We've found 62 parks

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

Until the late C18th the area was mainly fields, bisected in the early C17th by a bend in the New River in the south-west with common land in the north. In the early 1790s, the land was leased to Jonathan Hoare, son of a prominent Quaker, who built a house called Paradise House and laid out the grounds, planting numerous trees. The daughter of a later owner married the curate of the parish church, Revd Clissold, and when they inherited the house it was re-named Clissold Place. Clissold Park was saved from development when it was purchased by the MBW in 1887 through a special Act of Parliament, and was laid out as a public park, which opened in 1889. It was the first urban park to have an animal enclosure, which was laid out in the 1890s.

Dalston Eastern Curve Garden is on the site of disused railway lands, no longer required after improvement works were made at Dalston Junction. In 2009 it was used as a site for a temporary art installation in conjunction with the Barbican Art Gallery. In 2010 the garden was created through a partnership project commissioned by Design for London, 'Making Space in Dalston' in which Hackney Council, local residents and groups worked with muf architect/art and J & L Gibbons Landscape Architects. It was planted with wildlife friendly trees and shrubs, Since 2012 the garden has been managed as a social enterprise, with a café, education programme and community events.

De Beauvoir Square is at the centre of the de Beauvoir Town Estate, which was developed on land owned by the de Beauvoir family since 1687. Plans for building date from 1818, particularly after the Regent's Canal was cut, and the east side of De Beauvoir Square was built in 1823. The main period of development took place in the 1830s/40s after Richard Benyon inherited the family estate. In the 1890s the circular central garden in De Beauvoir Square was leased by the owner to Hackney Borough Council, allowing some public access. The garden is surrounded by C19th iron railings and has raised lawns around its perimeter, a number of fine trees and extensive rose beds.

Fairchild's Garden, formerly known as Hackney Road Recreation Ground, was the site of the C18th Shoreditch Burying Ground, superseded in the C19th by a range of almshouses. The site still contains the memorial stone marking the grave of Thomas Fairchild (d.1729), a leading nurseryman and botanist. Fairchild's Nursery in Shoreditch existed from 1691 to 1740 and specialised in flowering plants. His tomb here was restored by The Gardeners Company in 1846, 1891 and again in 1949. The site became a recreation ground in the C20th, providing tennis courts and a planted area with paths, seating and shrubs in timber planters, and a number of mature plane trees. In 2017 the garden was re-landscaped and the three remaining gravestones placed upright.

Fassett Square is on land once owned by the Lord of the Manor of Hackney, which appears to have been acquired in 1853 by Catherine Massie and Thomas White. In 1861 William Hodson was granted leases for house building, and evidently laid out the ornamental garden. Those living in Fassett Square did not have automatic right of access to the gardens despite the obligation to pay for its upkeep. It remains for the private use of residents of Fassett Square, an oblong garden enclosed by reproduction C19th style railings, which has been restored with new planting in 1999. Fassett Square and Fassett Street were used as the model for the fictitious Albert Square in 'East Enders'.

Goldsmith's Square is on land acquired by the LCC who built two blocks of working-class housing here in 1894/95, largely for the people who were displaced when the Boundary Estate in Shoreditch was being built. The central open space was initially laid out as a children's playground. It was re-landscaped in the 1980s when a sports court was provided, surrounded by planting, a series of pergolas, seating areas, raised brick planters as well as a small railed garden area with lawn, shrubs and seating.

Hackney Downs is former Lammas land, which was surrounded by fields until the mid C19th. Horse-racing was recorded in 1733, and cricket, football and rugby were known to have been played here. As housing development began to threaten the area's common land, the MBW acquired the Downs and other Hackney Commons by Act of Parliament in 1872 to preserve it as public open space. Hackney Downs opened as a public park in 1884, laid out with paths and surrounded by notable plane, lime and ash trees. Various facilities were provided over the years, including women's toilets in 1908, Hackney Downs Lodge in 1959, an extension to the bowling green in 1960 as well as the playground and sports courts.

Hackney Marshes were formerly Lammas land, which in the C12th was divided into marshy meadows. By the mid C18th these amounted to nearly 300 small strips, with the remainder of the land owned by the Lord of Hackney Manor. There is a long history of sports and recreational use of Hackney Marshes. The land was acquired by the LCC under the Open Spaces Act 1893 and was formally dedicated as public open space in 1894. Hackney Marshes are predominantly used for playing fields.

The northern part of Haggerston Park was the site of the Imperial Gas Company from 1823, later becoming the Gas Light and Coke Co, which was destroyed in WWII bombing. It was laid out as a park in 1956 by the LCC with ornamental gardens, a raised bowling green, a birch grove on the infilled basin site, and a long pergola walk on the north side. In the 1980s the park was extended to the south to include Hackney City farm, children's playground and playing fields.

Hoxton was a popular place of retreat and by the early C17th wealthy people had large houses here. Hoxton Square was built in 1683 and the houses would have been fronted by gardens looking onto the central garden, which was laid out in 1709. By the mid C19th the residential character of the area was largely superseded by trade activities. The privately owned central garden was leased to Shoreditch Borough Council and protected from building development. A drinking fountain was donated in 1901. The garden was described in 1928 as 'a great amenity in a densely developed neighbourhood' and this remains the case today as Hoxton has become a hub of activity again.

The Hoxton Trust Community Garden was laid out by the Hoxton Trust in the early 1980s, funded by Hackney Council. It contains the C19th cupola from the old Hackney Work House at Homerton. The garden is landscaped on a number of levels on hummocky terrain, with a variety of flower beds and shrubs, with paths and seating within the lawns. The site was once that of an C18th lunatic asylum, Holly House, later built over with housing.

Aske's Hospital was one of the earliest and grandest almshouses in Shoreditch, taking its name from Robert Aske (1619-1689) who bequeathed money to the Haberdashers' Company in 1689. The original C17th almshouses designed by Robert Hooke in 1692 accommodated 20 single men and a school for 20 boys, but were rebuilt in the 1820s with additional facilities for education, forming three sides of a square. By 1882 there were no longer almshouses and the enlarged school buildings catered for 300 girls and 300 boys. In 1898 the two schools transferred elsewhere and the buildings became the LCC's Shoreditch Technical Institute, the open space in front renamed Aske Gardens and designated as public open space.  The public gardens remain today but in 2023 were renamed Joe White Gardens after an inspirational Hackney-raised sportsman, as part of Hackney Council's anti-racism programme. The buildings are no longer in educational use and were developed for private housing in the early C21st.