We've found 161 parks

* 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.

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

Parliament Square was first laid out as a public ceremonial square in 1868 designed by Edward Middleton Barry, son of Sir Charles Barry. The intention was to provide a suitable approach to Sir Charles's newly rebuilt Palace of Westminster, now commonly known as the Houses of Parliament. The square was later redesigned by George Grey Wornum in preparation for the Festival of Britain Year in 1951. His scheme incorporated existing London plane trees on the west side and the four existing statues of politicians and created a terrace garden with flower beds and large stone jardinières. The remainder was laid to grass, except for a paved walk with flower beds and a raised terrace on the north side. The square has undergone relatively few modifications since 1950, but new statues have been added. The square is overlooked by a number of important buildings including the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and St Margaret's Chapel.

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

Pimlico Gardens was formerly an early C19th boarding point on the Thames. In c.1844 it was integrated into St George's Square as part of Thomas Cubbitt's development of Pimlico, the access to the river enabling residents to board boats and steamers. This area remained within the main garden until c.1874 when it was transferred into the ownership of the local authority and renamed Pimlico Gardens. It was redesigned as a public garden in c.1915. This small riverside park is laid out with trees and grass, and has seating and a drinking fountain. John Gibson's marble statue of 1836 of William Huskisson MP, the first railway fatality, was erected here in 1915. Also in the garden is 'The Helmsman', a bronze statue by Andre Wallace of 1996. In June 2020 Pimlico Gardens was added to Historic England's Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, designated Grade II.

Porchester Square is a mid-C19th square completed by 1858, one of the last areas of Bayswater to be developed. The overall layout was overseen by George Gutch, the surveyor of the Bishop of London's extensive Paddington Estate from 1822. The garden was provided for the private use of occupiers of the square, and was managed by a Committee of occupiers. Porchester Square Gardens were acquired by Paddington Borough Council and opened to the public in 1955. Only the peripheral walk relates to the original layout, and the planting, beds and path layout have since been remodelled.

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

The Portman family's estate in Marylebone in the C18th comprised 200 acres of meadowland that had been passed down from a Tudor ancestor. When Henry William Portman began to develop his land from 1764, Portman Square was the first square to be built, acting as the centrepiece of the new development. The garden enclosure was laid out c.1780 as a Wilderness and in the C19th had a movable temple erected by the Turkish ambassador, which enabled him to enjoy the seasons. It remains a private garden for residents of Portman Square, surrounded by privet hedge and containing fine London plane and other trees and shrubs. A major renovation of the gardens was undertaken in 2005.

The central garden of Prince's Gardens is overlooked by remnants of the grand mid C19th terraces of the square, which was built on part of the former Brompton Park Boarding School. Imperial College of Science and Technology, founded in 1907 and which occupied land to the west of Exhibition Road, was expanding from 1953 onwards, and acquired land at Prince's Gardens. In 1963 it opened new student lodgings on the south side of Prince's Gardens, with Linstead Hall later built on the east side. These buildings have now been replaced as part of a scheme that included restoration of the gardens. The gardens comprise a lawn crossed by irregular paths skirting a grand central bed with an urn and contain fine mature plane trees and shrubberies.

Prince’s Square, begun in 1856, was largely the work of builder and speculator George Wyatt. It is not known who designed the central garden, which was probably in place by 1861 when a residents’ garden committee was convened to manage it. Their records indicate the emphasis placed on good behaviour and maintaining the ornamental plantings. The layout depicted on the 1869 OS map shows a perimeter hedge of closely spaced trees and shrubs, a perimeter path and a central circular bed surrounded by paths on a central east-west alignment, either side of which were two mature trees, presumably the London plane trees that remain today. Mid-late C20th refurbishment included replacement iron railings, the originals probably removed in WWII, and new herbaceous plants, roses and evergreen shrubs with central lawn areas. The garden was neglected by 2007, but since then improvement works have been undertaken under a new Gardens Committee.

Queen's Gardens were laid out as three narrow garden enclosures for the private use of occupiers of the surrounding mid C19th houses, and owned by the freeholders of those houses. By 1928 a Garden Committee was established, its members appointed annually at a meeting of the residents, at which time the garden rate for the coming year was also agreed. However it appears that many of the owners did not honour this commitment and 'heavy arrears' were due to the extent that the Committee was considering making payment for upkeep of the garden compulsory. At that time the enclosures were described as 'surrounded by a hedge and laid out with lawns and flower beds'. The long narrow garden, with terraces to north and south, is still in three parts as shown on the 1872 OS Map. It is surrounded by railings and has simple arches over the gates. There are a number of notable lime and plane trees, and oval shrub beds.

Queen's Walk was laid out in 1730 for Queen Caroline on the east side of Green Park, probably by Royal Gardener Charles Bridgeman. However from the late C18th an important group of small pleasure grounds were gradually carved out of Green Park to form private gardens for the aristocratic townhouses facing the park, and in 1795 the land east of the Queen's Walk was formally severed from the Park.

The Quintin Kynaston School was created from the merger of the Quintin School and the Kynaston Technical School and shares a block with the George Eliot Infant and Primary Schools. The schools were designed in 1956 by architect Edward D. Mills, the landscaping by Bridgewater and Shepheard. The site was previously part of the Eyre Estate and featured Victorian detached and semi-detached villas with large gardens and a fine collection of trees. As many trees as possible were preserved in the design for the schools and the layout allowed for ample grassed areas for recreation around the teaching blocks. In 2011 plans were approved to rebuild the Quintin Kynaston School as part of the Marlborough Hill Campus to include a new George Eliot Primary School and a new Alternative Provision Centre. This project is part of the government's Building Schools for the Future initiative and managed by WCC; a completion date of 2015 is projected.

Randolph Gardens, now public gardens, was previously a private garden for the use of leaseholders of adjoining houses. Owned by Paddington Estate Trustees, the garden was managed by a Committee of occupiers, the expense of maintenance assessed proportionately on each house. In 1928 it was described as 'enclosed by palings, and attractively laid out with lawns and tennis courts' and contained 'some fine trees'. On one side it is flanked by St Augustine's Church, which has a pleasant garden. There is evidence of a terrace west of the church along Randolph Gardens frontage, which has a row of lime and plane trees; the ground is now subdivided with privet hedge, the northern part of which is the responsibility of WCC. The church setting now encompasses the mid-late C20th flats of Torridon House.

Regency Place at the junction of Horseferry Road and Regency Street was formed in the early C19th on what was the north-east corner of Tothill Field, now entirely rebuilt. The site is a dense but effective shrubbery below advertising hoardings to the south-west beside the Coroner's Court by CRW Wheeler of 1893. On the corner opposite is the RC Church of the Sacred Heart, a 1930s building, with a large front garden enclosed by a chain-link fence. The garden is enthusiastically tended and contains a lawn, shrubs and a chequer-board of cement slabs with masses of daffodils growing up through the interstices. In the centre of the junction is a curiosity, an iron hexagonal urinal with a pitched roof, very like a Parisian `pissoir', much resorted to by taxi drivers.