We've found 40 parks

Abbey Gardens is a community garden built on the site of a row of cottages, once the site of the C12th Stratford Langthorne Abbey. Beneath the garden are the remains of the gatehouse of the Abbey. The community garden was set up by a group of local residents in 2006 with the aim of rescuing the derelict site from vandalism. They set up the Friends of Abbey Gardens, now a charity, which continues to run the project.

Abbey Mills Pumping Station was built in 1865-8 and was originally surrounded by formal, landscaped gardens. Named for its proximity to the former site of Stratford Langthorne Abbey, the pumping station was built to lift lower level sewage into the Northern Outfall Sewer that took sewage from all over London to Beckton. An extravagantly ornamented building it was nicknamed 'the Cathedral of Sewage'. Its 2 Moorish-style chimneys were demolished in WWII for fear they would be used as bomber landmarks; they had been unused since steam power had been replaced by electric motors in 1933. A new pumping station to the south was built in 1994-7, although the old Pumping Station has continued to be used as standby, for example in times of storm.

All Saints West Ham parish churchyard dates back to the early Middle Ages. Stratford Langthorne Abbey was founded here in 1135 and became one of the richest in the country, in time owning much of West Ham, including the parish church, until the Dissolution of the Monasteries of 1538. The churchyard is now largely grass, intersected by paths with avenues of London plane and lime trees. The gravestones and chest-tombs that remain are largely concentrated on mounds near the covered entranceway on the south side of the church.

Ashburton Wood is located on the former site of Ashburton Secondary Modern School. The first school on the site was Russell Road Board School for Boys, Girls and Infants, which opened in 1893. At that time land to the north of the site was open land/Allotment Gardens, and some residential streets laid out. The school later became Ashburton Secondary Modern School, which closed in 1984, following which the buildings were demolished and the site cleared. It was subsequently planted as woodland to provide publicly accessible open space and nature trail, with paths running through it and seating provided. London plane trees planted along the school boundary with Freemasons Road and Russell Road remain today.

Land for the park was purchased by Lord Bethell in 1905 with money raised through public subscription, and donated to the Council. Barking Road Recreation Ground was opened in 1908 by Princess Louise, the Duchess of Argyll. It had been laid out by unemployed workmen as part of local relief works under the Unemployed Workmen's Act of 1905, with the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association providing some seats. The park has floral displays, shrubberies and rose beds. At the most westerly entrance on Barking Road the Albert Monk Memorial Gates were erected 'as a tribute to his memory and his life-long service to the youth of the Borough' according to a plaque dated 17 September 1955.

Brampton Park opened in 1915, and is simply laid out with shrubs and trees, some of those around the periphery are mature. Of more recent date is an area of formal landscaping with a pergola near the entrance from Masterman Road. The park is surrounded by modern railings and adjoins East Ham Jewish Cemetery, which lies on the eastern boundary.

Canning Town Recreation Ground came into being following local pressure for West Ham Borough Council to provide a recreation ground for this rapidly developing area. Originally known as Beckton Park, it was opened in June 1894 by the then Mayor of West Ham, Alderman J H Bethell. It was designed by the MPGA landscape gardener and consisted of three areas united by two east-west walks: a formal area in the north-west with a bandstand, various tree-lined walks, and shrubberies, with a lodge, refreshments pavilion, drinking fountain and toilets. In the north-east was a gymnasium and an open-air swimming pool, the latter built by private subscription; and in the south-east was an open sports area. Various facilities were added, others were replaced, such as the Lido replacing the pool, itself now gone.

Central Park, a 9.9 hectare site, is in the grounds of an early C18th house, acquired by East Ham UDC in 1896 as part of its policy to provide recreation grounds for the growing population. The park was opened in July 1898, and had avenues and walks, recreational open spaces, a sundial, drinking fountains and seats provided by the MPGA, and extensive ornamental gardens along its whole northern edge, which remain largely intact today. An open-air pool was provided in 1901 but closed in 1923. A miniature railway ran from 1946-1949.  A bandstand was removed in 1965.  Works in 1971 replaced the bandstand with an ornamental pond and fountain.  A restoration programme funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund was agreed in 2004 with works completed in 2007.

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

By 1849 most of the City of London's churchyards were full and unsanitary, and in the early 1850s interment ceased under the Metropolitan Burials Act. In 1854 the City's Commissioners of Sewers purchased farmland at Little Ilford, once part of Epping Forest, for a new cemetery to serve the City. It was designed by William Haywood, Engineer and Surveyor to the Commissioners with an extensive network of curving paths and avenues, two Gothic chapels and Catacomb Valley formed by draining a former fishpond, its grand entrance flanked by porter's lodge and superintendent's house. It was landscaped by William Davidson with gardens, trees and shrubberies. The first burial took place in June 1856. By dint of purchasing the land the City of London became a 'commoner of Epping Forest' and as such was influential in keeping the Forest from further encroachment and enclosure. One of the first crematoria to be built in this country was opened here in 1904, with the first cremation taking place in 1905; in 1971-3 it was replaced by a second Crematorium, the Old Crematorium becoming a chapel of remembrance. A small garden of rest was created near the Crematorium in the 1920s followed by a small Memorial Garden in 1930, but in 1953 well-known landscape architect Richard Sudell was commissioned to design substantial Memorial Gardens on 4 ha. of land, catering for the increased demand for cremation after WWII.

East Ham Jewish Cemetery was established in 1919 by the United Synagogue. Inside the main entrance is a small area of flowering shrubs, and there are pollarded limes along the two main axes, otherwise the whole area is laid out symmetrically with tarmac paths and gravestones set in gravel. There are some traditional classical funerary monuments or Matzevah. In 1924 a white painted brick prayer hall with cloister /colonnades was built in the centre of the cemetery. Next to this is a hedged war memorial of gravestones set in grass.

St Mary Magdalene Church was built in c.1130 and is one of the oldest in the country, its churchyard one of the largest in London. The ancient parish church indicates where the medieval settlement o East Ham was centred; it is also near the site of a Roman cemetery discovered in 1864. The churchyard was officially closed for burials in 1974 and was a wilderness until its value as a wildlife reserve was realised in c.1977. It is now managed as East Ham Nature Reserve and is an important teaching resource for Newham schools. In 1981 hedges were planted, a copse of Scots pines was planted and the Visitors Centre was built. It is an important haven for wildlife and is home to a large population of lizards and slow worms.

The East London Cemetery Company was founded in 1871 and the cemetery was laid out on flat terrain bordered on the north by the Northern Outfall Sewer Embankment, now called The Greenway. The original main entrance to the cemetery remains in place and consists of stone piers and elaborate cast iron double gates, with pedestrian entrance gates on either side; inside is a picturesque Gothic lodge, used as the office. The cemetery has a large number of historic tombs, set among mature trees and grass, with paths laid out symmetrically. Among the monuments is the memorial to the 550 victims of the paddleboat 'Princess Alice', which sank in 1878 in the Thames near Beckton, the Silvertown Explosion of 1917 that led to 73 deaths is also commemorated in a monument.