We've found 62 parks

Recorded in the Domesday Book, Stoke Newington was an important village by the C16th. The old medieval parish church of St Mary's, also called the Ancient Mother Church, survives today, the building dating from 1563 and sympathetically restored in 1826-29. In the mid 1850s the congregation had grown, and a new, larger parish church was built on the site of the rectory garden, but the old church was preserved. St Mary's Churchyard has many distinguished late C18th tombs, and some fine trees. It was closed to burials following the Burial Grounds Act of 1854. Initially maintained by the Burial Board, the borough council took over responsibility in 1896. Across Church Street St Mary New Church is surrounded by a grassed area, with a war memorial.

The garden is named after St Mary's Church Haggerston, which was once situated nearby but destroyed by bombing in 1940/1. Georgian terraces here were replaced by post-WWII pre-fabs, which were themselves demolished in the 1970s, and the area was designated as community space. In the 1990s local residents established a community garden on the site. From late 1990s until 2003, it was run as a therapeutic garden project by Thrive. It was then renamed St Mary's Secret Garden and continues to be run as a community garden, with an emphasis on social and therapeutic gardening. There are currently herbaceous borders, herb garden, sensory area, raised beds and vegetable garden, woodland with small pond and greenhouse.

St Peter's Church was built in 1840/41 to serve as the parish church for the new residential population of the De Beauvoir Town development. Next to the church is the former vicarage, No. 85 Mortimer Road. The churchyard is largely surrounded by the original brick walls with 3 pairs of wrought iron gates. A flower garden is planted in front of the church, where a path leads to the entrance.

St Thomas's Burial Ground was the former cemetery to a chapel-of-ease of St John-at-Hackney Church that was established here in 1810 to serve the southern part of the parish. Although the chapel was demolished after it ceased to be used in 1848, burials continued until 1876. It was converted into a public garden following agreement of the Bishop of London in 1884, with some chest tombs left in position but the remainder moved to the north and east perimeter. The garden has a number of fine plane trees along either side with a central path flanked at intervals by shrubs.

St Thomas's Recreation Ground is on the site of the former burial ground of a Nonconformist Chapel at St Thomas's Square. The burial ground was on land leased by St Thomas's Hospital and was used from at least the late C18th. Following closure for burial, it was eventually laid out as a public garden in 1888 and was maintained by Hackney District Board of Works. The grave markers were cleared, many now fixed or against the walls, and some chest tombs remain. Entry from Mare Street is via an early C19th archway, and a pavilion in the centre dates from the late C19th or early C20th.

St Thomas's Square was a development built by Robert Collins in 1771/2 on land leased from St Thomas's Hospital. The central area was essentially open space until 1892 when it was laid out as a public garden by Hackney District Board with grants form the MBW, MPGA and the LCC. Just outside the railings at the west end is a granite drinking fountain in memory of Esther Nelson, which was unveiled by the Mayor of Hackney in 1912. Hackney Borough Council purchased the garden in 1915.

Stamford Hill Strips are four roadside grassed areas, with a few trees, which were handed over free of cost to the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1883 as public open space. Later owned and maintained by Hackney Borough Council, they are protected under the London Squares Preservation Act of 1931.

Stoke Newington Common, once known as Cockhanger Green, was the village green and used for grazing until the C19th. The common extended to Stoke Newington High Road but was gradually eroded from the early C18th, particularly to the west. Part was taken for the railway in the 1860s although land was provided in compensation; since then the Common has been divided in two by the railway cutting. In 1872 the Common, now c. 5.5 acres, was protected as open space following the Metropolitan Commons Act 1866, when local people successfully petitioned to save 180 acres of common land in the borough for public use. It now comprises a number of green spaces of differing characters. The largest, eastern triangular area has mature London plane and lime trees.

Stonebridge Gardens takes its name from a stone bridge over a tributary of the Hackney Brook nearby. In 1883 part of what is now the park was given to the Hackney Board of Works for public open space; this small area in the north has an obelisk, any inscription now obliterated. Although part of the park may be a remnant of Stonebridge Common, it was largely created following post-war house clearance. It was landscaped largely for recreational use with a concrete and mosaic snake play sculpture constructed in 1981.

Windsor Terrace or The Oval was land owned by St Bartholomew's Hospital that was leased to Shoreditch Borough Council at 1s per annum and maintained as an asphalt playground. Preserved under the London Squares and Enclosures (Preservation) Act of 1906, in 1928 the unenclosed site contained 'a few trees', now well-grown horse chestnuts. Until re-landscaping took place in 2008 it was a largely paved area laid out with seats, some planting in raised areas and concrete planters.

Hackney Town Hall was built in 1934-37 when a larger building was needed to accommodate the offices of the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney. It is set back from the main road behind a landscaped square that was laid out on the site of the old Town Hall, itself the site of the C16th Church House long used for church, parochial and educational purposes. Now called Town Hall Square, it remains a formal, symmetrical composition with island beds, enclosed by stone parapet walls with four piers surmounted by bronze Art Deco lanterns at the front.

Well Street gets its name from a spring that was once here. Well Street Common was previously part of South Hackney Common, which was owned by the Lord of the Manor of Hackney and used for agriculture. As the area was becoming built over, 180 acres of Hackney's common land was saved from development following a local petition and campaign in the 1860s, which led to its preservation for public use. All these lands were transferred to the MBW although it wasn't until the 1880s that the rights were purchased from the Lord of the Manor. Common rights were extinguished by an Act of Parliament 1884. Well Street Common was laid out with paths, seating and some planting and has mature horse chestnut and plane trees.