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Avery Hill Park was formed from parkland of Col. John North's Victorian mansion, Avery Hill, built for him c1888. By 1891 his estate was over 270ha, including land now known as Shooters Hill Woodlands, which was used partly for shooting and some let for farming. On his death in 1896 the estate was auctioned, much of it eventually purchased in 1902 by the LCC, some land remaining in private usage. Avery Hill Park was opened in 1903/04 and includes remains of the gardens close to the house and wider parkland with some fine trees. The mansion and its Winter Garden are in separate ownership of University of Greenwich. The old East Lodge remains at the park entrance on Bexley Road, while the West Lodge provides the main entrance to the University.
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Avery Hill was a late Victorian Italianate villa built for Colonel John Thomas North in c.1888 with fine gardens and an enormous conservatory where he housed his winter garden. North initially rented the estate and 20 acres of land but by 1891 had expanded it to over 270 ha, which included much of what is now Shooters Hill Woodlands, and it was used partly for shooting and some let for farming. On his death in 1896 the estate was auctioned, much of it eventually purchased by the LCC, part becoming Avery Hill Park. From 1906 the mansion was used as a college of education, Avery Hill College. The well-stocked Winter Garden is open to the public, and to the west are terraced flower gardens.
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The riverside garden at Ballast Quay was created on the former site of a wharf, on land that has been owned by Morden College since the early C18th. In the late C18th developers leased land here for building, and Georgian houses on Ballast Quay date from that period. The Harbour Master's Office was built by the Thames Conservancy in the mid C19th to control this reach of the river. The wharf here was later rented by the Port of London Authority and in use for import and export from the 1920s, but although use of the riverside wharves continued until the 1980s, after WWII and particularly from the 1960s London's docks had began to decline. The concrete wharf at Ballast Quay was transformed into a neighbourhood garden in the 1960s. Surrey Docks City Farm started here and in the 1970s a tea garden was briefly established. The pleasant garden has a number of trees, grass, beds planted with flowers and shrubs, as well as vegetables. In the garden is a memorial sculpture dedicated to animals killed due to the foot-and-mouth crisis.
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Birchmere Park was created as part of the GLC's 'new town' of Thamesmead built over the former Erith marshes. The Masterplan dates from 1967, the only New Town development in Greater London, but was much altered in execution. Designed to accommodate 60,000 people, Thamesmead was to have its own amenities, industry and centre with substantial areas of parkland, lakes, and canals to provide a varied landscape. The first phase was built in 1967-72 but due to financial and other priorities in the 1970s and 1980s, it has not been completed although development continues. Birchmere Park's lake was part of the network of water bodies and canals formed when the marshes were drained.
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Blackheath is common land, the name probably arising from the colour of the soil. It has been managed for public use since 1871 when it was taken over by the MBW, although it has long had public access courtesy of the lords of the manor, an important place for a multitude of events from fairs to actions of highwaymen, royal celebrations to rebellions, battles to religious gatherings. Associations with sporting activities include its early use for golf, cricket and football. Until the C18th and rise of speculative building Blackheath was largely undeveloped and consisted of a few cottages; a number of the ponds are probably the remains of gravel pits. During WWII parts of Blackheath were ploughed and other areas had Nissen huts for the army. The northern part of the heath is in LB Greenwich, the southern part in LB Lewisham.
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The site that is now Bostall Gardens was acquired by the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich in 1938. After WWII it was decided to develop the area as a public garden, which was laid out and opened in 1952. In 1960 a bowling green and pavilion were added and the sloping land laid out as a series of terraces. In 2004 the old bowls pavilion was extensively refurbished, and a new children's playground and a young people's basketball court were opened on the site of the old bowling green.
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Bostall Heath was one of the wastes of the Manor of Plumstead; in 1866 it was enclosed by the Lords of the Manor, but this was later revoked as illegal. Much of this ancient woodland and heath was threatened by housing development in the late C19th but in 1877 some 155 acres of Bostall Heath were transferred to the MBW for public use by Act of Parliament. A keeper's lodge was built in 1880 and sports facilities added. Adjoining the heath is Bostall Woods, which was acquired for public use by the LCC in 1891/2 and the joint site was opened to the public on Whit Monday 1893. An area known as Clam Field was purchased in 1894 and added as a recreation ground.
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Brooklands Park Estate is an LCC housing estate built in 1958 on land within the Cator Estate, which was developed with smart villas from the late C18th. Brooklands Park Estate was built on the former grounds of Casterbridge and comprises seven 5-storey blocks and low terraces set within landscaping. Care was taken to retain existing features such as mature trees and the ornamental lake once in the house grounds. A hexagonal domed brick conduit house is located on the edge of the lake.
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Burney Street Open Space is small garden created with money raised by local people that opened in 1981-2. An oak tree planted by the Duke of Edinburgh has since died (2006: not yet replanted). A red granite obelisk records the creation of the garden and a plaque to a milkman whose shop was on the site on the corner of Burney Street/Gloucester Place. At the other end of the street is Poet's Corner, named for C Day Lewis who lived in Greenwich in the 1950s and '60s, a small shrubbery with path and seating.
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A large rose garden and terraces remain on the site of Castle Wood House, built in 1870 and now demolished. The site was purchased by the LCC after the last owner's death in 1920 and it was opened to the public in 1925 as an addition to the existing public park around nearby Severndroog Castle, both now incorporated into Shooters Hill Woodlands. The garden has mature Wellingtonia, flower beds set into lawn and the remains of stonework terraces and steps.
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Charlton Cemetery was founded in 1855 by Charlton Burial Board on land that was originally part of the estate of Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson. It was one of the first cemeteries to be provided under the new Burial Act. Its Victorian layout of serpentine paths is little changed and it retains the pair of C19th chapels although the original lodge has gone. Among the memorials are numerous monuments to the army and navy and personnel connected with the Royal Artillery at Woolwich and other notable people including Sir Geoffrey Callender, the first Director of the National Maritime Museum, and Sir John Maryon-Wilson, Lord of the Manor of Hampstead who was instrumental in the preservation of Hampstead Heath.
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Charlton retains a village character with its old parish church and former manor house. Charlton House, a fine example of Jacobean domestic architecture, was built in the early 17th for Sir Adam Newton on the site of an earlier manor house, and survives with remnants of its formal gardens and C17th summerhouse. From 1767 - 1925 it was owned by the Maryon Wilson family, who then gave it to Greenwich Borough Council, and the house was used as a library and a community centre, the stables becoming an area housing office. The walled gardens have been planted as a series of gardens and some of the original parkland remains as Charlton Park, which is separated from Charlton House Grounds by a C19th ha-ha. The village green where the annual Hornfair was held was adjacent to the house until it was enclosed in 1829.