We've found 62 parks

Although much of the wood has been planted in recent years there is a record of woodland here in Tudor times and also mention is made of tile kilns when it was part of the Manor of Baldwyns in the C16th. On a map of Kent of 1769 it is named Jordan's Wood and was part of the Mount Mascal estate, but by 1805 the spelling had become Joydens Wood. In 1884 parts of the wood were sold off, some of it later developed for housing in the 1930s. In 1956 the Forestry Commission took over what was then known as the Big Wood, cleared much of the stunted oaks and other native trees in order to plant compartments of cash crop trees.

King George's Field consists of open playing fields with a large playground at the west end. It was created by Chislehurst and Sidcup UDC under the provision of the King George's Fields Foundation, which provided a sum of £600 towards the cost of the site. The Foundation, set up as a memorial following the King's death in 1936, provided funding for the creation or improvement of a great many playing fields before it was dissolved in 1965. The land, formerly used as allotments, was conveyed in July 1949 and the site was officially opened in 1955.

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

The former Lamorbey estate lands now comprise a mix of usage: a public park, a private golf course, institutional grounds and schools with their playing fields. The first recorded owner was Thomas Sparrow or Lamienby, Deputy Reeve of the Manor of Bexley in 1495. His daughter inherited the estate and with her husband James Goldwell built a house called Lamienby-Goldwell. The grounds appear to have first been formally laid out in the mid-C18th when the estate was owned by Wllliam Steele. Between 1761 and 1783 the estate was for a short time divided. It remained in private ownership until 1910 when the house became a hotel, remaining as such until it was purchased in 1947 by Kent Education Committee. The Glades was opened as a public park in 1948.

Lesnes Abbey was founded in 1178 by Richard de Luci, and housed no more than 12 monks. It was not a wealthy living although the land eventually became valuable pasture. The Abbey was dissolved in 1525, one of the first monasteries to be dissolved by Cardinal Wolsey for Henry VIII. The only building to survive was the Abbot's lodgings, which became the manor house for the Manor of Lesnes. Following C20th excavations the Abbey has been partially rebuilt; the grounds and woods were acquired by the LCC in 1930 for a public park. The site has formal gardens near the ruins, some fine mature trees including an old mulberry, as well as ancient woodland and grassland. Parks for People HLF funding in 2014 enabled restoration works as well as new facilities.

Longlands Recreation Ground was laid out c.1900 on land formerly known as Priestlands, which was donated by the Hawkins family who stipulated it was to be used as a Recreation Ground to the south, with land for Allotments to the north. The Upper area to the south had a curved footpath through it and became the recreation ground while the Lower portion to the north was cleared and developed as allotments during the 1900s. The footpath between the two halves used to be closed on May 1st as a reminder that it was owned by the Council and not by ratepayers at large.

Built in the C18th on the site of an earlier house, the house was known in the C19th as North Cray Cottage or Villa, and was once home of Foreign Secretary Viscount Castlereagh. It was purchased by Goldsmiths College in 1939 and renamed Loring Hall after the first warden of the college, the house used for accommodation and the grounds for sports. The property was sold to BUPA in the 1980s, then used as a nursing home before it became the Malcolm Sargent Children's Cancer Centre in 1999. Since 2004 it has been a private residential care home for people with learning disabilities. The grounds have remnants of earlier planting, including a terrace near the house, lower garden with some good specimen trees, a walled garden, a sunken garden and woodland.

The Manor House, formerly Place Green House, was built c.1790 by Charles S Minshaw on land acquired from the Frognal Estate where Shotts Farm stood. The garden is thought to have been laid out around the same time. In 1905 Manor House was bought by E J Elgood who then sold the north part for the Grassington Road residential development. Since 1952 the house has been used for Council offices and the gardens have suffered further encroachment for car parking. A few Corsican and Scots pines survive to the south, a notable cedar of Lebanon stands in the front garden of a house to the west and there is a large Arbutus north-west of the house.

Marlborough Park is a largely level area of grass that rises to the north and is surrounded by the backs of houses. The area remained rural until the interwar years and the park was provided when the land was developed for housing. Ornamental and occasional native trees grow around the perimeter and the River Shuttle runs along the southern boundary, part of the Shuttle Riverway that leads to Willersley Park. A path runs east /west between two entrances, which have attractive mid-C20th iron railings. The area was part of The Hollies estate in the C19th. A lime-lined walk overlooks the playing field.

Marten’s Grove Park is an extensive, oblong park, occupying part of the former grounds of a mid C19th house, Marten's Grove. Major changes were made to the house in the 1860s after which it remained virtually unaltered until the estate was sold c.1927, the house demolished in 1932. Land to the north of the house was unsuitable for housing and it was offered to Crayford UDC for use as a recreation ground, which opened on 1 July 1933. The ornamental lake was transformed into a swimming pool, which eventually closed in 1986.

Mrs Stable's Almshouses were founded in 1865 in memory of Charles Stable with an endowment of £500 by his widow. Four of the almshouses were to house poor single women of 60 and over, the fifth let annually for rent. The almshouse garden is laid out informally with recent planting and mature trees, including 2 pollarded limes and 2 Holm oaks, mixed privet and box hedges, mown grass and flower beds planted with bedding, bulbs and perennials.

North Cray Poultry Farm was formerly part of the site of a C19th villa, Cray Hall, the grounds of which are now in divided ownership as a result of the property being sliced through by the dual carriageway of North Cray Road. There are several good trees including a large weeping beech in the forecourt. The lodge is no longer part of the property. Other trees include lime, horse chestnut and Lebanon cedar, and there is vestigial parkland to the south.

Northumberland Heath Recreation Ground was laid out by c.1901 by Erith UDC, when the formerly rural area and hamlet of Northumberland Heath was becoming increasingly developed for housing. The original recreation ground was considerably smaller and was laid out with paths and perimeter trees, with a bandstand and drinking fountain shown on OS maps of c.1938. The bandstand appears to have disappeared sometime in the early 1960s and the park was later extended to the north and west over former allotment gardens. The park has some original railings and mature trees.