We've found 93 parks

Addington Hills is a large natural area that rises from Oaks Road up to a high plateau. The land was acquired in four stages over a period of some 45 years, Croydon Board of Health purchasing the first area in 1874 following a public meeting. The birch wood from Oaks Road to Coombe Lane was a gift from the late Frank Lloyd of Coombe Park Estate. When the pine woods in the south-east corner were added in 1919 it became the largest public open space in Croydon at the time. In 1963 the commemorative Viewing Platform was provided by Alderman Basil Monk.

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

In the C18th the estate was owned by the Archbishops of Canterbury for their country residence. Addington Palace was built in 1768, with the surrounding parkland laid out by Lancelot Brown c.1781. The site today has 3 different uses, the largest part a private golf course laid out in the early C19th, and the Palace and pleasure gardens are in private use. The land to the south of the golf course was acquired in 1930 for a public park, Addington Park, and contains the C19th South Lodge to Addington Palace. The tennis courts in the south-west corner were provided after WWII.

This small recreation ground is on former farmland acquired by Croydon Board of Health in 1905 and laid out as a public park by 1911. It was once part of the Ashburton Estate owned by the Baring family. The estate mansion used to be situated at the corner of Addiscombe Road and Northampton Road. The estate farmhouse was also on Addiscombe Road with a farmtrack alongside it known as Love Lane.

All Saints Churchyard is the burial ground of the medieval parish church of Sanderstead, mentioned in the Domesday Book. The lych-gate is original but was moved to its current site in the 1920s/30s, and has since been restored. In the churchyard is the grave of Sir Francis Bond Head (d.1875), once Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada and author of 'Rides across the Pampas'. A separate graveyard is situated across the road from the church.

All Saints church was built in 1827-9 as a Chapel of Ease to Croydon Parish Church of St John the Baptist, established when Upper Norwood was becoming fashionable; the parish of St Margaret was added in 2003. In the churchyard is a memorial to Robert FitzRoy (1805-1865), who entered the Royal Navy at the age of 13 and was later notable as Captain of HMS Beagle in 1831-36, inviting Charles Darwin to accompany the voyage. He was also a noted meteorologist and former Governor of New Zealand.

Ashburton Park is a municipal park created on the site of an C18th park; the original mansion was built in 1788 but was largely demolished in 1927. Croydon Corporation purchased the site in 1924 and it was first used as a putting green but this was abandoned after a decline in use and it was subsequently re-opened as a public park.

Beaulieu Heights is on woodland that was once part of the Great North Wood before it formed the grounds of two large houses, Hazelwood and Beaulieu Lodge. Much of the land in the area was owned by the Archbishops of Canterbury. A map of 1870 shows woodland at that time of a very similar extent to that in the area today. Croydon Council purchased Hazelwood and Beaulieu Lodge from the Church Commissioners in 1938 and the park was opened to the public after WWII.

Beulah Hill Pond had long existed as a watering place for cattle and horses, such as those pulling trams up Knights Hill. A railing across the middle prevented animals straying into the deeper water. Locally known as the Big Pond or Crown Pond, the name Beulah dates from the C19th and may derive from Bewlys Farm and Bewly Wood. The pond came under the auspices of Croydon Parks Department in 1954 and in the early 1960s it was a favourite place for skating in the winter.

Biggin Wood is an area of woodland believed to have once been part of the Great North Wood. It appears to have been within a 120acre estate known as Biggin's Farm. A parish map of 1864 shows 'Biggens Wood' and 'Biggen's Farm' at the end of Biggin's Farm Road. By 1928 the farmhhouse was a ruin and the area around it had lain derelict for some years. The site was acquired by Croydon Corporation in 1939, with tennis courts and changing rooms provided in 1949.

Bourne Park lies in a narrow strip of land between Godstone Road and the Purley-Caterham railway line. It was acquired by the Coulsdon and Purley UDC in 1921 and was laid out as a public park with a playground and paddling pool and, to the north-west, allotments. With the gradual decline in use of allotments they were reduced in size and in 1987 the park was extended.

Bradmore Green is the remnant of the village green and pond of the old village of Coulsdon, once part of the manorial lands held by the Abbey of Chertsey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the C16th. The manorial rights passed to the King and then to various famous families until 1783. The Byron family then held the land until 1921, when it passed to Purley and Coulsdon UDC. It was from this period that the area began to change dramatically, with the arrival of the the railway at the bottom of Marlpit Lane accelerating development.

Chaldon Way Gardens is a small ornamental garden opposite Coulsdon Memorial Ground. The site was given for a public garden to Coulsdon UDC in the 1930s by Fairdean Heights Ltd, the developer of the surrounding housing. An agreement was drawn up that enabled the Council to use 'such earth, turf, sub-soil, flowers and shrubs as can be removed from the Company's Fairdean Heights Estate'. As a result an ornamental garden was laid out with lawns, shrub beds and annual bedding displays, and with a a small shelter at one end.