as a buck, the female is a doe, and the young a fawn. Adult bucks are 140–160 cm long, 85–95 cm in height, and typically 60–100 kg in weight, does are 130–150 cm long, 75–85 cm in shoulder height. The largest bucks may measure 190 cm long and weigh 150 kg, Fawns are born in spring around 30 cm and weigh around 4.5 kg. Their lifespan is around 12–16 years, much variation occurs in the coat colour of the species, with four main variants, common, menil, melanistic, and leucistic – a genuine colour variety, not albinistic. The white is the lightest coloured, almost white, common and menil are darker, common, Chestnut coat with white mottles, it is most pronounced in summer with a much darker, unspotted coat in the winter. The light-coloured area around the tail is edged with black, the tail is light with a black stripe. Menil, Spots are more distinct than common in summer and no black is seen around the patch or on the tail. In winter, spots are still clear on a brown coat. Melanistic, All-year the coat is black shading to greyish brown, no light-coloured tail patch or spots are seen. Leucistic, Fawns are cream-coloured, adults become pure white, especially in winter, dark eyes and nose are seen, with no spots. Most herds consist of the common coat variation, yet animals of the menil coat variation are not rare, the melanistic variation is generally rarer, and white is very much rarer still, although wild New Zealand herds often have a high melanistic percentage. Only bucks have antlers, which are broad and shovel-shaped from three years, in the first two years, the antler is a single spike. They are grazing animals, their habitat is mixed woodland. Agile and fast in case of danger, fallow deer can run at a speed of 30 mph over short distances. Fallow deer can also make jumps up to 1.75 m high, the fallow deer is a Eurasian deer that was a native to most of Europe during the last interglacial. The fallow deer was introduced to the Victoria Island in the Province of Neuquén by billionaire Aaron Anchorena and he freed wildlife of European and Asian origin, making them common inhabitants of the island and competing for land and food with the native huemul and pudu deer. The fallow deer was spread across central Europe by the Romans, until recently, the Normans were thought to have introduced them to Great Britain for hunting in the royal forests
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A308 road
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The A308, is a road in England in two parts. The road is dualled each way in the section furthest from the River Thames, in north Surrey, having skipped over the 2 miles rise bisecting Putney and 2 miles of Putney Heath, which are the A219 road and A3, the road resumes. The long Kingston Vale to Bisham route starts at the Robin Hood Gate roundabout, the road is named Kingston Vale and Kingston Hill until it descends past Kingston Hospital, where it becomes London Road. Immediately after snaking through central Kingston upon Thames, the crosses the River Thames at Kingston Bridge where it has another roundabout. The A308 in this borough is called Hampton Court Road, briefly Thames Street, the largely straight road from Hampton Court was surfaced and tolled in the 1780s by the Hampton and Staines Turnpike Trust. In the west its buildings were set back with gardens and therefore it was widened in Spelthorne in the 1920s and it crosses the M25 motorway, that has a large cross-river junction at Junction 13, north of Egham. The road turns north-west, as Windsor Road, in the middle of Runnymedes meadows, with its National Trust buildings and memorials, before leaving Surrey, in Berkshire, the A308 forms the main road of the town of Old Windsor, where it is called Straight Road. It then goes on past the end of Windsor Great Park, where it is called Albert Road. In Windsor, the A308 is called Osborne Road, Goslar Way, facing this on the river is the larger, equally well-preserved and green town of Marlow
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Thomas Wolsey
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Thomas Wolsey was an English churchman, statesman and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the Kings almoner, the 1515 appointment of Wolsey as a cardinal by Pope Leo X gave him precedence even over the Archbishop of Canterbury. The highest political position Wolsey attained was Lord Chancellor, the Kings chief adviser, in that position, he enjoyed great freedom and was often depicted as an alter rex. After failing to negotiate an annulment of Henrys marriage to Catherine of Aragon and he retreated to York to fulfill his ecclesiastical duties as Archbishop of York, a position he nominally held, but had neglected during his years in government. He was recalled to London to answer to charges of treason — a common charge used by Henry against ministers who fell out of favour —, Thomas Wolsey was born about 1473, the son of Robert Wolsey of Ipswich and his wife Joan Daundy. Widespread traditions identify his father as a butcher and a cattle dealer, Wolsey attended Ipswich School and Magdalen College School before studying theology at Magdalen College, Oxford. On 10 March 1498 he was ordained as a priest in Marlborough, Wiltshire and remained in Oxford, first as the Master of Magdalen College School, between 1500 and 1509 he held the living of Church of Saint Mary, Limington, in Somerset. In 1502 he left and became a chaplain to Henry Deane, archbishop of Canterbury and he was then taken into the household of Sir Richard Nanfan, who made Wolsey executor of his estate. After Nanfans death in 1507, Wolsey entered the service of King Henry VII, Wolsey benefitted from Henry VIIs introduction of measures to curb the power of the nobility - the king was willing to favour those from more humble backgrounds. Henry VII appointed Wolsey royal chaplain, in this