We've found 161 parks

Cavendish Square was the first part of the development of this part of Marylebone, undertaken by Edward Harley, the second Earl of Oxford. The central circular area contained grass, on which sheep once grazed, but it was laid out as a garden by Charles Bridgeman in 1717. It was originally provided for the private use of occupants of Cavendish Square but was opened to the public in the C20th.

This small landscaped area on the east side of Chelsea Bridge between Grosvenor Road and the river was formed soon after the embanking of the river by Sir Joseph Bazalgette in 1869-74. Chelsea Embankment was officially opened in May 1874 by Lieutenant Col Sir James MacNaughton Hogg, Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works. A second landscaped area on the west side of the bridge falls within the borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Both are overgrown with trees and shrubbery and largely inaccessible to the public, although a small railed area overlooking the river was reinstated for public enjoyment in 2006.

Chesham Place is a well-tended triangular garden square laid out in 1831 on land belonging to the Lowndes family. The private garden is overlooked by a row of C19th terraced houses built by Thomas Cubitt that are integral to the original layout. The railings of the square were replaced with wire netting in the C20th. The garden, described in 1928 as 'an attractive ornamental garden', comprises a central lawn with shrubberies of camellias and rhododendrons at the margins.

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

Chester Square was laid out as part of a largely intact planned development of houses and gardens on the Grosvenor Estate. The private gardens of Chester Square originally consisted of three enclosures, but by the 1890s the central and south-western gardens had become one, separated from the north-eastern garden by Eccleston Street. Enclosed by cast-iron railings, the gardens have mature plane trees. The larger western garden was restored in 1997 to the layout shown in the OS Map of 1867. Rope edging tiles and some original trees survive, and the garden is planted with shrubs and herbaceous borders, and a central rose garden.

Christchurch Gardens is the site of the former burial ground for St Margaret Westminster dating from 1625. Broadway Chapel was built here in 1638-42, replaced in the C19th by Christ Church Westminster. Among those buried in the churchyard were several notorious people. Christ Church was destroyed in the Blitz in 1941 and the site was left as open space until it was converted into a public garden in 1950. There were no monuments remaining but the garden was laid out with grass, a number of mature trees, and some formal landscaping. In 1970 the Suffragette Monument was erected in the gardens and in 1995 a bronze statue commemorating Henry Purcell. In 2020 the gardens were re-landscaped following an improvement scheme undertaken by Victoria BID with WCC. The new scheme provides additional planting together with new seating, lighting, paving and historical information as well as features to improve biodiversity.

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

Churchill Gardens Estate is an award winning post-war mixed development housing estate designed by Powell & Moya for Westminster City Council on the site of Smiths' Brewery and surrounding streets, one of the first housing scheme built on modernist principles in the UK. The blocks of flats are surrounded by an informal landscape setting, with an emphasis on openness, light and greenery; the layout is deliberately simple as there are 36 blocks on the site. In a few low blocks containing maisonettes the ground has been fenced off into private gardens. The estate grounds are mostly lawn, traversed by paths protected by low fences, railings and raised planting beds. There are large numbers of young and mature trees, and hedges and shrubberies conceal tennis courts and other facilities.

Cleveland Gardens was laid out in c.1855 when the formerly rural area was being developed as part of the Paddington Estate. The garden was entirely refurbished in 2006, the work undertaken by the Residents' Association with the help of grants from EH and WCC. The scheme reinstated traditional Victorian railings to replace the old chain link fencing, paths were reformed and edged, and the garden was replanted. 3 notable London plane trees remain from the earlier garden. A condition of the grant aid was that the garden had to open to the public on 21 days a year.

Cleveland Square was laid out in 1855 when the formerly rural area was being developed as part of the Paddington Estate. The stucco-fronted houses overlook the private garden provided for the residents. The present garden has play areas, bedding, a privet hedge, and fine London plane trees as well as mature plum and cherry trees. A serpentine path through the garden has Victorian edging tiles, a remnant of the original geometrical pattern shown on the OS Map of 1872. The railings are post-1960 with the entrance on the south side. A plaque commemorates a barrage balloon moored in the garden in WWII. A Jubilee Bed was planted in 2012 to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Connaught Square was built between 1821-30 as part of S P Cockerell's plan for Tyburnia when the land within the extensive estate owned by the Bishops of London began to be developed in the early C19th. According to the Report of the Royal Commission on London Squares the private communal garden was laid out in 1809. In 1928 it was described as an 'oblong area surrounded by a sparse hedge and attractively laid out with well-kept lawn and some fine trees'. Today the garden is surrounded by privet hedge and a wire mesh fence; a perimeter walk follows its oval shape and its mature London plane trees dominate the square.

Bayswater was a rural area until the mid C19th when it was developed for housing. Part of the land here was owned by the Craven Pest House Charity and Craven Settled Estates, after the 3rd Earl of Craven purchased 3 acres of land and built pesthouses here in the 1730s to serve the local parishes. Terraced housing of Craven Hill Gardens was built on the site of the pesthouses and two gardens were provided for the leaseholders, north and south of Craven Hill, which remained in the ownership of the Craven Pest House Charity and the Craven Settled Estates respectively. The southern enclosure is now communal gardens of Corringham, a modernist block of flats built in 1962-4.

Bayswater was a rural area until the mid C19th when it was developed for housing. Part of the land here was owned by the Craven Pest House Charity and Craven Settled Estates, after the 3rd Earl of Craven purchased 3 acres of land and built pesthouses here in the 1730s to serve the local parishes. Terraced housing of Craven Hill Gardens was built on the site of the pesthouses and two gardens were provided for the leaseholders, north and south of Craven Hill, which remained in the ownership of the Craven Pest House Charity and the Craven Settled Estates respectively. The northern enclosure is now Hempel Garden Square, the private garden of The Hempel hotel, landscaped as a Japanese-style Zen garden.

Crewe House is a rare survival in central London of a detached mansion set in its original grounds. Built in the early C18th it was considerably altered in the late C18th and early C19th. Previously known as Wharncliffe House, it was purchased in 1899 by the Marquis of Crewe and renamed Crewe House. In 1937 it became offices for Messrs. Tilling and it is now the Saudi Arabian Embassy, extensively restored for this use by architects Michael Lyell Associates in 1988-90. The house is visible through an ornamental wrought iron screen with gates and lodges at either end, also by Michael Lyell Associates, which replaced a rendered brick wall. The garden within is entirely re-landscaped and is abundantly supplied with dwarf plants.