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Whitefoot Lane Playing Fields are on land that was formerly in agricultural use and had been part of the estate and park of Southend Hall. The circular pond in the recreation ground dates from at least the late C19th and may have been used by drovers. The site was reserved as open space when the LCCs Downham Estate was built between 1924-38, an extensive housing estate designed on 'garden city' principles, named after Lord Downham, former Chairman of LCC. The playing fields are not publicly accessible, and remain in education use.
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Whitehall Recreation Ground was created in 1904-05 at the instigation of Bromley UDC in order to provide recreational facilities for the rapidly expanding population of Bromley Common and Bickley. Now a largely level site surrounded by residential housing, the park was originally three fields that were part of Whitehall Farm, from which it takes its name. The Recreation Ground originally had numerous facilities for sports, including tennis, football and cricket, as well as a boating pool but much was lost over the course of the C20th. The perimeter tarmac path is partly tree lined within semi-mature horse chestnuts, oak, lime and sycamore. To the south-west is a bowling green enclosed within tall privet hedges, now used by Bromley Croquet Club.
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The site of Whitehorse Road Recreation Ground was acquired by Croydon Corporation in 1888 as an informal play area for local children in a densely populated district and work was completed by 1891. It was laid out with a perimeter gravel path, 250 trees and grass, and a clump of trees, seat and drinking fountain were moved. In 1936 an enclosed rest garden was created for the elderly, which had circular raised areas of planting and a shelter, the latter later removed. Opposite the recreation ground there used to be a large fishpond, now grassed over as Boulogne Road Playground.
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Whitewebbs Park is situated on former parkland laid out after the 1803 enclosure of the Enfield commonland. In 1570 a mansion called White Webbs was owned by Henry VIII's physician Dr Robert Huicke, to whom Queen Elizabeth I granted leave to obtain water from Enfield Chase to supply his mansion and grounds; the C16th Conduit House remains in the park. The old house was demolished in 1790 and the present house was built in 1791 on a different site. The New River originally ran through Whitewebbs estate and later became an ornamental lake after this section of the River was abandoned. In 1931 the estate was purchased by Enfield UDC and Middlesex County Council and made into a public golf course. In 2020 the golf course was initially closed at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, but in 2021 Enfield Council announced its permanent closure, and in late 2022 plans to lease part of the land to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club were announced.
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This small public garden was once the site of a large pond called The Little Sea. In 1756-58 it became the site for Whitfield's Tabernacle and Almshouses, and Whitfield's half-acre Burial Ground, which was in two parts, one each side of the Tabernacle. In 1853 it was closed to burials and cleared in 1856. The LCC acquired the site in 1894 and in 1895 opened it as a public garden, laid out as a smaller area with a central path and a larger tar-paved area surrounded by planted borders. In the early C21st it was substantially re-landscaped by Camden Council.
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The Whitgift Almshouses were founded in 1596 by Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift, who gained Elizabeth I's permission to build a hospital and boys school in Croydon. They continue to be used as homes for the elderly with admission qualifications virtually unchanged and Elizabeth II has visited in 1983 and 1996. The buildings were completed in 1599, a 2-storey quadrangle surrounding a central garden, with a small chapel in the north-east corner. The garden layout has little changed since at least the 1880s, a lawn with flower borders and beds divided by a central path between 2 archways, surrounded by paving stones with benches set against the walls. A modern sundial is set into the central path.
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Whitgift School occupies former parkland of Haling Park, and vestiges of the earlier planting remain in the school grounds and a copse from the medieval woodland. Haling Park was once the home of Lord Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral of the Fleet at the time of the Armada in 1588. The school was founded in Croydon in 1596 by John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, and opened in 1600; it moved to Haling Park in 1931. Andrew Quadrangle in the centre of the main block has undulating lawns, an ornamental pond, collection of bonsai and a Japanese garden, with aviaries and a variety of exotic birds. An Elizabethan-style Founder's Garden was created in 2000 on the site of Haling Park's walled garden. The Water Gardens opened in 2005 with a waterfall between upper and lower lakes and over 500 species of trees and shrubs.
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This area was developed from the 1860s as Highgate New Town, largely providing working class terraced housing. The Whittington Estate was built in the 1970s as part of post WWII social housing by Camden Council. Built north of Raydon Street, and overlooking Highgate Cemetery, the estate comprises six terraces with strong horizontal lines of balconies and cornices and vertical cross walls. Between each terrace is a pedestrian walkway of a different character, with planting of trees and shrubs to soften the architecture. This landscaping together with other green spaces provided for residents is an integral part of the design.
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The Whittington Garden is named after Lord Mayor Richard Whittington, who rebuilt the church of St Michael Paternoster Royal at his own expense in 1409, also founding a college and almshouses. Destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, the church was rebuilt by Wren by 1694. The site of the public garden was on the riverbank in Roman times and later had buildings connected with the fur trade. These were demolished after bomb damage in WWIII and the Corporation of London acquired the site in 1955. The garden was laid out in 1960 with a largely paved area in the west and grass, flower beds and trees in the east. A small fountain was erected in the west section in the late 1960s. The east section is now surrounded by hedge, and remains largely grass, shaded by trees.
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Whittington Park started life in 1954 as a small public open space of under 1 acre, but it was not officially opened until August 1973 by which time it had grown to c.6 acres. It was opened by the then Mayor of Islington, Cllr Harry Reid. Festivities included a play with over 300 children taking part, a barbecue for 500 people and a disco in the evening. A time capsule, to be opened in 50 years' time, August 2023, was buried with a message to be read by future Islingtonians. Since 1973, the park has been extended to over 10 acres and provides numerous sport and play facilities. Horticultural features include rose and shrub beds, woodland and a war memorial is set into the grass near the park's boundary with Holloway Road.
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Wickham Gardens is a cul-de-sac off Wickham Road, the houses surrounding a garden that was protected under the London Squares and Enclosures (Preservation) Act 1906, which prohibited building on the enclosure. Much of the area, including houses in Wickham Gardens, was damaged by bombing in WWII and rebuilt after the war although Victorian houses remain on the north side. The central garden remains largely unchanged as an area of grass with shrubs and a number of trees, surrounded by the roadway.
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Wildcroft Manor Gardens Estate comprises 56 flats built in 1936 on the 3-acre site of the former Wildcroft Manor. David Hartley's historic Fireproof House previously stood on the site. An obelisk in his memory stands nearby on Putney Heath. The estate gardens comprise lawns, mature trees, a formal area with box hedging and a pond with a small fountain. The gardens are constantly evolving but retain their original 1930s layout, a traditional garden with many roses and mature shrubs. The gilded ornamental entrance gates of c.1900 to Wildcroft Manor survived being taken for the war effort in WWII, reputedly because Queen Mary had admired them when passing by. They were made by J & C McLaughlin Ltd of Dublin.