position Wolsey served as secretary to Richard Foxe, who recognized Wolseys innate ability and dedication and appreciated his industry and willingness to take on tedious tasks. Thomas Wolseys remarkable rise to power from humble origins testifies to his intelligence, administrative ability, industriousness, ambition for power, in April 1508, Wolsey was sent to Scotland to discuss with King James IV rumours of the renewal of the auld alliance. Wolseys rise coincided with the accession of the new English monarch, Henry VIII, whose character, policies and diplomatic mindset differed significantly from those of his father. In 1509 Henry appointed Wolsey to the post of Almoner, a position that gave him a seat on the Privy Council, providing an opportunity to raise his profile and to establish a rapport with the King. A factor in Wolseys rise was the young Henry VIIIs relative lack of interest in the details of governing during his early years, Henry soon appointed to his Privy Council individuals more sympathetic to his own views and inclinations. Warham and Foxe, who failed to share the Kings enthusiasm for the French war which started in 1512, fell from power, in 1515, Warham resigned as Lord Chancellor, probably under pressure from the King and from Wolsey, and Henry appointed Wolsey in his place. Wolsey carefully tried to destroy or neutralise the influence of other courtiers, Wolseys rise to a position of great secular power paralleled his increased responsibilities in the Church. He became a Canon of Windsor in 1511, the year that he became a member of the Privy Council. In 1514 he was made Bishop of Lincoln, and then Archbishop of York in the same year, Pope Leo X made him a cardinal in 1515, with the titular church S. Cæciliæ trans Tiberim
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Henry VIII of England
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Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. Henry was the second Tudor monarch, succeeding his father, Henry VII, Henry is best known for his six marriages and, in particular, his efforts to have his first marriage, to Catherine of Aragon, annulled. Despite his resulting excommunication, Henry remained a believer in core Catholic theological teachings, domestically, Henry is known for his radical changes to the English Constitution, ushering in the theory of the divine right of kings to England. Besides asserting the supremacy over the Church of England, he greatly expanded royal power during his reign. Charges of treason and heresy were commonly used to quash dissent, and he achieved many of his political aims through the work of his chief ministers, some of whom were banished or executed when they fell out of his favour. Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Richard Rich and his contemporaries considered Henry in his prime to be an attractive, educated, and accomplished king, and he has been described as one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne. He was an author and composer, as he aged, Henry became severely obese and his health suffered, contributing to his death in 1547. He is frequently characterised in his life as a lustful, egotistical, harsh. He was succeeded by his son Edward VI, born 28 June 1491 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London, Henry Tudor was the third child and second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Of the young Henrys six siblings, only three – Arthur, Prince of Wales, Margaret, and Mary – survived infancy and he was baptised by Richard Fox, the Bishop of Exeter, at a church of the Observant Franciscans close to the palace. In 1493, at the age of two, Henry was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. He was subsequently appointed Earl Marshal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at age three, and was inducted into the Order of the Bath soon after. The day after the ceremony he was created Duke of York, in May 1495, he was appointed to the Order of the Garter. Henry was given an education from leading tutors, becoming fluent in Latin and French. Not much is known about his early life – save for his appointments – because he was not expected to become king, as Duke of York, Henry used the arms of his father as king, differenced by a label of three points ermine. In 1502, Arthur died at the age of 15 of sweating sickness, Arthurs death thrust all his duties upon his younger brother, the 10-year-old Henry. After a little debate, Henry became the new Duke of Cornwall in October 1502, Henry VII gave the boy few tasks. Young Henry was strictly supervised and did not appear in public, as a result, the young Henry would later ascend the throne untrained in the exacting art of kingship
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Longford River
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It was built for King Charles I in 1638/39 as a water supply for Hampton Court, and water features in Bushy Park were added in 1710. Its course has been diverted more than once as London Heathrow Airport has grown and its cascades, grassed banks and fountains in Bushy Park were restored and reopened to the public in 2009 to close to their original state. Most recently they were diverted as part of the Twin Rivers Diversion Scheme to allow the construction of Terminal 5, the two rivers emerge to flow along the Airports southern perimeter, separating at Two Bridges just east of Terminal 4. The river then forms the boundary between Hampton and Hampton Hill before crossing over the Shepperton Branch Line on an aqueduct and running through Bushy Park to Hampton Court, ownership, which comes with an upkeep cost is with the Royal Parks Agency. Relatively small, laws have rarely been needed to be used against others related to pollution or various offences of dumping and it was designed by Nicholas Lane, and took around nine months to build, at