We've found 73 parks

Now a nature reserve managed by Essex Wildlife Trust, Cranham Marsh is all that remains of a much larger area of marshland in Essex. The site today has woodland, ponds, marshland and old pastures, with remains of old hedgerows. A river, a tributary of the Mardyke in Thurrock, runs through Cranham Marsh. Some of the largest ash trees in Essex are found in Spring Wood, and to the east is a smaller woodland with oak and ash, Middle Wood. Parts of the woods are coppiced on a 12-year cycle.

The manor of Dagenhams and Cockerels comprised 2 adjoining tenements, which after a complex history passed to the Earl of Northumberland in the C14th. The name Dagnams or Dagnam came into use in the C18th. Sold several times over the years, the manor was purchased in 1772 by Sir Richard Neave, who rebuilt the house and sought Humphry Repton's advice on landscaping the grounds. It remained in his family until 1948 when the house and 500 acres around Dagnam Park were sold to the LCC to build the Harold Hill Estate, Dagnam Park itself retained as a public park. Dagnam house was demolished in 1948 as was Cockerels house to the south, known as Dagnam Park Farm in the C19th and standing outside a moated site, part of the moat surviving today. The public park preserves its C18th boundaries, together with some of the landscaped features, specimen trees and ponds; a curving track that crosses the park follows the line of the C18th drive. Hatters Wood, Havering's largest woodland, is now within the public park.

Duck Wood is ancient woodland once part of the extensive Forest of Waltham that covered much of Essex. Largely cleared by the C16th for agricultural use, pockets of woodland remain. Like other areas of woodland, Duck Wood retains its ancient name, which may refer to its many ponds or perhaps was a corruption of the word 'Duke'. Woodland paths run through the site, which has been managed as a community nature reserve since 1986.

Originally part of the same estate as Langtons, Fairkytes was built in the late C17th, with additional work carried out in the C18th and C19th. The first occupant was Job Alibone, whose son Sir Richard Alibone (d.1688) was the first Catholic to be a Justice of the King's Bench. Occupants in the C19th included Joseph Fry, son of prison reformer and Quaker Elizabeth Fry. A mound still found in the garden was built in Victorian times, apparently to enable the children of the house to see what was happening in the next door Langtons gardens. Hornchurch UDC, having acquired Langtons in 1929, then purchased Fairkytes in 1951 although its garden was not fully incorporated into Langtons pleasure garden. The Council used Fairkytes as a library from 1953 and since 1972 it has been the home of Havering Art Centre.

Gaynes, Hacton and Suttons Parkways were established in their present form between 1960-62 to provide a riverside walk of c.1.5 miles along the eastern bank of the Ingrebourne river. The names recall the old manors that existed from early times. Gaynes Parkway at the north commences at Upminster Road near Hornchurch Stadium and stretches to Hacton Lane. Hacton Parkway then continues south-east from Hackton Bridge to St George's Hospital. This is followed by Sutton Parkway, which stretches to the former boundaries of Hornchurch Aerodrome, now Hornchurch Country Park. The Parkways are amenity grassland apart from a small playground area on Hacton Parkway.

Hainault Forest Golf Course is continuous with Hainault Country Park in the adjacent borough of Redbridge. Formerly part of Waltham Forest, its name may be a corruption of Hyneholt (community wood) referring to the practice when poor widows were allowed to gather free wood here in winter. Once part of Barking Abbey lands, it reverted to the Crown after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. In 1851 2800 acres of woodland were cleared and the land then mostly used for farming, with only small areas of woodland left. In 1902/3 800 acres of woodland and farmland of Foxburrows Farm were purchased by the LCC and opened to the public in 1906. Later managed by the GLC, the park became the responsibility of LB Redbridge in 1986. Now leased to Hainault Golf Club, the course has two 18-hole courses, the Upper Course dating back to 1908 and the Lower Course to 1923, both designed by 5 times Open champion J H Taylor.

