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Wallington Green once belonged to the Lords of the Manor as wasteland, and marks the centre of the old village of Wallington. It may have originated as a bowling green, a name it is referred to on later C18th maps. The Duke's Head on the south side of the Green is of C19th date but was the site of an older pub, formerly called Bowling Green House and was privately owned until the 1830s when Young and Bainbridge brewers bought and extended the original building. Wallington War Memorial stands on the green, and there are flower beds and a few mature trees but no walnuts for which it was once famous.
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The 1st edition OS map of 1867 shows the area as open fields. The garden in front of Wallington Library was formally laid out between the Town Hall and the library, which was built in 1936. The garden still has its central lily pond and the quadrants around the pond are ornamented with a number of yew trees. In the library grounds is a section of the Surrey Iron Railway, which was the first public railway in the world. It was opened in 1803 and closed in 1846; it was horse drawn and used for carrying only freight.
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Walnut Tree House is a substantial early C18th house with a garden that leads down to the river. In the garden is an early C18th gazebo.
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* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens
Walpole House was built in the late C17th incorporating earlier fabric and was connected with Dr Turner's Academy. The present L-shaped garden that extends north from the house with a broad section to the west probably dates from the late C19th/early C20th, laid out by Sir Herbert and Lady Tree, confirmed in the later C20th by Mrs Robert Benson and her grandson Jeremy Benson. A terrace from the house leads to rectangular lawn with steps up to the main garden area which has a paved north-south axial path running through the lawn. A path leads westwards into the western section, and in the south is a 1930s paved formal pool. The garden is enclosed on its three sides, with mature trees and shrubs of great variety, including acer, eucalyptus, medlar, poplar, tulip tree.
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Walthamstow Marshes, now designated a Nature Reserve, is one of the last surviving examples of natural marshland in the London area and still exhibits subtle signs of the post-glacial landscape and of the ancient Lammas lands system of management, under which the marsh was used for the common grazing of cattle, hence its historical name of Walthamstow Common Marsh. From spring to late summer the Marsh was left to grow and cut for hay according to a system of plots. Grazing ceased in 1934, but was re-introduced in 2003. Hay continued to be cut from parts of the marsh in late summer to help maintain its diversity of plants and animals. The site comprises a number of areas, including North Marsh, South Marsh and Leyton Marsh, with some areas, such as Lammas Meadow, Coppermill Fields and Bomb Crater Pond, named to recall its past history.
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The site of Walthamstow Town Hall and Assembly Hall was originally part of the Chestnuts Farm Estate. The Town Hall and Assembly Hall were built in 1938-41 when Walthamstow moved its administrative headquarters from the old Victorian Town Hall in Orford Road. Designed by P.D. Hepworth, the civic buildings overlooked a large centrally-placed circular basin, to which an ornamental fountain was added in 1953 in commemoration of Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation. The landscape setting of the buildings consists of generous sloping lawns on either side of the central driveway leading from ornamental entrance gates on Forest Road. Behind the Town Hall is Chestnuts Field sports ground. In June 2020 regeneration of the Town Hall site commenced as part of the Fellowship Square Development, with a new water feature replacing the fountain and basin. In June 2024 the new Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Garden was opened in Chestnuts Field behind the Town Hall, and a sculpture 'The Arch' by Henry Moore was unveiled to celebrate the opening of the new garden.
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Walthamstow Wetlands is the site of the 10 reservoirs built in Walthamstow between 1863 and 1904 and now owned by Thames Water that continue to supply 3.5 million people in London with drinking water. It was opened as a nature reserve in October 2017, managed by London Wildlife Trust, in a project through a partnership between Thames Water, LB Waltham Forest and London Wildlife Trust. Funding to renovate the site was received from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Thames Water and LB Waltham Forest, with Greater London Authority contributing to create the 2km cycle path that runs through the site. The nature reserve includes a number of built structures that reflect its original industrial purpose, including the Coppermill Tower that has a viewing platform and the Engine House, now the Visitor Centre and Café. A unique 'swift tower' has been built, in the shape of the original chimney, to house nesting swifts and roosting bats.
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Walworth Allotment Association was set up in the 1970s. The site had once been occupied by terraced housing along Olney Street, as marked on the OS map of 1896, and later had industrial usage. Local residents transformed the site into allotments where they could grow their own fruit and vegetables close to home. There are now 16-20 allotment plots and also a wildlife area, pond and beehives.
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Now named Walworth Garden, this community garden was previously known as Walworth City Farm or Walworth Garden Farm. It was established by local residents in 1987 on a plot of derelict land and, a registered charity, it now has a learning centre, wildlife pond, orchard, horticultural training centre, bee hives and food-growing as well as a wide variety of plants. Its Garden Services Division employs local people to create and maintain gardens for clients including Southwark Cathedral.
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The tithe map of 1847 shows the site of Wandle Meadow Nature Park as Byegrove Mead, which may have been managed as water meadows. In 1868 the Wimbledon to Streatham railway was constructed nearby and in 1877 the meadow was acquired for the Wandle Valley Sewage Works, built adjacent to the Wandle River. After the sewage works closed in 1970, a proposal to build a football stadium on the land south of the railway was strongly opposed and the site was eventually preserved as a nature reserve. Above-ground structures were demolished and made safe, with the old filter beds remaining and now creating an interesting wildlife habitat, with footpaths and cycle routes laid out. A bridge links it to Garfield Recreation Ground, which existed as a public park from the early C20th.
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Wandle Park was laid out on the site of two old meadows purchased by Croydon Corporation in 1888 and 1889. It opened in May 1890, its chief attraction the River Wandle that ran through it and the popular boating lake formed in the south half of the park, both now gone. Other facilities were a bandstand, tennis courts and bowling green. An open air pool opened in 1913 but had closed by 1979. The Borough's Summer Show was held here during the 1930s; there was fishing in the summer and ice-skating in the winter when the lake froze. In 1967 the river was culverted, its original course now marked by willows, and the lake, by now depleted of water, was filled and grassed over.
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The site of Wandle Park was formerly that of Wandlebank House and grounds, owned from 1791-1821 by James Perry, who owned the Merton Corn Mill, an important industry on the Wandle River from medieval times. The land was purchased by Wimbledon Corporation and vested in the National Trust for a public park, which opened in 1907. The Mill Pond Garden was added in 1910 purchased through public subscription; the pond dating the late Eighteenth Century was created as a reservoir for the Merton Corn Mill. Wandle Park was re-designed in 2003 in order to transform its wetland features.