a cost of £4,000. At Longford, Bath Road crosses the Duke of Northumberlands River, the Longford River and it was once the main route to the southwest, but has since been bypassed to the north by the A4 road, which crosses the Colne above its junction with the Longford River. Longford Bridge carries Bath Road over the Dukes River, while Moor Bridge carries it over the Colne, a bridge was built over the Longford River when it was constructed, but it was demolished in 1648, and is known to have been reinstated by 1675. It was known as Stone Bridge in the century. Another name change had taken place by 1960, when it was known as Kings Bridge. Before the 20th century, the river was known variously as the New River, the Kings River, the Queens River, the Cardinals River, the Hampton Court Cut, and the Hampton Court Canal. Before Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 was built, the Longford River, as part of that project they were re-routed in open channels around the west edge of the airport. A new 3. 7-mile channel was constructed for each river, over 75 per cent of which were made from pre-cast panels manufactured off-site. Despite this construction method, biodiversity was encouraged by the use of hazel hurdles and coir rolls, pre-planted with native species, habitat for fish was provided by creating meandering flow patterns using gravel and recycled trees, and the channels were populated with some 84,000 river plants. The scheme took 18 months to complete, and is now managed by the Twin Rivers Management Committee, with representatives from Heathrow Airport, the Environment Agency, at its eastern end, the river fed water features in Bushy Park and Hampton Court. To celebrate his queen, Henrietta Maria, Charles I had a statue and fountain made, which called the Diana fountain depicts Arethusa. This was moved to Hampton Court from Somerset House by Oliver Cromwell, the water gardens in Bushy Park were developed by the 1st Earl of Halifax in 1710. During the First World War, Bushy Park was used to station Canadian troops, general Eisenhower was based there when the Allied invasion of north-west Europe was planned, which began with the D-Day landings. Most of the huts erected to them had been removed by 1963
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Upper Lodge Water Gardens
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The Upper Lodge Water Gardens are a partially restored complex of early eighteenth century Water Gardens in Bushy Park, England. The two ends of the remain in Bushy Park as part of the route of the Longford river. The central sections were modified or even filled in, and the Upper Lodge they were built for was rebuilt in 1840, the Octagonal Upper pond and, the lower pond and the cascade that separate them were restored and are now open to the public. Another restored pond lies in the gardens of Upper Lodge. The partial restoration was part of a major £7,200,000 refurbishment of Bushy Park, twickenham Museum retrieved 25 April 2011
20.
Teddington Lock
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Teddington Lock is a complex of three locks and a weir on the River Thames in England at Ham in south west London. The lock is on the side of the river. The river downstream of the lock, known as the Tideway, is tidal, though Teddington marks the tidal limit, in periods of very high fluvial flow the tidal influence can be seen as far upstream as East Molesey, location of the second lock on the Thames. The Teddington lock complex consists of three locks, a launch lock, a very large barge lock and a small skiff lock. The barge lock has a set of gates in the middle so it can operate in two sizes. The large bow shaped weir stretches across to Teddington from an island upstream of the lock which also acts as the point for the two bridges making up Teddington Lock Footbridge. Stephen Leach took over the post of Clerk of Works for the First District in 1802, just before his retirement, Truss has proposed locks at Molesey and Teddington, each having a weir with long tumbling bays, similar to modern practice. John Rennie had suggested a series of cuts in 1794. Rennie and William Jessop again proposed four long cuts in 1805, each about 1.5 miles long, zacchary Allnutt, by then Surveyor for the Second and Third Districts, stretching from Staines to Mapledurham, suggested locks at Chertsey, Sunbury and Teddington in 1805. Rennie submitted new proposals in 1809, with nine locks between Staines and Twickenham, two would be without weirs, while the other seven would require large weirs to be built in the river. An Act of Parliament was obtained by the City of London Corporation in June 1810, each would be 150 by 20 feet with the associated weir having ample capacity for flood conditions. Rennie, Leach and the Navigation Committee visited the sites in July, Leach then took charge of the work, which was undertaken by contractors Joseph Kimber and John Dows who also built Sunbury Lock. Work at Teddington started in September 1810, but there were delays caused by flooding in November and December, the lock was finished and opened in June 1811, but the weir was incomplete. The lock was further upstream than the present lock complex at the point where the footbridge now crosses and it comprised three pairs of gates as stipulated in the act. Total cost for lock, cut, weir, ballast and ground was £22,035 10s, 7 1⁄2d. of which the land from Lord Dysarts estate cost £282 10s. The lock was, at first, highly unpopular with the fishermen and bargemen. After attempts to smash it, the keeper was granted permission to keep a blunderbuss with bayonet attached thereto to ward off attacks on the lock. By 1827 the timber lock needed considerable repair and in 1829 the weir was destroyed by an accumulation of ice and it is noted that in 1843 the lock-keeper prevented a steam vessel from coming through the lock
21.
