Results (2594)
Sort Z-A-
Udney Hall Gardens is a fragment of the grounds of Teddington Place, former seat of the C18th magnate Sir Charles Dunscombe, one of the richest men of his day and Lord Mayor of London in 1709. Udney Hall was the original name given to the house, which was built In c.1700 but eventually demolished in 1946. The gardens today are an open area of grass, with some mature trees and paths running across it, adjacent to the large church of St Alban.
-
Udney Park Playing Fields was originally established as the Merchant Taylors School War Memorial Grounds and was opened by Viscount Cave in November 1922. It remains largely playing fields, with tennis courts and a 2-storey clubhouse. In 1937 it was acquired by Lord Beaverbrook and donated in perpetuity for the purpose of 'amateur sport' as a sports ground for St Mary's Hospital Medical School RFC. Legendary sportsman Sir Roger Bannister, a student doctor at St Mary's in 1954, trained here in advance of running his record-breaking 4-minute mile. In 1997 St Mary's was subsumed into Imperial College London, who continued to use the playing fields until 2014. When the College sold its interest to speculative developers Quantum, the site continued in private use on an ad hoc basis, playing an important role in providing playing field facilities for local schools, local sports clubs and community groups, such as the Scouts. Development proposals for the playing fields submitted in 2018 were rejected following a Public Inquiry in 2020. The site's future remains insecure.
-
Ufford Street Gardens is located on land that was part of the Manor of Lambeth, known as Chalcroft Meadow, which was owned by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Development of the area for housing began in the early C19th but in 1901 it was redeveloped by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who designated part of the land for a new public open space. Lambeth Borough Council laid out and opened Ufford Street Recreation Ground in 1907. The street is named after John de Ufford, Archbishop-elect of Canterbury, who died in 1349 before he could be formally consecrated to the title. In 2008 the park was restored using Heritage Lottery funding to improve its play and sports facilities, and it was renamed Ufford Street Gardens. Later improvements have taken place since 2017.
-
Union Square was built on land within the Clothworkers' Estate, which was developed from 1846. The gardens were provided for private use by leaseholders of surrounding houses but as early as 1908 had been proposed for public use by the MPGA, the area by that time densely populated and with little open space. By 1946 Union Square was owned by the London and Manchester Assurance Company who then passed the freehold to Islington Borough Council. In 1966 the square was bisected when the Packington Estate was rebuilt but the gardens were reinstated and opened to the public in c.1968.
-
* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens
The United Synagogue Cemetery at Willesden was founded in 1873 and laid out to a design by Nathan Joseph. Originally a site of c.9 acres it has been extended subsequently and now covers c. 8.5 hectares. It is entered through imposing gates, with brick piers and a substantial lodge; within the cemetery is good planting of trees including horse chestnuts, poplars, cedar. Many distinguished Jews are buried here and some of the plots have railed enclosures with extravagant metalwork and fine marble and granite. In 2015 the cemetery was awarded Heritage Lottery Funding to undertake restoration works, and in 2017 it was listed Grade II on HE's Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Interest.
-
University College London (UCL) is the third oldest university in England after Oxford and Cambridge. It was founded in 1826 as the University of London to provide university education without religious bias. The benefactors of the new university purchased the site, once part of the Mortimer estate, and William Wilkins' design was selected following public competition. The main buildings are ranged around the Front Quad, accessed via central entrance gates past the Front Lodge. The neo-Grecian central block was designed by William Wilkins, the south and north wings added in 1869-76 and 1871-81 respectively. The Front Quad is laid out as two lawns either side of a central path, in each an octagonal Observatory with domed lead roof and a number of mature trees.
-
Upminster Cemetery dates from 1902 to provide for the growing population of Upminster parish. Built on a rectangular piece of land to the east of Corbets Tey hamlet, the cemetery was simply laid out with a central roadway leading to a small mortuary chapel towards the back of the plot. At that time the cemetery was surrounded by open land, and this is not much changed even today. The South Essex Crematorium was built on adjacent land in 1956/7, and the original cemetery land was itself extended to the north, with further expansion by 1989 to the east.
-
* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens
Upminster Court was built in 1904, prior to which the land was within the Upminster Hall Estate. It was let by the Estate Trustees to Arthur Williams, who commissioned Charles Reilly to design his new house. The gardens continue the Anglo-French theme of the house with organised English-style garden 'rooms' overlaid with a more formal French discipline of paths and vistas. Other features in the grounds included a walled Italian garden, bowling and croquet lawns, and kitchen garden. The Williams family lived here until the late 1920s after which the house was used for offices, later a refugee centre, and in 1946 was purchased with 22 acres by Essex County Council. In 1965 ownership transferred to LB Havering and it opened in 1972 as a respite centre with a borough nursery in the gardens. From 1993-2005 the house was used as the council's Staff Training and Development Centre. In 2007 it was purchased by Uniserve Group.
-
Upminster Golf Course and Upminster Hall Playing Field are on land formerly part of the Upminster Hall estate, former hunting seat of the Abbots of Waltham Abbey. The timber-framed Hall is now the clubhouse of Upminster Golf Club, founded in 1928, which acquired the freehold of the Hall and 6.5 acres in 1935. Former gardens in front of the house are now laid out as the 1st and 18th holes of the golf course. A bowling green was laid out behind the clubhouse in 1949.
-
Upminster Hall Playing Field and the adjacent Upminster Golf Course are on land formerly part of the Upminster Hall estate, former hunting seat of the Abbots of Waltham Abbey, the timber-framed Hall now the clubhouse of Upminster Golf Club. The land that is now the Playing Field was in agricultural use before it was converted for recreation in 1957, extended with further land in 1958/9. An avenue of mature horse chestnut and walnut trees divides the two pieces of land and new trees have been planted. Separated from the Playing Field by woodland, the late C14th/C15th Tithe Barn was probably used by monks from Waltham Abbey.
-
Upminster Park is on former Glebe land associated with St Laurence's Church and owned by the Church Commissioners. Initial proposals to purchase land for a public recreation ground took place in 1920, but it was not until 1929 that Upminster Parish Council succeeded in purchasing the site. It was levelled and a variety of trees planted. During WWII it was one of the few parks kept open for recreation purposes although underground shelters were built on the north-east side. New amenities continued to be added through the 1950s, including playground equipment, tennis courts, footpaths, and tree-planting. The front field was once used by Upminster Football Club, and Upminster Hockey Club had a pitch on part of the park once described as 'comparable with any in Essex'.
-
Upper and Lower Grosvenor Gardens are two small triangular gardens laid out to complement Thomas Cundy's French Renaissance style houses, the design for which was exhibited at the RA in 1864. The Upper Garden is simpler but retains 3 pairs of mid-C19th gate piers and rich wrought gates with the Grosvenor monogram. Upper Grosvenor Garden was re-landscaped and opened to the public for the first time in 2000. It has a central lawn, perimeter path and a few mature planes, with a bronze sculpture of a lioness hunting an antelope in the centre of a bed within the lawn. The Rifle Brigade Monument (1924/5) by John Tweed is on the north-eastern corner.