Description
The area was largely farmland until the 1950s when Central Park was created in order to provide facilities for the families who were moving to the LCC's newly developed Harold Hill Estate; provision of the public park was designated in the LCC's estate layout of 1947. Central Park was provided with a cricket pitch and paddling pool, and a swimming pool was later opened in 1966 in the north west. The park is overlooked by two areas of ancient woodland, Long Wood and Sage Wood, and Paines Brook, a tributary of the Ingrebourne River, runs through the park.
Practical Information
| Site location | Petersfield Avenue/Dagnam Park Drive/Gooshays Drive, Harold Hill |
|---|---|
| Postcode | RM3 |
| What3Words | ///mugs.sample.scar |
| Type of Site | Public Park |
| Borough | Havering |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | closed dusk |
| Facilities | Car park, playground, café, cricket & football pitches, tennis/netball |
| Public Transport | Rail: Harold Wood then bus. Bus: 174, 256, 296, 151, 374, 496 |
| Research Updated | 1 June 2007 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
Central Park was created in the 1950s in order to provide facilities for the families who were moving to the LCC's newly developed Harold Hill Estate (q.v.); provision of the public park was designated in the LCC's estate layout of 1947. The area was largely farmland until the 1950s when the Abercrombie Report posited the need to develop housing in outer London to cater for the growing population of the capital. Development in Harold Hill took place in three stages from the 1940s until the latter part of the C20th, deemed a suitable area for new housing partly due to the opening of a station here by the Great Eastern Railway. Central Park was laid out with cricket pitch and paddling pool at a cost of £10,450 and later a swimming pool, opened in 1966 in the north west.
To the north and east, Central Park is abutted by Long Wood and Sage Wood, two areas of ancient woodland that are surviving fragments of the vast medieval Forest of Waltham that covered much of Essex, but was largely cleared for farming by the C16th. Like other woodland in the borough, Sage Wood has retained the old name it has been known by for centuries. The woods here have pedunculate oak, ash, and hornbeam, and bluebells abound in spring. A tributory of the Ingrebourne River called Paine's Brook, known as Carter's Brook higher up its course to the north, also runs through the park (and is a site of nature conservation borough importance grade 2). It forms a riverside walk through Brookside Reservations, a series of linked green spaces from Harold Wood. South of Central Park is Painsbrook Adventure Playground and Open Space.
To the north and east, Central Park is abutted by Long Wood and Sage Wood, two areas of ancient woodland that are surviving fragments of the vast medieval Forest of Waltham that covered much of Essex, but was largely cleared for farming by the C16th. Like other woodland in the borough, Sage Wood has retained the old name it has been known by for centuries. The woods here have pedunculate oak, ash, and hornbeam, and bluebells abound in spring. A tributory of the Ingrebourne River called Paine's Brook, known as Carter's Brook higher up its course to the north, also runs through the park (and is a site of nature conservation borough importance grade 2). It forms a riverside walk through Brookside Reservations, a series of linked green spaces from Harold Wood. South of Central Park is Painsbrook Adventure Playground and Open Space.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ544923 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | LB Havering |
| Site Management | Parks and Open Spaces |
| Dates | 1950s |
| Designers | LCC? |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Havering |
| In Conservation Area | No |
| Tree Preservation Order | Not known |
| Nature Conservation Area | Yes - abutting Long Wood/Sage Wood: Borough Imp I |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | No |
| Other LA Designation | Green Chain |
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
Harold Hill Estate is a large LCC housing estate built from 1947 on, laid out within the Green Belt as an exception to serve the urgent post-war housing needs, and houses some 25,000 people. Its layout was characterised by areas of green space, provision of amenity open space and retention of woodland and existing trees. Once part of the extensive Forest of Waltham, by the end of the C16th 3 sub-manors covered the area: Cockerells, Gooshays and Dagenhams and much of the land was farmed. By the 1770s Dagnams was owned by Richard Neave, whose family continued to acquire land and by 1829 owned all the land on which the Harold Hill Estate now stands. The estate began to be broken up in 1919; by 1947 the land held by Sir Arundell Neave amounted to 558 acres, which he agreed to sell to the LCC for the proposed housing estate.
The manor of Dagenhams and Cockerels comprised 2 adjoining tenements, which after a complex history passed to the Earl of Northumberland in the C14th. The name Dagnams or Dagnam came into use in the C18th. Sold several times over the years, the manor was purchased in 1772 by Sir Richard Neave, who rebuilt the house and sought Humphry Repton's advice on landscaping the grounds. It remained in his family until 1948 when the house and 500 acres around Dagnam Park were sold to the LCC to build the Harold Hill Estate, Dagnam Park itself retained as a public park. Dagnam house was demolished in 1948 as was Cockerels house to the south, known as Dagnam Park Farm in the C19th and standing outside a moated site, part of the moat surviving today. The public park preserves its C18th boundaries, together with some of the landscaped features, specimen trees and ponds; a curving track that crosses the park follows the line of the C18th drive. Hatters Wood, Havering's largest woodland, is now within the public park.
Duck Wood is ancient woodland once part of the extensive Forest of Waltham that covered much of Essex. Largely cleared by the C16th for agricultural use, pockets of woodland remain. Like other areas of woodland, Duck Wood retains its ancient name, which may refer to its many ponds or perhaps was a corruption of the word 'Duke'. Woodland paths run through the site, which has been managed as a community nature reserve since 1986.