Royal Mews
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A Royal Mews is a mews of the British Royal Family. In London the Royal Mews has occupied two sites, formerly at Charing Cross, and since the 1820s at Buckingham Palace. The site is open to the public much of the year. The first set of stables to be referred to as a mews was at Charing Cross at the end of The Strand. The royal hawks were kept at this site from 1377 and the name derives from the fact that they were confined there at moulting time, the building was destroyed by fire in 1534 and rebuilt as a stables, keeping its former name when it acquired this new function. On old maps, such as the Woodcut map of London of the early 1560s, the Mews can be seen extending back towards the site of todays Leicester Square. This building was known as the Kings Mews, but was also sometimes referred to as the Royal Mews. It was rebuilt again in 1732 to the designs of William Kent, the present Royal Mews is in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, to the south of Buckingham Palace Gardens, near Grosvenor Place. However, when his son George IV had Buckingham Palace converted into the royal residence in the 1820s the whole stables establishment was moved. The old Mews at Charing Cross was demolished and Trafalgar Square was built on the site, the current Royal Mews was built to designs by John Nash and were completed in 1825. The buildings have been modified extensively since, the Royal Mews is regularly open to the public. The state coaches and other carriages are kept there, along with about 30 horses, together with their modern counterparts, coachmen, grooms, chauffeurs and other staff are accommodated in flats above the carriage houses and stables. A few of the carriages stored at the Mews are pictured here in action, vehicles in the care of the Royal Mews are listed below. A good number are on display though not all are kept in London. Most are in use, and some are driven on a daily basis. Others are only used on great and rare State occasions, the horses in the Royal Mews today are for the most part either Windsor Greys or Cleveland Bays, though this has not always been the case. The horses are regularly exercised in the art of pulling carriages, they are used for competitive, the manure that is produced by the horses is used by the adjacent garden at Buckingham Palace. The maintenance and provision of modern motor vehicles is as much a part of the work of the Royal Mews as that of carriages and horses, the State and semi-state Cars are all painted in claret and black, the five State Cars are without number plates
22.
The Long Water
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The Long Water is a recreational lake in Kensington Gardens, London, England, created in 1730 at the behest of Queen Caroline. The Long Water refers to the long and narrow western half of the lake that is known as the Serpentine, Serpentine Bridge, which marks the boundary between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, also marks the Long Waters eastern boundary. The Long Water and the Serpentine are generally considered to be part of one lake, originally the lake was fed by the River Westbourne entering at the Italian Garden at the north-western end of the Long Water. The Westbourne ceased to provide the water for the Serpentine in 1834, as the river had become polluted, the water is now supplied by three boreholes drilled into the Upper Chalk. The first borehole is located at the Italian Gardens, the second at the Diana Memorial, the Long Water runs south-east from this point to Serpentine Bridge, where the lake curves to the east, following the natural contours of the land. At the eastern end, water flows out of the lake via a sluice in the dam, the outflow has not historically maintained the waterfall, and re-circulation pumps were installed in the Dell, below the dam, to sustain this feature. The restoration work in 2012 restored the flows into the Serpentine, the lake as a whole has a maximum depth of 17 feet. The lake is reported to be deeper, but bathymetric surveys by the Royal Park in 2010 revealed the design of the lake. In 1730 Queen Caroline, wife of George II, ordered the damming of the River Westbourne in Hyde Park as part of a redevelopment of Hyde Park. Original monastic ponds may have existing in the location and these were modified as part of the 1730–1732 scheme to create a single lake, at that time, the Westbourne formed eleven natural ponds in the park. During the 1730s, the lake filled to its current size, at the time of construction, artificial lakes were typically long and straight. The Serpentine was one of the earliest artificial lakes designed to appear natural, shelley married Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin less than two weeks later. However, it was the location for the 1977 Silver Jubilee celebrations, in the 1820s, the park was extensively redesigned by Decimus Burton. At the northern end of the Long Water are five fountains surrounded by classical statuary, in recent years there has been an ongoing campaign for the memorial to be moved to the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square. The Long Water is designated as a bird sanctuary and it has important populations of breeding waterfowls, and in winter there are many migratory visitors. A2005 survey showed it as home to 90 species of moth alone, on the western bank of the Long Water, deliberately hidden in foliage, is a bronze sculpture of Peter Pan by George Frampton. The real world elements of the play and novel were set in the park, Kensington Gardens and the Long Water official home page
23.
