Description
Formerly owned by the Leighton Estate, Leighton Crescent Gardens is a crescent-shaped area designed in conjunction with the C19th terraces that overlook it, and contains some mature London plane trees. In the 1920s the garden had a lawn with shrubs and trees but it was later redesigned with a central raised landscape feature of rocks and shrubs and a circular asphalted playground, both no longer extant. A tennis court was incorporated but today the site is predominantly asphalt with some perimeter shrubs and trees.
Practical Information
| Previously known as | Leighton Crescent Gardens |
|---|---|
| Site location | Leighton Grove |
| Postcode | NW5 |
| What3Words | ///slope.fumes.police |
| Type of Site | Public Gardens |
| Borough | Camden |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | closed at dusk |
| Facilities | tarmaced area for sports |
| Public Transport | Rail/Tube: Kentish Town (Northern). Bus: 134, 214, C2 |
| Research Updated | 1 August 2002 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ294853 |
|---|---|
| Size in hectares | 0.1154 |
| Site Ownership | LB Camden |
| Site Management | Parks & Open Spaces |
| Dates | C19th |
| 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 | Yes |
| Local Authority | Camden |
| In Conservation Area | No |
| Tree Preservation Order | No |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | No |
| Other LA Designation | Public Open Space (Small Local). |
Gallery
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
Formerly the private garden of a villa of c.1840 fronting on Brecknock Road, Montpelier Gardens is an irregularly shaped area surrounding three sides of the house, with access from entrances. The garden retains traces of its original design including a stone terrace and low brick walls, mature trees and shrubs, a rockery and a small C19th built structure in one corner. Now redesigned as a children's play area with an asphalted enclosure containing play apparatus, the remaining areas of the garden are much simplified with trees, shrub beds and lawn.
A mission church of 1881 predated the church of St Benet and All Saints here, built on a small field by a pond donated by St John's College Cambridge. A larger church was soon needed, which was consecrated in October 1885. It had taken only 4 months to be built, a contributing factor to later structural problems, and had no chancel. The chancel with vestries and south chapel was built in 1908 and, having become a dangerous structure, the original nave pulled down in 1927 and the current church built. St Benet and All Saints Church has a small raised area of garden fronting Ospringe Road with a notice board stating this is church land open for the public.
Dalmeny Park is a small secluded park behind Victorian housing, reserved 'for use by children and elderly' containing a playground, sandpit, grass and some trees. In the 1870s building was beginning to cover the rural area and by the 1890s much of the surrounding housing had been completed although land to the south of the park site remained unbuilt on until the early C20th. Previously for private use of residents of the surrounding housing the park is now public, owned by LB Islington.
