London’s Royal Parks: An Introduction
Despite its status as the world’s premier global city, London is also famous for its green spaces. Its tree-lined avenues, numerous parks and many gardens help to make it a place where you are just as likely to see a tree as you are to see tarmac. Known as the ‘lungs of London’, these green spaces are often an oasis of calm amongst the hustle and bustle of the city.
The biggest and best of these green spaces are the eight Royal Parks. They total over five thousand acres and are open to the public for their enjoyment and leisure. All of them date back centuries and have gone from being walled enclosures to being accessible public spaces. The public has no legal right to use any of the parks. Although the ‘grace and favour of The Crown’, does allow for access.
London’s Royal Parks consist of eight spaces:
- Bushy Park
- Green Park
- Greenwich Park
- Hyde Park
- Kensington Gardens
- Regent’s Park
- Richmond Park
- St James’s Park
It is easy to think of them as merely being green spaces, but they offer so much more. They all have fascinating histories. Many also have historic buildings, world-leading museums as well as amusing stories. Whether you go for a walk, a picnic or a rock concert, this article will ensure you get the most out of your visit.
Bushy Park – 445 hectares/1,100 acres
A downloadable map and details about Bushy Park are available from the Royal Parks website.
Located within the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames, Bushy Park is the second largest of all the Royal Parks. Richmond Park, the largest royal park, is also nearby. This part of London has a reputation for being leafy. Having two Royal Parks helps make this a great part of London in which to live.
It became a royal park when the land and the adjacent Hampton Court Palace, was given to Henry VIII by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1529. Henry used the park mostly for hunting deer. One of the first things he did was to build a wall around the park to keep the local peasants out. Parts of this Tudor wall remain along Hampton Court Road.
During the reign of Charles I in 1639, the River Longford, that now runs through the park was created. It was dug by hand to enable more water to be brought water to Hampton Court Palace. It now looks and feels as if it has been there forever.
Sir Christopher Wren added a mile-long avenue of trees known as Chestnut Avenue by during the reign of William III & Mary II. It is part of a processional route through the park to Hampton Court Palace. Between 1708 and 1723, Wren lived close to Bushy Park at the ‘The Old Court House’ on Hampton Court Road. Although the building still stands, it can only be admired from the outside as it is in private ownership. There is an English Heritage blue plaque on the outside to commemorate its former occupant.
At one end of Chestnut Avenue is a large pond with a bronze statue in the middle of it. Known as the Diana Foundation, the stature is of Henrietta Maria, the Queen of King Charles I.
There are two historic lodges within the park: Bushy House and Upper Lodge. Constructed in 1663 and rebuilt in 1715, Bushy House has been used by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) since 1900. It is the national measurements standards laboratory for the UK. It has carried out world-leading research on atomic clocks, computing and packet switching. Alan Turing is famous for his codebreaking work at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. He is also considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and worked at NPL between 1945 and 1947. Turing lived close to Bushy Park at 78 High Street, Hampton. Again, there is an English Heritage blue plaque marking his former home.
Although the history of Upper Lodge is older than Bushy House, the current building dates only from the 1840s. It was used as a convalescent home for Canadian troops during the First World War. A Totem Pole still commemorates this link with Canada. There is also the Canadian Glade contained within the Waterhouse Woodland Gardens within the park.
From 1942 onwards, Bushy Park became the site of Camp Griffiss a large US military base. General Dwight D. Eisenhower headquartered the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) at Camp Griffiss. Most of the planning for Operation Overlord took place here for the D-Day landings in Normandy, in 1944. There are memorials to the USAAF and SHEAF in the north-eastern corner of the park.
Today, the park is famous for its green walks, waterways, fountains and herds of red and fallow dear that are free to roam the park. The Pheasantry Café is open for drinks and refreshments, and parking is available at multiple locations.
Hampton Court Palace is right next door to Bushy Park and is also well worth a visit.
Green Park – 19 hectares/47 acres
A downloadable map and details about Green Park are available from the Royal Parks website.