Diana Fountain, Bushy Park
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Originally created for Somerset House in the 1630s, and remodelled about 1690, the fountain has stood since 1713 in Bushy Park, and now forms a large traffic island in Chestnut Avenue. It is the point of two major vistas designed by Sir Christopher Wren, including Chestnut Avenue which is the ceremonial landward approach to Hampton Court Palace. The traffic island is circular and contains a 400-foot diameter pool surrounded by lawns, the fountain was listed as Grade II in 1952, and in February 2011 reclassified as Grade I. The bronze sculptures were commissioned by Charles I for Queen Henrietta Marias garden at Somerset House in central London. The Somerset House base was lower, and the pool much smaller. The central figure is naked in the drawing, and parts of the design are closely copied from engravings of earlier fountains in Bologna and Augsburg. The execution of the statue which forms the pinnacle of the tableaux has been attributed to Hubert Le Sueur. It is in an inventory of 1659 that the figure is first called Arethusa. Wren, supervising William Talman, completed this part of the project in 1713 during the reign of Queen Anne. The lower rusticated part, disproportionately tall, was erected for the new site in Bushy Park, and the central figure was gilded, apparently for the first time, for its re-erection. The female figure on top of the fountain has over her long life been known as Diana, Arethusa, Venus and even Prosperina, and recently some younger visitors take her for Diana, Princess of Wales. The official view is now firmly that she represents Arethusa, although the fountain continues to be known as the Diana Fountain, and dissident views are still held by some parties. In the 297 years after the statue was relocated to its current site in the park, many of the waterspouts became clogged and only four were functioning before the renovations of 2009/10. During World War II the pool was drained and part of Chestnut Avenue was used for Camp Griffiss, the first headquarters of SHAEF, the base closed in the 1950s and Chestnut Avenue was subsequently restored. The complex was renovated in 2010 and the statue was re-gilded. The Diana Fountain is at the junction of two long straight tree lined avenues, Lime Avenue and Chestnut Avenue which cross at right angles, the Junction is off centre to both Avenues. Chestnut Avenue Chestnut Avenue crosses Bushy Park from Teddington to Hampton Court Palace, there are multiple rows of horse chestnut trees on both sides of Chestnut Avenue. It was part of the route for the road race cycling event at the 2012 Summer Olympics
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Hampton Court Palace Flower Show
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The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is the largest flower show in the world. The Show is held in early July, and run by the Royal Horticultural Society at Hampton Court Palace in southwest London, the show features show gardens, floral marquees and pavilions, talks and demonstrations. The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show was the brainchild of the management consultant Adrian Boyd, similarly, Network Southeast, one of the temporary aggregations thrown up by the pre-privatisation of British Rail, was looking for ways of making its rail services more profitable. Boyds idea was that Network Southeast should sponsor a show at Hampton Court. At the time the RHS Shows Department was working on four new events for 1993, in Birmingham, Harrogate, Wembley, in July 1990 the first Hampton Court Palace Flower Show was held. An effort was made to people to the show with special trains being laid from Waterloo Station. Even though there was little trade support for the show. Network Southeast was pleased, saying 70 per cent of the estimated 300,000 visitors used rail, the RHS debated whether to offer to help with the show, especially when Chelsea reached full capacity. The organisers, after dismissal, indicated that they would welcome an RHS involvement from 1992. In November 1992 came the announcement that Network Southeast was withdrawing its support for the show, a flurry of negotiations took place, Boyd, having no title to the Show, had to join in competitive tendering by blind bid. We have around £1m worth of tentage and tons and tons of staging equipment, the venture was a risky one, with four new shows already booked for 1993. The first RHS Hampton Court Show took place in 1993, with sponsorship from the Daily