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Barham Park was once grounds of the C18th Crab's House, which was acquired in 1801 by John Copland who built Sudbury Lodge (later called Barham Mansion) in c1850. By 1895 the estate was owned by Sir George Barham; it was inherited in 1913 by his son Titus, who spent much on its improvement. When he died in 1937 he left house and grounds to the citizens of Wembley, together with his private museum. The park today has formal gardens and more open parkland. There are remnants of earlier features such as garden balustrades of Barham Mansion, walls and ornamental gates, and part of Crab's House is now the library. Wembley and Brent Parks Nursery was here from 1950-1960s, its site now the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Garden, with the old nursery glasshouse as its focal point.

This is the site of Barking Abbey, which had been founded in 666 AD, restored by King Edgar in 970 AD, and eventually dissolved in 1539 by which time it was the greatest Benedictine nunnery in the country. In 1910 Barking Town UDC purchased the site to create an area for public recreation and during associated road works the Abbey foundations were discovered. The site was carefully excavated to reveal the ruined foundations. The Abbey Playing Field, incorporating the site of Barking Abbey, was opened as a public garden in 1913. There are plans for re-landscaping of the whole Abbey Green site including the Abbey Ruins, subject to full approvals in 2011.

Barking Park opened as Barking Town UDC Recreation Ground in April 1898, the first municipal park in the borough. Its original layout included a bandstand, ornamental gardens, bowling green, tennis courts and a large boating lake. The park keeper's lodge at the south-west entrance was built in 1902. Tree planting included alleys of plane and robinia, with the oldest area of landscaping by the lake. In 1919 Barking Park War Memorial was erected and was dedicated in 1922, now commemorating those from Barking who lost their lives in both world wars. Other park facilities added over the years included a children's paddling pool, 18 hole putting green, and an impressive Open Air Swimming Pool or Lido with ornamental cascade (refurbished/restored in 2010). The 1930s light railway re-opened in April 2009.

Land for the park was purchased by Lord Bethell in 1905 with money raised through public subscription, and donated to the Council. Barking Road Recreation Ground was opened in 1908 by Princess Louise, the Duchess of Argyll. It had been laid out by unemployed workmen as part of local relief works under the Unemployed Workmen's Act of 1905, with the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association providing some seats. The park has floral displays, shrubberies and rose beds. At the most westerly entrance on Barking Road the Albert Monk Memorial Gates were erected 'as a tribute to his memory and his life-long service to the youth of the Borough' according to a plaque dated 17 September 1955.

Barkingside Cemetery is a municipal cemetery, which opened in 1922/23. In 1954 when the cemetery had become full an extension was opened to the west, Barkingside Garden of Rest. It is laid out on a simple grid with wide paths and some covered seats. A small hedged plot on the north east side is reserved for deceased members of Dr Barnardo's Village Home, which had been established in 1875, at which time Barkingside was a small village. Barkingside Station opened in 1903 and the area gradually became built up.

Barkingside Garden of Rest was set up as an extension to the municipal Barkingside Cemetery to the east. Opened in 1954, the first burial took place on 8 October of that year. It is a functional C20th cemetery laid out with straight roadways and paths, some flanked by ornamental trees. A prominent weeping willow stands near the main carriage sweep at the Longwood Gardens entrance where there is a covered waiting area. Until the early C20th Barkingside was a small village, development taking place after Barkingside Station opened in 1903.

Barkingside was part of the municipal borough of Ilford, which once lay within the large estate lands belonging to Barking Abbey. In the 1880s the hamlet consisted of a few houses and cottages, the church, public houses and the charitable institution of Dr Barnardo, but even into the 1920s the area was quite rural. Barkingside Recreation Ground dates from the early C20th. Near the entrance on Cranbrook Road is a drinking fountain presented in 1906 by Cllr W P Griggs, JP and Chairman of Ilford UDC's Parks Committee.

Barkston Gardens is a private communal garden provided for residents of the houses that surround it, which were built as part of the Gunter Estate development in the area that took place from 1840s. Barkston Gardens was the former site of Earl's Court House, demolished 1886. The garden was laid out with trees, grass and flower beds and maintained by a Committee; the freehold was purchased by the residents in 1993.

This was provided as communal gardens for the houses of Barlby Gardens, which were built by the 1930s prior to which this land between Barlby Road and the railway sidings to the north was vacant. To the south the streets were laid out by the 1890s. The OS map of 1935 shows the triangular garden with trees planted. Further along the road to the west was a children's recreation ground, now built over by housing. The garden today is surrounded by mesh fence and panels of modern trellis, with a number of mature trees and a central ornamental bed.

Barley Lane Recreation Ground dates from the 1950s, and is home to Barley Bowls Club, which was established in 1957. The 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map of 1961 records the park laid out with a bowling green and pavilion, tennis courts, paths and planting, and provided with facilities such as public toilets. To the north of the recreation ground is Barley Lane Primary School, built in 1952 as part of the education facilities provided by the County Council.

Barn Elms Park is essentially a landscaped path between Horne Way near the river and Lower Richmond Road. The OS Map of 1869-74 shows the layout much as it is today with a central path flanked by grass and trees, and a shallow semi-circular entrance at the south, with a small lodge.

Barn Elms Playing Fields were formerly part of Church lands and the manor house, Barn Elms, was once the mansion of Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth, which was demolished in 1949. In the 1770s the formal lake was enlarged into a serpentine shape. Some large plane trees date from the late C17th landscape, but otherwise all that remains is the ornamental pond, the ice house on an artificial mound, and a lodge and avenue in Lower Richmond Road. From 1883-1939 the Ranelagh Polo Club was at Barn Elms, the mansion used as the clubhouse. The grounds were acquired for playing fields in 1949. The site currently houses two separate sporting facilities, Barn Elms School Sports Centre and Barn Elms Sports Trust.