We've found 161 parks

At No.107 Prince's Gate, an opulent C19th garden square survives behind Septimus Warwick's c.1950 rebuilding of this portion of Prince's Gate as an apartment block. It can just be glimpsed through the stout wooden paling that surrounds it and comprises lawns, shrubberies and good mature trees. Adjacent is the All Saints Russian Orthodox Patriarchal Church (properly in Ennismore Gardens), a Romanesque church by L. Vulliamy built in 1848-9.

Norfolk Crescent, together with Oxford and Cambridge Squares, was created on the site of the earlier, much larger Stanhope Square. The area was within the Bishop of London's extensive Paddington Estate and was developed from 1838 as part of estate surveyor George Gutch's 'Final Plan for Tybernia'. The form of the garden is intact although the surrounding area was redeveloped in the 1960s. Nowadays the garden contains notable mature London plane trees, modern bedding, a central privet-hedged enclosure and modern railings.

Norfolk Square was laid out after 1842 on the site of the former Upper South Reservoir of the Grand Junction Canal Company, possibly to the design of George Gutch. The garden was originally provided for the private use of inhabitants of the Square. The area later became invaded by minor hotels, and a block of flats replaced a church at the north end of the square. The garden became dilapidated and in 1989 was acquired by Westminster City Council through compulsory purchase. It was completely re-landscaped with new paths, shrub planting and railings, and opened to the public in autumn 1990.

North Row Buildings were built on the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor Estate as artisan dwellings at the instigation of the St George's Parochial Association. The estate was later acquired by the Peabody Trust. What was formerly a dark central courtyard has recently been transformed into a garden with planting, seating areas and a children's play area.

Nos. 3 and 5 Porchester Terrace is a double detached villa with domed conservatory that was designed by the influential garden designer and writer J C Loudon in 1823. Its garden, now much reduced, exemplified his ideas for gardens attached to suburban villas, and was illustrated in his book 'The Suburban Gardener and Villa Companion'. Curved paths skirted trees and shrubs, with raised beds in the rear where Loudon planted exotic species.

Orme Square is thought to be the earliest town square in Bayswater. Under the will of John Carver, the garden was owned by Trustees, who by 1928 had sold the houses in the square, the purchasers having a right to use the garden enclosure subject to an annual payment for its upkeep. The garden contains three notable if enigmatic ornaments: two columns surmounted by pineapples and a double Tuscan column with a stucco eagle on top.

Oxford and Cambridge Squares and Norfolk Crescent were created on the site of the earlier, much larger Stanhope Square, which was laid out pre-1834. The area was within the Bishop of London's extensive Paddington Estate and was developed from 1838 as part of estate surveyor George Gutch's 'Final Plan for Tybernia'. The form of the garden is intact although surrounding buildings date from the 1960s. The garden contains notable mature London plane trees, and now has modern bedding, substantial shrubbery, privet topiary and modern railings.

This is a remnant of the original village green with origins in the ancient villages of Paddington and Lillestone. Paddington Green is an unusually early public open space; in 1753 it was enclosed by the owner of Paddington House to serve as an ornament to the parish, and in 1779 was vested in 3 trustees for the benefit of the parish. Improvements were made in the early C19th but by 1851 it had declined and was closed for public recreation. It re-opened to the public in 1865, following a legacy for its maintenance by Marion Mayne. A statue of the actress Sarah Siddons was erected here in 1897.

The site was first used for recreational purposes in 1860 when a cricket pitch was laid down by the local church. As a result of the efforts of R Melville Beachcroft, Treasurer of Paddington Cricket Club, land was purchased from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and the Paddington Estate. In 1888/9 Paddington Recreation Ground was laid out and opened to the public, money having been raised for purchase of a larger area under an Act of 1893, which reserved at least 4 acres for general use, the rest was leased out for sports. The Paddington Recreation Act enabled the Vestry of Paddington to officially acquire the Ground to 'provide the residents with a public recreational ground'. The bandstand in the south-west corner dates from the original layout, and the Pavilion, built in 1888 was originally used as a refreshment pavilion and grandstand.

Paddington Street Gardens are on land formerly used for burials and is split into two parts by Paddington Street. The larger South Garden represents the older burial ground consecrated in 1733. The land was granted by the Earl of Oxford, one of whose conditions that a workhouse be provided, which was erected in 1750-52. By 1771 further burial space was needed and the parish bought land north of Paddington Street, now the North Garden. A larger workhouse was built to the north in 1775, on the present site of the University of Westminster. The burial ground was closed in 1814 when St John's Wood Burial Ground opened; it was laid out as a public recreation ground in 1885 and was opened in 1886 by Princess Louise. Most gravestones were removed although a fine C18th mausoleum in the south garden commemorates the wife of Richard Fitzpatrick.

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

Park Square and Park Crescent were built on land that belonged to the Crown and were designed as part of John Nash's original conception for The Regent's Park of 1811. His plan for developing the former royal hunting chase included the 400-acre park, to be surrounded by villas and terraces. There were to be two circuses, one in the park and a south circus with the parish church in the centre where the Crescent is now. Only the southern semi-circle was realised due to financial problems. By 1823 the north half of the circus had been cancelled and replaced by a square, with its north side open to the park. Park Square was built in 1823-25 comprising two parallel terraces facing east and west across the private garden for the use of residents, which was connected to the Park Crescent garden by The Nursemaids' Tunnel under Marylebone Road. Both gardens are well laid out with lawns, numerous fine trees, flower and shrub beds.

A series of gardens, private and semi-private, remind us that Park Lane was originally a back street behind the houses fronting on to Park Street, rather like Queens Walk or Birdcage Walk. Few of these houses with their bowed park fronts now survive except at Nos. 130-135 and Nos. 93-99, which have small gardens. Dudley House, an early C19th mansion, has a well-kept garden bounded by railings. There is also a small but stylish forecourt garden with fountain, which marks the extent of the forecourt of the demolished Dorchester House. The concrete divisions of the garden, in the same 'moderne' taste as Sir Owen Williams and W Curtis Green's 'Grand' hotel, are invariably lavishly planted and the tree in the centre of the garden illuminated with lights.