Green Park is more officially known as The Green Park. The name is said to derive from the lack of formal flower beds within the park (although there are wild daffodils). Legend has it that Queen Catherine of Braganza, the wife of Charles II, demanded that all flowers be removed from the park after she caught him picking them for another woman.
It is located in the central London borough of the City of Westminster and is the smallest of all royal parks. Piccadilly bounds it to the North, Mayfair to the East, Buckingham Palace to the South and Hyde Park Corner to the west. The Tyburn stream, one of London’s many lost rivers, runs beneath the park.
It was first enclosed in the early 16th century using land that was originally a burial ground for lepers from St James’s Hospital. St James’s Palace now stands on the site of the former leper hospital! In 1668, after Charles II enclosed the land, a wall was built around it. The park was at that time known as Upper St James’s Park. The King used the park to take his daily ‘constitutional’ walk. Constitution Hill, which runs between the park and the grounds of Buckingham Palace, commemorates this.
Renamed Green Park in 1746, it remained a favourite place for members of the Royal Family. Queen Caroline, the wife of George II, had a reservoir built, known as the Queen’s Basin, a library as well as a wide path known as the Queen’s Walk. John Nash landscaped the park in the 1820s. Gradually, all the buildings demolished and the Queen’s Basin filled in. By 1855, the park would have been as you see it today. No lakes, no buildings and no formal flower beds.
The entrance to the park closest to Buckingham Palace is known as the Canada Gate. The gate was a gift from Canada and featured the crests of all the Canadian provinces. Just beyond this, lies the Canada Memorial. Unveiled by Her Majesty the Queen in 1994, it commemorates the Canadians who served alongside British forces during both World Wars.
At the top of Constitution Hill leading onto Hyde Park Corner is a memorial known as the Memorial Gates. It commemorates those from Africa, the Caribbean and the Indian Sub-Continent who lost their lives during both World Wars.
Most poignant of all is the newest monument in Green Park, the one dedicated to Bomber Command. It commemorates the 55, 573 Bomber Command crew who lost their lives during World War Two. They flew, knowing full well that their chances of survival were slim. An estimated forty-five per cent of all Bomber Command airman lost their lives during the war. The memorial is a fitting and powerful tribute and certainly worth visiting if you are in the area.
The park, the area outside Buckingham Palace and much of St James’s Park, is still lit by gas lamps. This gives any night-time stroll the feeling of having stepped back in time.
Greenwich Park – 74 hectares/180 acres
A downloadable map and details about Greenwich Park are available from the Royal Parks website.
Located in the London Borough of Greenwich, it sits to the east of central London. Greenwich itself has a long and proud maritime history. With stunning views of the River Thames and the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf beyond, Greenwich Park is one of London’s most iconic locations. The park is also part of a World Heritage Site and Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. This alone tells you that Greenwich Park is somewhere unique.
The land that now makes up the park was given to Humphry, Duke of Gloucester by Henry VI in 1427. He set about building a house, called Bella Court, down next to the river. He also built a small castle called Duke Humphry’s Tower up on the hill. The house would eventually become the Palace of Placentia (also known as Greenwich Palace). Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and Mary I were all born here, and it is where Edward VI died. From 1692, the site became the Greenwich Hospital for retired Royal Navy sailors. Then from 1873, it was the Royal Naval College (now known as the Old Royal Naval College). Duke Humphry’s Tower would become Greenwich Castle until Charles II replaced it with the Royal Observatory in 1675. Both sites are now part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage site.
Henry VIII introduced deer to the park, and James I enclosed it by building a wall around it. Much of this wall remains. Next to a portion of it in the South West corner of the park are the remains of a bath used by Queen Caroline, the estranged wife of George VI. Known as Queen Caroline’s Bath, it was part of the now-demolished Montagu House. While Caroline lived here, rumours of her infidelity spread throughout the country. After being accused of giving birth to an illegitimate child, she fled abroad in 1815 and Montagu House was demolished. Some walls of the house now form part of the boundary wall of the park. Bricked up windows can be seen in places, indicating its previous usage.