Mail. The Show was a success, and the following year was declared to be the best outdoor public event of 1994. In 1998 a Hampton Court garden was rebuilt at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, while Chelsea remained the most prestigious of the Society’s shows, Hampton Court was the largest, and readily marketed as such. Within a couple of years the investment in Hampton Court had been more than recouped, highlights for the 2011 Show included The World Vision garden by FlemonsWarLandDesign which focused on childrens vision in poorer countries. Conceptual garden Land Obscured by Dan Lobb invited visitors to the garden to view it through a periscope to see it from a new perspective. In 2012 a selection of gardens based on poems by well-known English poets was also introduced alongside a stunning Rose marquee inspired by Alice in Wonderland, the Show is always held on a Tuesday until Sunday, usually ending on the second Sunday in July. 2007 show was on 3–8 July,2008 show was on 8–13 July
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Royal Horticultural Society
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The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England, as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861. The Royal Horticultural Society is the UKs leading gardening charity and claims to be the world’s largest gardening charity, the RHS quotes its charitable purpose as The encouragement and improvement of the science, art and practice of horticulture in all its branches. The current Director General is Sue Biggs, the charity promotes horticulture through flower shows such as the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, RHS Tatton Park Flower Show and RHS Cardiff Flower Show. It also supports training for professional and amateur gardeners, the creation of a British horticultural society was suggested by John Wedgwood in 1800. The society would also award prizes for gardening achievements, Wedgwood discussed the idea with his friends, but it was four years before the first meeting, of seven men, took place, on 7 March 1804 at Hatchards bookshop in Piccadilly, London. Banks proposed his friend Thomas Andrew Knight for membership, the proposal was accepted, despite Knights ongoing feud with Forsyth over a plaster for healing tree wounds which Forsyth was developing. Knight was President of the society from 1811–1838, and developed the societys aims, in 2009, more than 363,000 people were members of the society, and the number increased to more than 414,000 in 2013. Membership and fellowship of the society were previously decided by election, Fellowship may be secured through a suggested £5,000 donation each year. Members and Fellows of the Royal Horticultural Society are entitled to use the post-nominal letters MRHS and FRHS, respectively. The Royal Horticultural Societys four major gardens in England are, Wisley Garden, near Wisley in Surrey, Rosemoor Garden in Devon, Hyde Hall in Essex and Harlow Carr in Harrogate, the Societys first garden was in Kensington, from 1818–1822. In 1821 the society leased part of the Duke of Devonshires estate at Chiswick to set up an experimental garden, from 1827 the society held fêtes at the Chiswick garden, and from 1833, shows with competitive classes for flowers and vegetables. In 1861 the RHS developed a new garden at South Kensington on land leased from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, the Chiswick garden was maintained until 1903–1904, by which time Sir Thomas Hanbury had bought the garden at Wisley and presented it to the RHS. RHS Garden Wisley is thus the societys oldest garden, Rosemoor came next, presented by Lady Anne Berry in 1988. Hyde Hall was given to the RHS in 1993 by its owners Dick, Dick Robinson was also the owner of the Harry Smith Collection which was based at Hyde Hall. The most recent addition is Harlow Carr, acquired by the merger of the Northern Horticultural Society with the RHS in 2001 and it had been the Northern Horticultural Societys trial ground and display garden since they bought it in 1949. In 2013, more than 1.63 million people visited the four gardens, in 2015, the RHS announced plans for a fifth garden at Worsley New Hall, Greater Manchester, under the name RHS Garden Bridgewater. The RHS is well known for its flower shows which take place across the UK. The most famous of these shows being the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and this is followed by the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and RHS Tatton Park Flower Show in Cheshire
26.
