Thirteen Parks In East London

With so much of the green space in East London under threat, I thought it might be worthwhile to highlight some of these spaces, in the hopes that wider knowledge and appreciation of them would spur more people to help to protect them from development.

1. Victoria Park: This is the best known park in East London, covering several hundred acres in Tower Hamlets. Music Festivals, herds of deer and goats, Cricket grounds and the oldest model boat club in the world are but a few of the interesting treasures hiding in this beautiful park.
2. West Ham Park: Spanning 77 acres, the park features a botanical garden, children’s playgrounds and many sporting facilities: football pitches, cricket nets, tennis courts and an athletics track. There is also a nursery that is one of the largest operations of its kind in the UK, producing over 200,000 spring and summer bedding plants each year for the park, gardens and churchyards in the City of London and other Corporation Open Spaces.
3. Parsloes Park: Parsloes Park is a large park with a size of 57.99 hectares,with an interesting use of trees and shrubs over most of the park with Rose beds in the grass area by the lake. There is also a bowling green that is screened on one side by an attractive Cotoneaster hedge and a newly constructed playground which features mounds, natural rock seats, a teen shelter and floodlights for winter use.
4. Epping Forest: This park covers nearly 6,000 acres and contains areas of grassland, heath, rivers, bogs and ponds. Stretching between Forest Gate in the south and Epping in the north, Epping Forest is approximately 18 km long in the north-south direction, but no more than 4 km from east to west at its widest point, and in most places considerably narrower. Mountain Biking, Horse Riding and Rambling are popular pursuits within the Forest.
5. Seven Kings Park: This smallish park in Ilford is part of the larger Hainault Forest and is notable for its skateboarding facilities.
6. Mudchute Park: 31 acres of parkland anda working farm, smack dab in the middle of the Docklands! An equestrian centre provides riding lessons, educational programs are carried out and there is a garden centre, shop and cafe.
7. Wanstead Park: In 1812 the widowed owner of a grand manor house re-married to the nephew of the Duke of Wellington who prompty squandered her fortune on his extravagant lifestyle. The house and grounds were sold off to repay his debts. Today, all that remain are the decaying remnants of the formal gardens, dating from the early eighteenth century. These gardens include a series of artificial ponds, the most interesting of which are are the ornamental waters which are maintained as a nature reserve. At the other end of the pond network is a reservoir pond in which early-morning swimming is permitted, but is frankly only for the brave. Having been a decadent English estate, naturally Wanstead Park has its share of follies including a ruined grotto boat-house and a mock-classical Temple.
8. Mayesbrook Park: The southern part of Mayesbrook Park contains two very attractive lakes. Both have wooded islands which provide nest sites for common waterfowl, including mute swan and tufted duck. Larger numbers of waterfowl, including shoveler, are present in winter. A fantastic informal park.
9. Mile End Park: A linear site adjacent to the Regents Canal, stretching from Victoria Park to St. Pauls Way. The site comprises linked areas of amenity and herb-rich grassland habitat, with numerous trees, discreet areas of scrub and formal planted beds of aromatic and nectar-rich herbs. Wetland features have been created in three sections of the park, ranging from a naturalistic wetland supporting emergent and aquatic species (both native and exotic) to a water-feature with water flowing between concrete-sided pools. The park has a number of imaginative features which give it additional interest. These include the Green Bridge, which provides a pleasant means of crossing the very busy Mile End Road, and the landscaped mounds which provide variation in topography and good views. The park is well laid out with formal and informal paths, including separate cycle paths, and has numerous seats.
10. Barking Park and Loxford Water: Barking Park is a well-used recreation ground containing a lake, formal parkland with mature trees, and a section of the Loxford Water, a small stream. The Loxford Water, on the western edge of the park, forms the borough boundary with Redbridge. Its three islands provide nest sites for common waterfowl, including mallard, tufted duck, moorhen and coot. The mature trees and dense shrubberies in the park provide habitat for common birds, including the declining spotted flycatcher.
11. Dagnam Park and Hatter’s Wood: Dagnam Park, a historic landscape designed by Humphry Repton, is comprised of a variety of habitats including species-rich grassland, woodland, hedges and ponds. The site as a whole is important for its breeding and wintering birds, including skylark, yellowhammer, hawfinch, jackdaw and various thrushes.
12. East Ham Nature Reserve: This large churchyard, the biggest in London, is managed as an educational nature reserve. The churchyard was officially closed for burials in 1974 and was a wilderness until its value as a wildlife reserve was realized in 1977. Extensive areas of rough grassland and scrub, with smaller areas of woodland, support a good diversity of birds, including breeding spotted flycatcher and blackcap, and large flocks of finches in late summer. The site supports a good population of common lizards, while intensive recording has produced a huge list of invertebrates, including 9 moths, 3 flies, four beetles and an ant which are nationally notable, and an excellent assemblage of 9 species of lacewings. A visitor centre provides an excellent educational resource. The Nature Reserve was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1983.
13. Bedfords Park: An old estate comprising Bedford’s Park and part of Roundhouse Farm, with a rich variety of habitats including extensive areas of both acid and damp neutral grassland, oak-hornbeam woodland, old hedges and field ponds. Excellent for a leisurely walk.