In 1616, Queen Anne, the wife of James I, commission the architect Inigo Jones to build a Palladian style palace. Known at the Queen’s House, it was completed in 1635, long after Queen Anne had died, and still stands today. Its importance to British architectural history is why it is both Grade I listed and a scheduled ancient monument.
Right next to the Queen’s House is the National Maritime Museum. This world-leading institution celebrates both British and global maritime history. There are many fascinating artefacts on display. The highlight has to be the jacket worn by Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson when killed at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
In 1675, Charles II agreed to the construction of a Royal Observatory on the remains of Greenwich Castle. Located on the top of the hill with far-reaching views of London, it was the perfect place to build. Sir Christopher Wren, assisted by Robert Hooke, built the original building, known as Flamsteed House. It was the first purpose-built scientific research facility established in England. Although the no longer used for active research, the cluster of buildings, still known as the Royal Observatory, Greenwich are open to the public as a museum and planetarium.
The Royal Observatory was used to gather data for the star atlases used by the Admiralty for navigation. Improvement in these charts led to the increasing use of the Greenwich Meridian as the standard across the world. It was formally adopted across the globe as the Prime Meridian in 1884 (the line that divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western hemispheres). The Prime Meridian is today marked by a line through the Royal Observatory and is a popular tourist attraction.
Overlooking the stunning view of the River Thames and Canary Wharf is an iconic statue of General James Wolfe. It commemorates Wolfe’s victory over the French at the Battle of Quebec which secured Canada as a British territory. General Wolfe was killed during the battle and is buried at St Alfege church a short walk away.
As well as its more modern history, our distant ancestors also used the site. Remains discovered in the east of the park are of a Romano-Celtic temple. An Anglo-Saxon burial mound exists in the west of the park. Sadly, there is no longer much to see at either site, although both locations have information boards.
During the London Olympics in 2012, Greenwich Park hosted the Equestrian, Modern Pentathlon and the Paralympic Equestrian events. A temporary arena was built and then dismantled at the end of the games.
Hyde Park – 142 hectares/350 acres
A downloadable map and details about Hyde Park are available from the Royal Parks website.
Hyde Park is probably the most famous out of all the Royal Parks. The rectangular area of land that most people refer to as Hyde Park is two separate parks: Hyde Park itself and Kensington Gardens. To the east of West Carriage Drive and the Serpentine Bridge is the part known as Hyde Park. To the west, it is Kensington Gardens. I will discuss both in this article as most people think of them as the same place. During the day, it is almost impossible to see any difference. Only at night does any difference becomes apparent. Kensington Gardens closes at dusk whereas Hyde Park stays open until midnight.
Westminster Abbey owned the land in the Middle Ages. Acquired by Henry VIII in 1636, he enclosed it and turned into a deer park. King James I granted limited access (for gentlefolk only) with full, public access granted in 1637 by Charles I. After the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, Charles II took back full ownership of the park. He closed it to the public and built a brick wall around it!
In 1689 William III moved into Kensington Palace. He had a drive laid out across the Southern edge of the park, known as the Kings Private Road. It ran from Hyde Park Corner at the eastern end of the park to Kensington Palace in the west. Today it is known as Rotten Row which is a corruption of ‘Route de Roi’, or King’s Road in French. Despite the royal connections, highwaymen were a persistent problem. After a series of high-profile robberies, the authorities installed three-hundred oil lamps.
Kensington Palace is still a royal residence to this day. It is the official home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Eugenie and her husband, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. The private areas of the palace are part of the Royal Household. While the rest belongs to the charity Historic Royal Palaces and are open to the public (for a fee).