Chelsea Flower Show
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Held at Chelsea since 1912, it is the most famous flower and landscape gardens show in the United Kingdom, and perhaps in the world, attracting visitors from all continents. Highlights to the Chelsea Flower Show include the avant-garde show gardens designed by leading names with Floral Marquee at the centrepiece, the Show also features smaller gardens such as the Artisan and Urban Gardens. The first Royal Horticultural Society Great Spring Show was held in 1862, before this date the RHS had held flower shows from 1833 in their garden in Chiswick, which themselves had been preceded by fetes. The Kensington Garden was chosen as a site because the shows in Chiswick were experiencing falling visitor numbers due to problems such as poor transport links. The Great Spring Show was held at Kensington for twenty-six years, the roses for which these Temple Gardens were famous were alluded to in Shakespeares Henry VI Part 1. Using two marquees requisitioned from the old Kensington shows the 1888 show was a success with exhibits from both amateurs and commercial firms, by 1897 five marquees were being used with many of the best known plant and seed merchants being attracted to the event including Suttons and Sons. In 1912, the Temple Show was cancelled to make way for the Royal International Horticultural Exhibition, sir Harry Veitch, the great nurseryman, secured the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, for this one-off event. It proved such a site for an exhibition that the Great Spring Show was moved there in 1913. The RHS first became involved with the Chelsea Hospital in 1905, the Summer Shows reverted to Holland House for the years thereafter, except in 1911, when both it and Chelsea proved unavailable, and the Show was held at the Olympia exhibition hall. Accordingly, for 1913, the Great Spring Show was moved there, the first Chelsea Flower Show opened on May 20. The Summer Show reverted to Holland House, despite the First World War, the show was held 1914–1916, but was cancelled in 1917 and 1918. By the roaring 1920s, the Chelsea Flower Show was back in full swing, in 1926 the show was held a week late due to the General Strike. In 1937, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth celebrated their Coronation Year, and to mark the occasion and it featured wattles from Australia, pines from Canada, brilliant gladioli from East Africa and even a big prickly pear from Palestine. The show was cancelled during the Second World War, as the land was required by the War Office for an anti-aircraft site, some doubt arose as to whether the show would resume in 1947. As it turned out, the show went ahead in 1947, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 was a sufficient cause for a flower show that reflected the celebratory mood of the country. Most members of the family attended that year. Due to other commitments, the member of the family unable to attend was the Queen herself. And the Show went on to increase in popularity throughout the half of the century – until its popularity became its major problem
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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
28.
Victoria County History
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In 2012 the project was rededicated to HM Queen Elizabeth II in celebration of her Diamond Jubilee year. Since 1933 the project has been coordinated by the Institute of Historical Research in the University of London and these phases have also been characterised by changing attitudes towards the proper scope of English local history. 1904 stated that there is no Englishman to whom does not in one or other of its features make a direct appeal. From 1902 the joint general editors were A. Henry Doubleday, Doubleday resigned in 1904, leaving Page as sole general editor until his death in 1934. In 1932 Page bought the rights to the project for a nominal sum. Page was succeeded as editor by L. F. Salzman. From 1909 until 1931 Frederick Smith, later 2nd Viscount Hambleden, was the VCHs major sponsor, in February 2005 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the VCH £3,374,000 to fund the Englands Past for Everyone project, which ran from September that year until February 2010. Some inactive counties have recently been reactivated, there are now more than 230 VCH volumes, with around three new volumes published per year. Each is published with a red cover, and they are sometimes known as the big red books. When the Institute of Historical Research published a history of the project to mark the 75th anniversary of taking it over. A special edition Jubilee book was published in 2012, A Diamond Jubilee Celebration 1899-2012, a map showing the publication status appears on the VCH website. From its inception, responsibility for writing the volumes was delegated to local editors for each individual county, the county editors traditionally worked under the direction of a general editor, following a uniform format and style. These volumes are followed by others consisting of detailed surveys of each Hundred, Wapentake and Ward. Large towns are dealt with as a whole, including, since the 1960s, built-up areas of adjoining, under the original plan, each county, in addition to its general and topographical volumes, was to have a genealogical volume containing the pedigrees of county families. Genealogical volumes were published in a folio format for Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire, but the research costs were found to be excessive. Some of the county histories have been completed, horace Round John William Willis-Bund Oswald Barron Cambridge County Geographies English county histories Historiography of the United Kingdom Beckett, J. V. Local history, family history and the Victoria County History, new directions for the twenty-first century, the Thoroton Society and the Victoria County History. Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire, libraries and the Victoria County History
29.
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
30.
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
31.
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
32.
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
33.
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
34.
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
35.
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
36.
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
37.
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
38.
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
39.
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
40.
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
41.
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
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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
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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
