We've found 75 parks

Fairacres is a private block of flats completed in 1936 on the west side of Roehampton Lane, overlooking Roehampton Golf Course. The land was once part of the estate of Lower Grove, the 1930s block on the site of Lower Grove House. The 4-storey block of 64 flats takes the form of a shallow crescent, which to the rear overlooks well-landscaped communal gardens. The garden was designed by Moyses Stevens in 1935, and comprises open lawns, trees and shrubberies, a pond and secluded areas.

Fairlawn was built in 1853, a fine villa with substantial gardens designed by Robert Marnock. After WWII the house was acquired by the LCC and in the early 1950s became a home for the blind and later for the elderly. In 1980 the GLC, who had taken over from the LCC, relinquished the house and it fell into disrepair. In 1984 Hiram Walker International purchased the site and restored the house, but later vacated and the house has since been adapted as apartments and renamed Fairlawns. Today the original gardens are severely truncated and the lower area is now part of Windlesham Grove Estate.

The Fitzhugh Estate is on land that was once part of Wandsworth Common, an area of which was enclosed in the 1850s for building the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building to house orphans of the Crimean War. The buildings, by then vacant and derelict, were acquired by the LCC in 1951 along with adjoining land for educational and housing purposes. The Fitzhugh Estate was built in 1953-55, designed along modernist principles to provide state-of-the-art social housing, consisting of five 11-storey blocks arranged within the landscape in such a way as to retain existing trees and provide views. At the time, the estate was highly regarded and seen as a blueprint for exemplary housing. The grounds have mature and more recently planted trees, shrub and flower beds set into lawns. A community garden run by residents has been set up in recent years.

Fountain Road Recreation Ground was laid out in 1932 as part of the adjacent Council housing development of Anderson House. The site had once been a clay quarry for brickworks, replaced in 1898 when the Council's 'dust destructor' was built here, the scheme for disposing of rubbish by incineration. The 153 foot high chimney was eventually demolished on 30 October 1930 and the recreation ground was laid out through a scheme for the relief of unemployment. It was partly grassed with the remainder paved and provided with see-saws and swings.

Furzedown Recreation Ground was provided by Wandsworth Borough Council and opened in 1924, the name recalling the former heathland here. The area was gradually developed for housing from the late C19th onwards. Furzedown House, a substantial house built c.1800 set in grounds, is now the core of Furzedown Training College near the recreation ground and some remnants of the C19th planting survive. The recreation ground once had a café, two bowling greens, a pitch and putt course, a flower garden and tennis courts.

Garratt Green was previously within lands owned by the Manor of Wandsworth and was one of the last commons to come within the responsibility of the LCC. When the rest of Wandsworth Common was transferred to the public in 1871, Earl Spencer, Lord of the Manor, retained Garratt Green until November 1899 when it was transferred to the LCC subject to it being maintained for public use. Until 1796 the Green had long been the site of the election of a mock mayor of the hamlet of Garratt, whose duties were to protect the common rights of the Green. Garratt Green today is largely grass with trees and shrubbery around the border and a perimeter path.

Garratt Lane Old Burial Ground was in use as a burial ground from 1800 when the parish purchased a field to provide additional burial space when All Saints churchyard was full. The last burial took place here in c.1930 although Wandsworth Cemetery was established in 1878 and St Ann's Church was built in 1820 to serve the growing population. The burial ground was opened as a public garden with the original east-west path in the cemetery realigned to the south. In 2000 a semi-circular paved area backed by shrub planting was created off Garratt Lane with benches and sculptural light fixtures. A number of chest tombs and gravestones are set into the lawns.

Garratt was a hamlet in the south of the parish of Wandsworth, mentioned in the records of Merton Priory as ‘tenement of the Garrett, manor of Durnsford' in 1538. Garratt Park was opened as a public park ‘for children's recreation' in May 1906. It was laid out on the former grounds of Garratt House, demolished in 1890, which had been owned by the proprietors of Garratt Mills from the C18th. The park is in two parts, a more formal area with lawns and shrubberies, children's playground, cycle track and sports court, and an informal area of open grassland.

In the early C20th a garden suburb had been planned here, to be named Magdalen Park Estate after landowners Magdalen College Oxford, but building came to a stop when WWI broke out. In the 1930s Wandsworth Borough Council purchased the area between Fieldview and Ellerton Road for the Fieldview Estate, which was designed on a grid of streets with wide footpaths, grass verges and street trees. Godley Gardens was laid out to provide public open space for the residents, a railed enclosure with grass, trees and shrubs, with a raised brick planter.

Heathbrook Park is one of a number of public parks or gardens in Battersea that were created from areas of derelict land following bomb damage in WWII. The land was transferred to LB Wandsworth by the GLC in 1971 and was initially leased to the Metropolitan Police for vehicle storage. It was then laid out for recreation and opened in 1978. The original layout had a lake, café, and aviary but all of these features were lost as a result of vandalism in the 1980s although the small playground survives from the original features.

Almshouses erected by St Clement Danes Holborn Estate Charity on a 6-acre site, previously farmland, purchased for the purpose in 1848, which incorporated a large garden at the front that contained an Artesian well to supply the residents. The plans for the grounds were devised by the managers of the Charity and implemented by Robert Mackay, Nurseryman of Stoke Newington, Middlesex. When the charity moved to new almshouses in Sydenham the almshouses were purchased by LB Wandsworth and are predominantly council housing.

The Huguenot Burial Ground opened in c.1687 as the burial ground for the French Church, which was located opposite Wandsworth parish church of All Saints. The burial ground was used by the Huguenot refugees who settled in Wandsworth during the C16th and C17th, fleeing France after the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The burial ground later became know as Mount Nod; it was enlarged in 1700 and again in 1735. It was closed for burial in 1854 and in 1896 Mrs Basil Holmes describes it as 'closed and fairly tidy'. It later reopened as a public garden, and contains a number of historic monuments.