We've found 129 parks

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

Waterlow Park is a C19th landscaped park with remnants of earlier garden features of the C16th-C18th. It covers the land of 4 former private estates, Lauderdale House, Hertford House, Elm(s) Court and Andrew Marvell's cottage, which were amalgamated after 1865 by Sir Sydney Waterlow to create a single park. There are remnants of the older gardens, as well as those of Waterlow's time. A strong believer in provision of public open space, in 1889 he presented Lauderdale House and the 29-acre estate to the LCC 'for the enjoyment of Londoners'. The park opened on 24 October 1891; Lauderdale House, extensively restored, opened in 1893. The overall layout has changed little since the LCC plan of c.1895 and has formal flower beds, terraces and herbaceous borders, lawns and secluded areas, numerous fine trees and 3 ponds. Other features included a thatched bandstand, aviaries and tennis courts. The park was substantially restored in 2003-5 through an HLF grant with a new Park Centre on the site of the old glasshouses.

Preserving the name of the ancient hamlet of West End within the parish of Hampstead, West End Green was once the site of the village green and pond. Threatened by development from 1875, it was saved by the actions of local people and purchased in 1885 by the Vestry of Hampstead and maintained as a public open space. Surrounded by railings, the garden has grass, mature trees, shrubs and a centrally placed granite drinking fountain, dated 1897. An oak tree planted by the Mayor of Hampstead commemorates the coronation of Edward VII.

West Heath Lawn Tennis Club is on the site of the former West Middlesex Waterworks covered reservoir, later owned by the Metropolitan Water Board, from whom the club leased the land. The Club opened in 1902 and had five grass courts, two of which were later converted to hard courts. Today the club continues to offer low-cost memberships and provide the opportunity for outdoors exercise for residents in the area and from elsewhere. It also provides a social meeting place, with club tournaments, suppers, picnics and other activities.

This small public garden was once the site of a large pond called The Little Sea. In 1756-58 it became the site for Whitfield's Tabernacle and Almshouses, and Whitfield's half-acre Burial Ground, which was in two parts, one each side of the Tabernacle. In 1853 it was closed to burials and cleared in 1856. The LCC acquired the site in 1894 and in 1895 opened it as a public garden, laid out as a smaller area with a central path and a larger tar-paved area surrounded by planted borders. In the early C21st it was substantially re-landscaped by Camden Council.

This area was developed from the 1860s as Highgate New Town, largely providing working class terraced housing. The Whittington Estate was built in the 1970s as part of post WWII social housing by Camden Council. Built north of Raydon Street, and overlooking Highgate Cemetery, the estate comprises six terraces with strong horizontal lines of balconies and cornices and vertical cross walls. Between each terrace is a pedestrian walkway of a different character, with planting of trees and shrubs to soften the architecture. This landscaping together with other green spaces provided for residents is an integral part of the design.

Witanhurst was built in 1913-20 for Sir Arthur Crosfield, designed by George Hubbard on the site of an earlier C18th house called Parkfield. The garden was designed for Sir Arthur by Harold Peto whose work included the tennis pavilion, garden steps leading onto a paved terrace with balustraded parapet and viewing platform. The Italianate garden had a sunken pond and pergola as its central feature and consisted of 3 linked compartments stepping downhill and bounded by stone-coped brick walls. In 2007 it was reported that the mansion had been sold to private developers, and the future of the gardens is uncertain.

Woburn Square is a rectangular enclosure laid out by the Duke of Bedford c.1830, overlooked by C19th terraces of 1829-33. It was for the private use of householders and OS maps of 1881, 1894 and 1913 show the layout of paths and planting changing over the years. By 1928 London University had acquired part of the site, but as late as 1950 it was described as the most perfect of the smaller Bloomsbury squares. Encroachment began in 1958 when the Warburg Institute was built in the north-west corner; in 1972 part of the north and south sides were demolished for the Institute of Education and School of Oriental and African Studies. Today it is an elongated rectangular garden, shaded by mature trees, with perimeter walk, a children's playground in the south, and small shelter to the north. In 2007 the gardens were re-opened following a 7-year restoration project.

World Peace Garden Camden was created in 2014 on what used to be derelict open space at the foot of Parliament Hill alongside Hampstead Heath overground station. In the Mayor of London Planning Datamap, the site was subsumed under Parliament Court Gardens. Today, it has been recognised as one of the best secret gardens in London, and its designations as a Local Green Space and SINC affirm its richness of wildlife and value to the community. It is part of the global World Peace Gardens network which aims to promote areas of peace and tranquility enabling contemplation.

York Rise Estate was built as a garden estate for the St Pancras Housing Improvement Society in 1937-8, designed in neo-Georgian style. The Society was founded in 1924, its aims to buy and convert poor quality old properties or build new housing for only a small profit. The London Midland & Scottish Railway invited the Society to build a new estate on railway lands north of Kentish Town and each of the 5 blocks was named after a railway or engineering pioneer: Brunel, Faraday, Newcomen, Stephenson and Trevethick. The estate was laid out with formal gardens between Faraday and Newcomen, a playground between Newcomen and Brunel, six drying grounds that still retain their concrete posts; originally there were allotments behind Trevithick.