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* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

Green Park was enclosed as a deer park by Charles II after the Restoration, prior to which it was open land. Initially called Upper St James's Park, it was called Green Park by the mid C18th. In c.1730 a private walk was laid out for Queen Caroline, who had a summer pavilion built, and a canal or reservoir was enlarged, known as the Queen's Basin, later filled in. It was used for military parades and celebrations in the C18th, but was reduced in size when Buckingham House gardens were enlarged, and also lost land to the east. It opened to the public in 1826. The park today has undulating areas of grass crossed by paths, with avenues and scattered trees. Mature trees are principally planes, with some lime, chestnut and hawthorn. The lack of formal flower beds is reputedly due to Charles II's wife, Catherine of Braganza, who ordered all flowers to be removed having discovered the king had given flowers picked here to another woman. However, the park is known for its annual daffodil display.

Green Street Garden was planned and laid out between 1913-6 for the Grosvenor Estate, one of three new gardens created on the estate's land in Mayfair that had previously been occupied by stables and other ancillary buildings. It was part of the 10-year programme drawn up by Estate Surveyor Edmund Wimperis when he was appointed in 1910 and was the first garden to be completed, in its final stages of planning when WWI broke out. Surrounded by tall red-brick apartment blocks, mainly designed by Wimperis and Simpson architects, the garden, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, was formally laid out with lawns, paved areas and a wide perimeter path in crazy paving, ornamental features and fountains.

Greenford Park Cemetery was opened as a private cemetery, later taken over by Greenford Council. It was laid out on former farmland on the west side of Brent Valley, with a grid of paths leading to a small chapel in the centre. It was declared open for interments 'at exceptionally low charges' in January 1902; in 1905 it was agreed that Hanwell parishioners could be buried there. The gravestones are set in mown grass, with some ornamental trees and shrubs as well as larger trees including horse chestnut, sycamore, Lombardy poplar and willow.

Greenhill Gardens is on land originally part of a large country estate known as Pricklers. The ornamental lake that dominates the park dates from the parkland landscaping. By the C16th the estate was called Greenhill but was split up in the C19th when Thomas Wyatt built Willenhall in the southern part. Most of the Greenhill land was developed for housing from 1926, and the public park represents the small portion that survived, with its lake, mature trees and perimeter walk.

Greenwich Cemetery was founded 1856 by Greenwich Burial Board on a hilly site, which commands fine views towards both the City and Crystal Palace. The cemetery has two Gothic chapels, and a 1930s lodge at the entrance. Due to the proximity of the military academy and other institutions at Woolwich, there are numerous army personnel buried here. There is little mature planting, and particularly interesting tombs are found predominantly near the chapels.

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

Greenwich Park's history dates back to pre-Roman times. After the Norman Conquest it became a large manor, which was inherited in 1427 by the Duke of Gloucester who enclosed the park in 1433. After his death it was taken by Henry VI's wife, and became the Manor of Plesaunce or Placentia and had associations with royalty until the early C18th. Henry VII built a royal palace here and the park was formally laid out for Charles II in the French style with a series of terraces and many trees planted, some of which remain. A great supporter of scientific research, Charles commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to build the Royal Observatory here. Greenwich Meridian Line crosses the landscape, dividing the world into the east and west hemispheres. James II was the last monarch at Greenwich, his daughter Mary later donating the palace site for a hospital for sailors and the park was made available to pensioners at the Hospital. The public were first allowed into the park during the C18th.

The raised forecourt of Nos. 27 and 28 Queen Street, a pair of fine C18th private houses now used by Gresham Computing Personnel, is on part of the site of the former burial ground of the church of St Thomas-the-Apostle. The church was first recorded in 1170, rebuilt in 1371 but destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 and not rebuilt. The churchyard remained until 1851 when Queen Street was widened and remains were interred in a vault on the east side. The paved forecourt, accessed by a flight of steps each side, has a large plane tree and shrubbery; a stone plaque relating to the site is set into the front wall.

Greystones, an Arts & Crafts style house at 29 Mostyn Road, Merton Park, was built in 1913 and its gardens were designed by Gertrude Jekyll. They survived for half a century and although destroyed in the 1970s, were partly restored in 1992 by the then owners. Jekyll’s distinctive box and yew hedging has since been re-established as have the original broad shapes of the beds containing shrubs and flowers. However, subsequent owners have chosen not to allow access of any kind and it is not possible to check whether Jekyll’s detailed plant listings are still maintained. Nevertheless the site was once part of the John Innes estate and remains within the John Innes Conservation Area today. Its architect, JS Brocklesby, also designed John Innes Park, virtually next door to Greystones, which opened to the public in 1909.

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

Grim's Dyke was built as a country mansion for Victorian painter Sir Frederick Goodall, and from 1890-1911 was the home of the librettist Sir William Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan. It was converted to a hotel in 1970. Formal gardens and woodland surround the house and the walled garden now houses the hotel annexe. The ornamental woodland contains a number of ponds and a lake with the remains of a boathouse and artificial rockwork.

The Grocers' Company, which had grown out of the Guild of Pepperers recorded in 1180, purchased the house of Lord Fitzwalter in 1427, at that time a much larger site. The Company's first Hall dated from 1428-33 and was rebuilt over the years; it was let to the Bank of England from 1690-1734. The present Hall was built in 1970 after its late C19th predecessor was destroyed in a fire. There was a garden in Victorian times, although it was reduced in size when the Bank was extended and Prince's Street realigned in 1798-1805, and encroached further when the Midland Bank was extended in the 1920s. What remains of the garden is a triangular courtyard with a small amount of planting along one side; a statue of St Anthony of Vienne is by the main entrance, formerly in the Hall of 1889.

The Grosvenor Estate's garden is in the area bounded by Rogers House and Tothill House. It is part of Sir Edwin Lutyens' famous 'chequerboard' Page Street Estate built from 1929-35 in conjunction with the WCC to replace housing due for clearance after the Thames flooded in 1928. Many of the Houses are listed, and together with a number of small related buildings such as lodges and dustbin shelters, provide the setting for the garden. It appears to have been laid out in the 1970s after part of the two largest blocks were demolished, and is roughly square, comprising a series of brick planters stepping down to a secluded central area that is provided with seating and a children's playground.

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

Grosvenor Square within the extensive Grosvenor Estate of the Dukes of Westminster is the largest of the Mayfair squares. Built by Sir Richard Grosvenor, the square's garden was first laid out in the early C18th, later re-landscaped in the early C19th. It was originally provided as a private garden for residents of the surrounding houses, but opened to the public from 1948, when it was redesigned and a statue to President Roosevelt was erected within a formal garden area. On the east side is a Memorial Garden to commemorate Britons who died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon in 2001.