Major landscaping works were carried out during the 1730s by Queen Caroline, the wife of George II. Created in the middle of the park was a large, manmade lake. The bridge across this lake is called the Serpentine Bridge, and it divides the lake into two parts. The Long Water is the section north of the bridge. The section south of the bridge is called The Serpentine. The lake was created by building a dam across the River Westbourne. This is another one of London’s lost rivers. It still exists but today runs almost entirely underground (and in a conduit above the platforms of Sloane Square tube station!) on its way into the River Thames.
During the 18th century, the park was also a favoured place for duelling. At least one-hundred and seventy-two duels are known to have taken place in the park leading to sixty-three deaths.
In the 1820s, the architect Decimus Burton added the Hyde Park Screen and the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner. It is still the official entrance into the park today. It was also around this time West Carriage Drive split the park into Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.
The Great Exhibition was an international exhibition held in the park in 1851. Conceived as a way to demonstrate the ‘industry of all nations’, it was hosted inside a specially designed building know and the Crystal Palace. It can be considered a forerunner of today’s World Expos. After the exhibition, the stunning building, designed by the architect Joseph Paxton, was dismantled and rebuilt in South London. Today, this part of London is called Crystal Palace in honour of the building. Sadly, it was destroyed by fire in 1936
Open-air public speaking and debates take place in the northeast corner of the park at a place called Speaker’s Corner. Often loud and controversial, it can be a very entertaining spectator sport! In the southeast corner is the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in commemoration of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, killed in a Paris car accident in 1997. Towards the north of the park, in Kensington Gardens, is the Peter Pan statue. JM Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, wrote the book while living opposite at 100 Bayswater Road. He used to take regular walks within the park.
The park is still a place of public celebration to this day. Every summer, huge music concerts are held, and the festive Winter Wonderland takes place every winter. During the London 2012 Olympics, the triathlon events took place in the park. We all got to enjoy watching Britain’s Alistair Brownlee storming to the gold medal!
To mark special royal occasions, Royal Gun Salutes take place in the park. These are usually twenty-one gun salutes and carried out by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
Other interesting sights and monuments to visit in the park include the Statue of Achilles, 7 July Memorial, Calvary Memorial and the Holocaust Memorial. There is also a large memorial to Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, known as the Albert Memorial.
Regent’s Park – 166 hectares/410 acres
A downloadable map and details about Regent’s Park are available from the Royal Parks website.
Regent’s Park sits just to the north of central London. Part of it is in the City of Westminster and the rest in the London Borough of Camden. Officially known as The Regents Park, it is the jewel in the crown of all the Royal Parks.
During the Middle Ages, a vast forest covered the park, and it was part of the manor of Tyburn. As with most Royal Parks, it was acquired by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. Formerly known as Marylebone Park, the land was then enclosed and used for hunting. The majority of the trees had been chopped by the end of the Civil war to pay off war debts. The park was then rented out to tenant farmers to use for hay and dairy farming.
The park we see today is mostly the work of the architect John Nash alongside James Burton and his son Decimus Burton. From 1811, George, Prince Reagent, later George IV, commissioned Nash to build him a summer palace in the park. He also wanted a grand processional route built between it and his home at St James’s Palace. The plans would also involve a significant remodelling of the park itself and its renaming to The Reagent’s Park. Although the summer palace did not get built, the park did undergo substantial redevelopment. The grand processional route from the park to St James’s Palace is today known as Regent Street. It is one of London’s major shopping streets.
Part of this redevelopment was to build several terraces and villas. The terraces in Regent’s Park are not what you might initially think of when someone says the word terrace. They are not small, cramped houses for working families; they are grand mansions affordable by only the most affluent people. There are ten of these magnificent terraces: Cambridge Terrace, Chester Terrace, Clarence Terrace, Cornwall Terrace, Cumberland Terrace, Gloucester Terrace, Hanover Terrace, Kent Terrace, Sussex Place and York Terrace.
London Business School, one of the world’s most prestigious business schools, is housed in Sussex Place. It awards only postgraduate degrees. Consistently ranked amongst the best in the world is its prestigious MBA course. Regent’s University London, a non-profit private university, is also based within the park.
