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Upper Mall Open Space is a riverside public garden that occupies part of the former site of the West Middlesex Water Company's waterworks, which were demolished in 1965. At the western end of the gardens the site is bounded by a wall pierced with arches that previously formed part of the Water Company building. To the east of the gardens is the Old Ship Inn, which has been the site of a pub for centuries.
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The site for Upper Norwood Recreation Ground was acquired by Croydon Corporation from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and opened in May 1890, laid out with serpentine walks and planted with 1600 trees and shrubs. Facilities included a bandstand, tennis courts and changing rooms; a drinking fountain and rustic shelter were donated in 1891. A popular park particularly for football and cricket, it was also intended to serve nearby Lambeth, which then had little public open space. The north-west area was used for allotments in the 1930s, but later returned to sports ground.
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In 1934 127.86 acres of former parkland of Harefield Place Estate was purchased by Middlesex County Council; the house was later refurbished as offices in 1983-5. The grounds were partly developed for housing and partly laid out as Uxbridge Golf Course, which opened in the 1940s. The landscape has one or two big standard oak trees remaining, now much altered by typical linear golf course planting of birch and other trees.
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Vale Farm was owned by the Lake family in the C18th, later purchased by the Page family and Samuel Palmer of Huntley & Palmer biscuits lived here from 1874. Wembley UDC purchased the land for public open space and sports in October 1928 from the then owners, builders E & F Toley. The park opened in April 1930. Wembley's first open air swimming pool was in the park but later closed. A new complex was built in 1979. The park was the home of Wembley Football Club and it was here that the England World Cup squad trained prior to winning the World Cup in 1966.
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Vale Mascal was built as the Dower House for the Mount Mascal Estate in 1746, the grounds stretching along the river Cray from Woolett Hall almost to Bexley village. The gardens may have been laid out by Lancelot Brown who worked at North Cray Place in 1782. The river was treated with great ingenuity, with lakes, cascades and weirs. The Gothic Bath House was built on one of these channels and housed a cold plunge bath. Vale Mascal and the Bath House are now in separate private ownership following the break up of the estate in 1935.
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Valence House was once the manor house for the largest estate in Dagenham. The present building is early C17th and stood in 5 acres of gardens and orchards, surrounded by a moat. In 1921 the London County Council purchased Valence lands for the Becontree Housing Estate but in 1926 leased then sold the house and immediate grounds to Dagenham UDC; it now contains the Council's Museum and O'Leary Gallery. Fragments of the north and east edges of the grounds survive, as does part of the angle of the moat; the grounds have C19th Holm oak and yew, and a period-style Herb Garden opened in 1992 in the former Victorian kitchen garden. In 1926, the LCC laid out 24 acres of the old Valence lands as a public park, two-thirds for informal recreation with open space, grass and some trees. Various facilities were provided, a bandstand and formal planting, but the majority has now gone, including its open-air swimming pool, which closed in 1971.
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* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens
The Valentines estate dates from 1688, the mansion built c.1697. House and grounds were enlarged and re-landscaped at various times from 1724 onwards under different private owners. In the C19th it was inherited by Sarah Ingleby, a great benefactor of Ilford, who sold part of the parkland to Ilford UDC and it opened as Central Park in 1899. Mrs Ingleby lived at Valentines until her death in 1906. In 1907 her son gave the house and remaining grounds in her memory, and the park was renamed Valentines Park. In addition to the municipal facilities provided, a number of features from the C18th layout remain, including the rectilinear canal with rockwork grotto and a grotto shelter, dovecote, sundial, walled garden and ha-ha. In 1769 a cutting from the excellent vine here was the origin of the famous Hampton Court Vine. In the south-west of the park is the main lake with ornamental woodland, fed by the canalised Cranbrook. The mansion, gardens and park were restored in 2009 with HLF funding.
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The site was formerly a Quaker Burial Ground established in 1687, the last burial taking place in 1857. It was laid out as a public garden and opened in 1880, later called as Vallance Road Recreation Ground. The garden had a granite drinking fountain, grass, serpentine paths, mature plane trees, some rose beds and a children's playground, but by the late C20th was in a poor state. In 2002 new housing was built on 3 sides, much improving the setting of the garden, which was also re-landscaped. It re-opened in 2003 with new paths, seats, railings and children's playground. Tree planting included a conifer to mark the opening of the housing and gardens.
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Vanbrugh Park is a 1960s housing estate designed for Greenwich Metropolitan Borough, which comprises one tall block and a grid of 2-storey terraces in a landscaped setting of mature trees, a network of paths and communal spaces, with brick garden walls and pergolas. It is named after Sir John Vanbrugh who succeeded Sir Christopher Wren as Surveyor of Greenwich Hospital in 1716 and who lived in the area between 1719-1726,
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The site was purchased by Camberwell Borough Council in 1905 for a sum of £2,000 and Varcoe Road Recreation Ground was opened to the public in 1906. It is protected by the London Squares and Enclosures (Preservation) Act of 1906. Now privately owned, it is a scrubby area with grass, paths and some trees.
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Vauxhall City Farm is on part of the overall site that was once Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, which were at the peak of their popularity in the C18th. The site and its contents were sold by auction in 1859 and all traces of the pleasure gardens soon disappeared as the land was re-developed for housing. In the 1970s these houses were demolished in the post-war slum-clearances. At that time the creation of inner-city parks was on the national agenda, as a result of which part of the former site was cleared and laid out as a park, Spring Gardens, which opened to the public in 1976. Vauxhall City Farm was set up in 1977 as one of the Jubilee City Farms with funds from the Silver Jubilee Celebration Committee. Today, the farm is home to over 100 animals, a riding centre, a cafe, and numerous education and youth projects. The farm has a small ecology garden at the southern end with a pond and herb garden.
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Vauxhall Park was laid out as a public park in 1890 on land that was previously part of the grounds of two houses, The Lawn and Carroun House, which were proposed for housing development. The site was purchased in 1888 through the efforts of Octavia Hill and others, including Henry Fawcett MP, the Postmaster-General, whose statue was later erected in the park. The layout was designed by Fanny Wilkinson for the Kyrle Society, and it was opened by Albert, Prince of Wales in 1890.