The land north of Upminster remained rural into the C20th. As house building gradually took place on the east side of Hall Lane, the site of Hall Lane Miniature Golf Course remained open land and was in use as a private 9-hole golf course before WWII. It was acquired by the War Department for an Assault Course during the war, after which it was purchased by Upminster Council who laid out the 18-hole miniature golf course in 1950/51. By this time the site was surrounded by housing. At the northern boundary was a large copse of trees and there remain mature oak and ash at the eastern end where a field pond was levelled; the golf course is well planted with numerous trees of various species.

Harold Hill Estate is a large LCC housing estate built from 1947 on, laid out within the Green Belt as an exception to serve the urgent post-war housing needs, and houses some 25,000 people. Its layout was characterised by areas of green space, provision of amenity open space and retention of woodland and existing trees. Once part of the extensive Forest of Waltham, by the end of the C16th 3 sub-manors covered the area: Cockerells, Gooshays and Dagenhams and much of the land was farmed. By the 1770s Dagnams was owned by Richard Neave, whose family continued to acquire land and by 1829 owned all the land on which the Harold Hill Estate now stands. The estate began to be broken up in 1919; by 1947 the land held by Sir Arundell Neave amounted to 558 acres, which he agreed to sell to the LCC for the proposed housing estate.

Harold Wood was once part of the royal hunting ground, with a small hamlet on the edge of the forest. Housing development in the area began after the Great Eastern Railway opened a small halt here in 1868. Land was initially donated to Hornchurch UDC in 1934 for use as Harold Wood Cricket Ground, which had existed since 1896. It later formed part of Harold Wood Park. The park was gradually provided with recreational facilities including football, lacrosse, cricket and tennis, a paddling pool and putting green. The park was 'well-provided with trees'; the River Ingrebourne runs north / south through the park, with a small bridge connecting the west side, where the majority of sports facilities are, to the east side and its 18-hole miniature golf course and pond.

Harrow Lodge Park is an extensive rolling park, formerly part of the manor of Maylards Green and Wybridge. By the late C16th Maylards house stood near the present boating lakes, but no longer exists. The land was developed for public use in the C20th; 60 acres were used for food production during WWII after which the local Council transformed the site into a public park with tennis courts, a rockery and a miniature golf course among the facilities. An 8.5-acre Boating Lake was formed by damming the River Ravensbourne, with a walled garden nearby. In the early 1960s a Garden for the Blind was created near Harrow Lodge. In the late 1980s Hornchurch Sports Centre was built at the northern end of the park.

Havering Country Park was formerly part of Havering Park, itself part of the estate of the medieval Royal Palace of Havering. Its long royal history commenced in 1066 when William the Conqueror decided to keep the manor of Havering for himself, and in 1638 Charles I was the last monarch to rest at Havering. During the Civil War the Palace was abandoned and by 1816 there was no trace of it. In 1828 the McIntosh family bought the manor and built a house, laying out a park, gardens and pleasure grounds. Leading up to the house was an avenue of Wellingtonia trees, which remains as the second largest plantation in the country. The estate was broken up after Mrs Charlotte McIntosh's death and the house demolished in 1925, although some C19th planting survives. Part was sold off in 1-acre plots, known as the Plotlands, which were popular from the 1920s-1940s, many bought by East Enders as a retreat from the inner city. In 1970 the GLC was instrumental in a Compulsory Purchase Order to clear the Plotlands for a regional public park but it was not until 1976 that the area was opened as Havering Country Park.

Havering Atte Bower was once the location of the Royal Palace of Havering used by the monarchy from pre-Norman Conquest until 1620. Havering Village Green was acquired as public open space by Romford UDC in 1935 and is largely grass, overlooked by the parish church of St John the Evangelist. The late C17th/early C18th double stocks and whipping post used to stand in the south-east corner of the green, and were restored in 1966, having part of the original ironwork. The ducking pool used to be across North Road, a hollow in the ground indicating where it was. A row of horse chestnut trees was planted during Coronation Year 1953 and a seat installed near the west side as a further commemoration. The Green has been used for all manner of village activities over many years.