There are also several large villas in the park. Middle Eastern Royalty owns some of them but one, Winfield House, is the official residence of the United States Ambassador. First used for this purpose in 1955, the President will stay here during any visit to the UK.
The park has two ring roads that run around it known as the Inner Circle and the Outer Circle. Within the Inner Circle is the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Founded in 1932, it has 1,240 seats making it one of the largest theatres in London! It is particularly famous for its performances of plays by William Shakespeare.
Also within the Inner Circle is Queen Mary’s Garden, often called Queen Mary’s Rose Garden. As the name suggests, it is famous for its roses. There are eighty-five single-variety beds, with a total of twelve thousand roses. They come in all colours and are a spectacular sight when in bloom (usually the first two weeks in June).
The north of the park houses London Zoo run by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). Opened in 1828, it is the oldest scientific zoo in the world and currently houses a collection of 755 species. It also contains several notable building, two of which are Grade I listed and eight are Grade II listed.
Richmond Park – 955 hectares/2360 acres
A downloadable map and details about Richmond Park are available from the Royal Parks website.
The largest of all the Royal Parks, it is famous for the red and fallow deer that roam within it. Although located in the London borough of Richmond-upon-Thames, it feels as if you are in the middle of the countryside. The wildlife, ancient woodland and the availability of lots of long, relaxing walks, make this an extraordinary place.
In 1501, Henry VII built a palace in the Manor of Shene. Before becoming King, Henry VII had held the title Earl of Richmond. The palace he built was named Richmond Palace, in honour of this title. It replaced Shene Palace which had stood on the banks of the River Thames. The town that sprang up around the palace also became known as Richmond. Shene, or Sheen in its modern spelling, is still used to refer to certain areas outside the main town.
In 1625, Charles I moved his court into Richmond Palace to try and escape an outbreak of the plague. Despite some strong objections, he enclosed the land, stocked it with dear, and used it for hunting. The brick wall he built around the park still exists today and is Grade II listed.
It is was known as New Park to distinguish it from the existing Old Dear Park. The addition of around two thousand deer completely changed its appearance. Their presence meant that fewer trees grew, and it went from being forested to mostly grassland.
In the west of the park is the Grade II listed Georgian mansion, Pembroke Lodge. Once the home of Lord John Russell, the Prime Minister at the time, it would later become the childhood home of his grandson, the philosopher Bertrand Russell. Now primarily used as a wedding venue, it offers refreshments to enjoy while admiring stunning views over the surrounding countryside.
Located in the grounds of Pembroke Lodge is King Henry’s Mound, the highest point in the park. It offers an uninterrupted view to St Paul’s Cathedral (there is a telescope to help!) over 16km away. This vista is one of London’s protected views. Anything that obscures the outlook is subject to strict legislation. Several construction projects within the City of London have lost planning approval because of it. King Henry VIII himself stood on the mound on the 19 May 1536. He was looking for a firework fired from the Tower of London to indicate that his wife, Anne Boleyn, had been beheaded for treason and that he was now free to marry Jane Seymour.
Not far from King Henry’s Mound is a bench in memory of the singer Ian Dury. He was the lead singer of the band Ian Dury and the Blockheads. It is in one of his favourite locations in the park. The bench has the words ‘REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL’ engraved on it.
Towards the east of the park is the Grade I listed Georgian mansion called White Lodge. Known initially as Stone Lodge, and then New Lodge and finally as White Lodge and was built in 1830 as a hunting lodge for George II. It has been home to the Royal Ballet Lower School since 1955.
Thatched House Lodge sits on the southwest of the park. It has been the home of Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy since 1963. Built as two separate houses in 1673, Thatched House Lodge was converted into one for the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, by the architect Sir John Soane in 1771. It was also the London home of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, and later 34th president of the United States, during World War Two.
The Isabella Plantation is a spectacular woodland garden. It is fenced off from the rest of the park to prevent deer from getting in. April and May, when its evergreen azaleas and camellias are flowering, is the best time to visit.
