Lodge Farm Park

Lodge Farm Park is on the southern side of Main Road from Raphael Park (q.v.) and although the site was acquired in 1927, the public park was not completed until 1963. It forms part of Thomas England's vision of a 'Green Lung' running through the borough connecting Romford in the south to Havering Atte Bower in the north. England, a local trader and Councillor, was instrumental in various public improvement schemes in the borough between the two World Wars. In order to realise his green corridor through the borough, in 1937 he donated 23.5 acres of land for the creation of Rise Park (q.v.) to connect Raphael Park and Bedfords Park (q.v.). In the 1960s the Romford Official Guides were able to promote a long distance walk through 4 Council-owned parks, including Lodge Farm, Raphael Park, Rise Park and Bedfords Park, from the centre of town to open countryside and Havering Ridge. In 1918 the owners of the Lodge Farm Estate, Roger Reede's Charity, leased the farm and buildings to the Agent of the High Grade Dairy Company for 14 years, to be used solely for farming. In March 1927 the Charity agreed to sell a number of parcels of the farmland to Romford UDC at a cost of £1,350. The site was part of an ancient endowment of the Charity and was described as ‘A farm consisting of a dwellinghouse called Neades otherwise Staceys Farm'. The sale deeds included 3 restrictive covenants on the land, among which were stipulations that a fence was to be erected to the east and north sides within 3 months of the sale, and that the land would only be used for public recreation or for a public park. It comprised 12 acres 20 perches, and ran from Black's Bridge in the north to Carlton Road in the south.

Initially the site was used as a Council rubbish tip, but in November 1937 residents of Kingston Road petitioned against the extent of the tip, which was at least 10 ft over ground level. In 1950 fencing and gates were provided in the southern part of the open space. In 1954 the Council agreed in principle to construct a new swimming pool in what was then called Lodge Farm Park Recreation Ground, but this was turned down by the Minister of Housing and Local Government in 1959 as such use was precluded by the restrictive covenants on the land. A scheme to develop the park was eventually agreed in 1961 at a cost of £42,000, which included laying out two bowling greens, a pavilion, children's playground with shelter, a depot and mess room for the staff, as well as planting and landscaping. The work was largely completed by October 1962 and it was then opened to the public. The new bowling green was celebrated in May the following year with a match played against the Mayor of Romford and his councillors.

Lodge Farm Park is largely open space with some ornamental planting of shrubs and trees and its facilities include two bowling greens with a pavilion in the south, playground, gazebo and tennis courts in the north near the entrance on Main Road by Black's Bridge. The bridge was constructed in 1776 when the grounds of Gidea Hall, now Raphael Park, were landscaped and enlarged for the then owner Richard Benyon, which included the creation of the serpentine lake that remains in the park immediately to the north of the bridge. Black's Canal had been formed by damming and redirecting a tributary stream and supplied water features of the earlier formal gardens of Gidea Hall. The boundary on the west of Lodge Farm Park follows the valley formed by Black's Brook, which overflows from the lake in Raphael Park. The Friends of Raphael Park and Lodge Farm Park was set up in 2006. In spring 2008 a new sculpture was erected carved from Atlantic Blue Cedar.