We've found 40 parks

Emmanuel Church Forest Gate was built to serve the growing suburb of Upton in 1852 and occupies a corner position on the busy junction of Romford Road and Upton Lane. The churchyard has a number of mature trees, with tombs set among grass, a number being of historic interest.

Although Forest Lane Park is a new park it is on the site of Wood Grange Manor, purchased in 1847 by Quaker banker and philanthropist Samuel Gurney, who conveyed the land to the Whitechapel Board of Guardians in 1852. Forest Gate Industrial School for poor children was built here in 1854 and remained until 1906. It became a workhouse, workhouse infirmary and then a hospital, before finally becoming redundant in 1984. The facade was retained and the southern and central part of the grounds remained. Forest Lane Park was developed on the site by Newham Council from 1991 as an environmentally themed facility, with lake, dipping pond, raised bed garden area, a small orchard with pear and cherry trees, woodland to the east, and a wildflower meadow. A Restoration Project is underway, due for completion in 2027,

The site for Hermit Road Recreation Ground was purchased by John H. Bethell, Mayor of West Ham and then MP, later Baron Bethell of Romford, who was a major influence in ensuring that public parks were provided as part of the development of the area. The land was purchased with the aid of private subscriptions and the MPGA also assisted with the purchase and provided 24 seats. The park was opened in May 1899. The original layout featured a tree-lined north-south axis with a bandstand in a central circular area, from which a tree-lined path ran to the south-west corner; a perimeter walk with trees and shrubs encircled the park. Seats, a drinking fountain, refreshment room, shelter and swings were added and by 1939 a bowling green, tennis courts and playground existed in the northern section. The park was extended in its northern corner, and here a small ornamental rose garden was created to commemorate Daisy Parsons, Mayor of West Ham in 1936.

Keir Hardie Recreation Ground is named after Keir Hardie, who was returned as the first truly Labour MP by the constituency of West Ham South in 1892. The area had rapidly developed from the mid C19th as the former marshland became a densely populated industrial area. The site of the recreation ground in Custom House was covered by housing by the 1860s. Custom House was badly bombed in WWII and the large post-war Keir Hardie Estate was built in the 1950s, with Keir Hardie Recreation Ground provided as public open space. Surrounded by modern railings, the park has been renovated as part of recent regeneration efforts and has a perimeter path, mature and recently-planted trees, play areas and football pitches.

King George V Park opened in 1982, its name deriving from the King George V Dock, third of the Royal Docks, which opened in 1921. After closure of the Royal Docks in 1981, much of the area was subject to regeneration. Within the park was the former Newham City Farm, which predated the park but was closed in 2022. In 2024 Newham Council approved its Beckton Parks Masterplan that proposes significant improvements to a swathe of Beckton's green spaces, encompassing King George V Park, the former city farm site, New Beckton Park and Beckton District Park, North and South.

Opened in 1929 and laid out by West Ham Council, Lister Gardens was named after Lord Joseph Lister, founder of modern antiseptic surgery, who was born in Upton House, West Ham in 1827. Lister Gardens is one of the smallest public gardens in the borough and features ornamental flower beds, curving brick-edged beds largely planted with shrubs near the children's playground, a system of curving paths, tennis courts, and is surrounded by modern railings.

What is now Little Ilford Park was formerly two recreation grounds, Little Ilford Recreation Ground and Manor Park Recreation Ground. They were divided by Reynolds Avenue, which at that time ran up to Church Road. Land for Little Ilford Recreation Ground was purchased in 1909 and that for Manor Park Recreation Ground in 1912. Both were laid out as relief work under the Unemployed Workmen's Act of 1905. The 1920 OS map shows the two separate grounds divided by Reynolds Avenue but by 1939 the Avenue stopped at its junction with Dore Avenue and the two sides had been united, with a triangular area of gardens bounded by trees in the west, which still remains today. This has a pergola feature with brick piers and numerous rose beds surrounded by a path system with seating, and a number of fine trees.

Lyle Park was opened on 24 July 1924 by Sir Leonard Lyle, JP on land that was gifted to West Ham by the Golden Syrup manufacturer Abraham Lyle & Son. The park occupies an important site overlooking the Thames, and is one of only two riverside parks in the borough, the other being Thames Barrier Park. The park contains a set of ornamental wrought iron gates, originally the entrance gates to Harland & Wolff Ltd, ship builders, a reminder of the industrial heritage of the area.

Manor Park Cemetery was opened in 1874 by the Manor Park Cemetery Company on the eastern part of what had been Hamfrith Farm, previously owned by John Gurney. The cemetery today has two areas of woodland, the largest in its north-east corner, and many woodland birds are found here. There are rows of mature lime trees along the boundaries and an avenue of horse chestnuts follows the old path through the middle, with other trees scattered throughout, including cedar and other evergreens, conifers. The original chapel, built in 1877, was largely destroyed by bombing in 1944 apart from its spire, which still remains and was rebuilt in brick with a crematorium added to its east end in 1955. The cemetery has a war memorial, crematorium remembrance area, together with an extensive Garden of Remembrance.

The Memorial Garden was laid out to commemorate those who worked at the Bromley-by-Bow Gasworks who had died in the two world wars, and was a place of relaxation for the staff. Woodland at the eastern end had developed on the site of an earlier garden, unmanaged since WWI, with a dense canopy of sycamore, a few horse chestnut, poplar, lime and pear trees with understorey of elder, rowan, hawthorn, garden privet, mulberry and fig, the latter three species presumably from the former garden. Used by employees of the gasworks, it was not publicly accessible at that time. Following closure of the gasworks in the 1970s the garden became neglected, and the site was later scheduled for redevelopment by the London Docklands Development Corporation. Since 2005, thanks to development of a new business park here, the hitherto derelict garden was restored and made publicly accessible. Set in a clearing, the site is largely grassed, with two belts of mature poplar trees, many pollarded, down each side. Within the garden are a bronze statue to Sir Corbet Woodall, Governor of the Gas Light and Coke Company from 1906-16, a picturesque War Memorial Rotunda, a free-standing bronze Memorial Plaque, and a Memorial Lamp in the form of a tall column topped with a flame, originally lit by gas that burnt constantly.

Memorial Recreation Ground opened in 1897, and was the playing fields where West Ham United Football Club originated, the club also using Hermit Road Recreation Ground, before moving to Upton Park in 1904. The Memorial Ground was also the home of the East London Rugby Club. It is adjacent to the East London Cemetery, which lies on its boundary, and is overlooked by The Greenway. It remains essentially laid out as playing fields, and has an avenue of mature plane trees flanking the main north/south path, and some shrubs planted along the border. The Grassroots Resource Centre now provides community facilities in an innovatory building with an undulating turf-covered roof.

In 1868 the Gas Light and Coke Company acquired land here and opened its new works in 1870, called Beckton after the Governor of the Company. Housing was built in the area for the local workforce and in 1901 Beckton Park was opened by East Ham Borough Council. It once had a bandstand and lake, but has been remodelled. An avenue of plane trees flanks a tarmac path from Manor Way to the Stroud Centre where there are rose beds and spring bulbs. The park is now part of Beckton District Park.