Pedestrian gates into the park are open twenty-hours hours except during the deer cull in February and November. Access to cars is always tightly controlled. The gates open from 7:00 am in the summer, 7:30 am in the winter, and close at dusk all year round.
Just outside the park, near Richmond Gate is one of the most exceptional views in the whole of England. It is also the only one protected by an Act of Parliament! Richmond Hill looks over a bend in the River Thames and out onto the green countryside of Surrey beyond.
St James’s Park – 23 hectares/57 acres
A downloadable map and details about St James’s Park are available from the Royal Parks website.
Named after a leper hospital dedicated to St James the Less, the park is located within the City of Westminster. The Mall runs along the north of the park, Horse Guards Parade to the east, Birdcage Walk to the south and Buckingham Palace to the west. It is the oldest of the Royal Parks and surrounded by three palaces, Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace and the Palace of Westminster, today home to Parliament. Just on the other side of Horse Guards Parade, used to be yet another Palace. Known initially as York Palace, it was renamed The Palace of Whitehall and was destroyed by fire in 1698. Today, only the Banqueting House of 1622 remains of this once grand palace.
Henry VIII purchased an area of marshland in 1532. He replaced the leper hospital of St James the Less with a hunting lodge that later became St James’s Palace. The park was enclosed, and the land used for hunting (surprise, surprise!).
It was James I who landscaped the park. He used it to keep an eclectic collection of animals including camels, crocodiles and an elephant. He also kept exotic birds in the southern area of the park close to what is now called Birdcage Walk. Charles II added even more formal flowerbeds and plantings after returning from exile in France after the Civil War.
Close to where the Victoria Memorial now stands used to be a large pool called Rosamond’s Pond. It had been filled in by 1770 and a house, known as Buckingham House, had been bought by George III in 1661. After remodelling, this large townhouse became the more substantial, and much more impressive, Buckingham Palace.
John Nash remodelled the park in 1827 as part of the work he was also undertaking at Regent’s Park. The straight canal changed into a curving lake. Winding paths replaced the formal avenues, and the formal flowerbeds replaced by more natural plantings. A white marble triumphal arch was placed outside Buckingham Palace and used as the official state entrance into the palace. Marble Arch, as it was known, moved to the junction of Park Lane and Oxford Street in 1851.
The Mall is the road that runs from Buckingham Palace down to Admiralty Arch. It is often the centrepiece of ceremony and pageantry in London. The tarmac is coloured red, like a red carpet. Usually lined with Union Flags, flags of any visiting head of state’s country replace some of these during the visit. The Mall is at the finishing point for the London Marathon. It was also the finish for the Olympic Marathon at London 2012.
The Queen Victoria Memorial sits at the western end of The Mall, directly outside Buckingham Palace. It was part of a more extensive redevelopment of the palace and the surrounding area by the architect Aston Webb. In 1913, he refaced the East Front of the palace in Portland Stone. The artist Sir Thomas Brock sculpted the monument to Queen Victoria and, despite being unveiled in 1911, did not complete the project until 1924.
Pelicans have been a permanent feature of the park since a Russian ambassador presented some to the King in 1664. They live next to Duck Island Cottage in the east of the park.
Being so close to both the homes of royalty and government, St James’s Park is packed full of impressive monuments. The Duke of York statue sits on top of a 124ft stone column up the Duke of York steps. Often confused with the nearby Nelson’s Column, it commemorates the former Commander in Chief of the British Army who was also the second son of George III. He is said to be the inspiration for the nursery rhyme The Grand Old Duke of York.
The Queen’s parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, both have statues, unveiled fifty-four years apart, on the steps leading up to Carlton Gardens. Other figures and memorials nearby include the National Police Memorial, the Graspan Royal Marines Memorial, the Guard’s Memorial, the South African Royal Artillery Memorial, the Royal Naval Division Memorial, a statue of Captain Cook as well as the Bali Memorial dedicated to the victims of the terrorist bombing in 2002.