We've found 70 parks

Agnes Riley Gardens were formerly the grounds of Oakfield House owned by Frederick George Riley. In 1931 Mr Riley offered his property to the LCC as a gift on condition that the 0.81 hectares of garden were made into a public open space and named Agnes Riley Memorial Garden in memory of his wife. Mr Riley lived in the house until his death in 1942 but in 1937 had transferred the garden to the LCC. Its layout as a public park began in 1938 but was interrupted by WWII when the site was used partly for allotments and partly for military purposes. In 1954 the whole site including that of the house, which was demolished, was laid out as a park. In the south was a children's playground, paddling pool and games courts with the rest landscaped with trees, shrubs, lawns and an ornamental pond. In 1952 the word 'Memorial' was dropped from the name.

The Albert Embankment forms part of the riverside opposite the Victoria Embankment, constructed in the 1860s to alleviate London's sewage problems. The Albert Embankment promenade opened in 1868, a paved walkway with stone balustrade, benches giving views over the river and lamp standards that were replicas of those on the opposite Embankment. There are three areas of public gardens south of Lambeth Bridge, to the north of which is a raised area of planting with grass and trees, including a Holm oak planted for the Millennium. A memorial for members of the Special Operations Executive was unveiled on 4 October 2009. The National Covid Memorial Wall is located at the north end of Albert Embankment near St Thomas's Hospital, a public mural of painted hearts instigated by Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice in March 2021 and now over 500m long.

Albert Square was part of mid-C19th development in the area that was previously market gardens and agricultural land. Built by Islington builder John Glenn, the square was laid out on as grand a scale as in Kensington. The 4-storey houses enclosed a private communal garden provided for the use of residents. Now open to the public, the square is largely grassed and has slightly undulating ground with perimeter trees and modern railings. Mature trees include London plane and holly.

The former Annie McCall Hospital has been converted as a residential development, completed in 2014. The hospital originated as Clapham Maternity Hospital, which was founded in 1889, the third hospital in Britain to be founded and run by women, and the first maternity hospital. The purpose-built wing was designed by architects Hart and Waterhouse and opened in 1915, with an extension of 1938 designed by Gertrude Leverkus. After the hospital closed in the 1970s, it was used for council offices, and then from c.1987 became an artists' studios complex known as Stockwell Studios, which was based here until 2013. In the hospital's extensive grounds, Stockwell Studios created a wildlife garden and community and arts education centre with a kitchen garden in the walled garden. The hospital site was sold for development by LB Lambeth and what remains of the grounds within the new development are now provided for the private use of residents.

The site was formerly within the grounds of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lambeth Palace and in the late C19th the 'local poor' were given limited public access to what became known as Lambeth Palace Field. Following a campaign for it to have unrestricted opening, in 1900 a licence was granted by the Church Commissioners for it to become a public park, which was laid out and opened in 1901. Various facilities have been added over the years, including a garden area dedicated to Octavia Hill and a community orchard was planted in 2010.

Becondale Road Open Space is a triangular woodland garden surrounded by a cul-de-sac of Victorian houses built by Isaiah Hitchcock on land that was once part of Norwood Common. The small central garden was initially the responsibility of the lessee and later became that of Lambeth Borough Council.

Bonnington Square was originally built in the 1870s for railway workers. In the 1970s the houses were compulsorily purchased by the GLC and an area of WWII bomb damage, now the site of the communal garden, was laid out as playground, but this later fell into disrepair and became wasteland. The properties were left empty, squatted, then leased until 1998 when LB Lambeth enabled the residents to form themselves into a co-op in order to buy the property. In 1990 they formed Bonnington Square Garden Association and transformed it into a 'Pleasure Garden', so named in homage to Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, which had been located 100m north of the site. The design aimed to be 'a unique mix of the classic English and the exotic tropical, of gentle textures and the bold architectural'.

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

Brockwell Park was once part of a medieval estate owned by the Hospital of St Thomas, later in private ownership. It was subdivided in the early C19th when the eastern part was sold to glass merchant John Blades, for whom Brockwell Hall, now the park café, was built. The extent of the old estate is mirrored in the park boundary today. The last private owner planned to sell the land for housing but with the support of the MPGA a first portion of land was purchased by the LCC. Brockwell Park opened in June 1892, later expanded with further land purchase. An Old English Garden was laid out in the early C19th walled garden, and the park's features included ornamental ponds and formal bedding. Brockwell Lido was built in 1937 and has been restored, a survivor of London's once more common open air swimming pools.

Noel Caron, wealthy landowner, philanthropist and Dutch Ambassador to Elizabeth I, built seven almshouses on Kingston/Wandsworth Road in 1622 for seven poor but honest women of Lambeth parish. No garden records have been found, but a watercolour exists of the almshouses before they were demolished as unsuitable in 1853. In 1854 seven new Caron almshouses were built in nearby Fentiman Road, with a communal front garden and seven separate back gardens (as shown by maps until 1932): a 1950 map shows the seven separate back gardens as a single unit. Trustee ‘minutes’ reveal that Vauxhall Park gardeners maintained the almshouse gardens. Site visits suggest that holm oak, cherry and sycamore were early garden trees. Today’s care body is Family Mosaic.

The City of London Almshouses comprise a series of building ranges, mainly two storeys high, that line three sides of the rectangular communal garden. On the east side past the lodge are two blocks: Rogers Almshouses, and then Gresham's Almshouses, both relocated here in the 1880s and replacing ancient almshouses in the City. The layout of the communal garden appears little changed from its original layout, and has mature trees and grass, with railings to Ferndale Road.

Clapham Common is partly in Lambeth, partly in Wandsworth and was formerly two commons belonging to the neighbouring manors. Its importance for recreation was early acknowledged and it was subject to landscape improvement from 1722 onwards. In 1836 a management committee secured a lease from the two lords of the manor. Following the Metropolitan Commons Act of 1866 the MBW assumed responsibility for a number of commons including Clapham, which it purchased in 1877, and introduced a programme of improvements and facilities. In 1890 a reproduction of the bandstand in the Royal Horticultural Society's gardens at Kensington was erected on Clapham Common, which was restored and formally reopened in October 2011.

Cleaver Square was developed from 1789, originally called Prince's Square but re-named by the LCC in 1937 after the C18th owner of the land, Mary Cleaver. The central garden was originally laid out with grass, and it was later used as a nursery garden. New owners in 1924 wishing to build over the garden, the only way to preserve it as open space was to purchase it under the 1906 Open Spaces Act. As a result Lambeth Borough Council purchased the garden and laid it out as a playground, with perimeter trees planted subsequently. The garden was restored in c.2000 to form an open tree lined area with gravel, cobbles and numerous seats.