 London's Royal Parks
The capital's
parks have been described as the 'lungs of London' and provide
an invaluable resource for visitors and residents.
Rotten Row Hyde Park London
Thomas Blinks
30 in x 20 in
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Framed | Mounted
London
parks are immensely popular especially when the sun shines and
the weather warms up. When that happens, they fill with sunbathers,
children playing games and people just enjoying the open air.
Hyde Park
- This is the biggest of the Royal Parks, covering 340 acres.
Once part of a manor left to the monastery at Westminster soon
after the Norman Invasion, deer, wild bulls and boar roamed
freely. Henry VIII gained ownership after the 16th century Dissolution
of the Monasteries and he used it for hunting. It was only opened
to the public in the early 17th century. It became immensely
fashionable and then in the 19th century it was the site of
the Great
Exhibition housed in the Crystal Palace.
Special attractions:
- The Serpentine - the man-made
lake where you can hire a boat and try your hand at rowing.
- Kensington Gardens, especially
the Princess
Diana Memorial Walk, on the west side of the park
- Statue of Peter Pan in Kensington
Gardens
- Rotten Row where people ride
their horses
- Pet Cemetary at Victoria Gate
on Bayswater
- The Queen Elizabeth Gates
on the south-eastern end adjoining Park Lane. They were erected
in honour of the Queen Mother.
- Speakers
Corner, on the north east corner by Marble Arch, is
famous for its orators standing on soapboxes on Sundays
declaiming their views to the world.
 If
you want to visit the Royal Parks, this handy guidebook
provides more useful and interesting information. Walking
London's Parks And Gardens from
Amazon.com. If you prefer you can also buy it from Amazon.co.uk,
just click
here.
Green Park
- Tradition has it that this was once a burial ground for lepers
from the St James' Leper Hospital, nearby in centuries past. Although
Henry VIII enclosed the area, it was Charles II who turned it
into a Royal Park. In the 18th century it was an area notorious
for duels as well as the haunt of highwaymen. On a more peaceful
note, it was used for balloon ascents and for firework displays.
Nowadays it is a place of grass and mature trees.
St James's Park
- Covering about 90 acres, lepers in the Leper Hospital, once
on the site of St James's Palace, kept their pigs here. Again,
it was Henry VIII who took the land into royal ownership. Charles
II had fruit trees planted and ponds amalgated into one continuous
stretch of water called the Canal. Today it is one of the prettiest
of the Royal Parks and a good place to go bird watching.
Mall in St. James Park (Engraving)
Jean B. C. Chatelain
16 in x 11 in
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Regent's Park
- This is another park originally owned by the Church which
fell into the hands of Henry VIII at the Dissolution of
the Monasteries and then used for the Royal Hunt. The buildings
seen along the Park's roads today were designed by John
Nash in the early 19th century. Now it is the site of London
Zoo and the Open Air Theatre.
Copyright © 2002 by Carol
Fisher. All Rights Reserved
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