Description
The site of Stanmore Recreation Ground was probablly once part of the estate of Stanmore Hall. The original house was built in the C18th by the Duke of Chandos who owned the Canons estate. Stanmore Hall was added to by later owners, and in 1847 it was re-sited, when the present house near Little Common was built by J M Derick for John Rhodes. The recreation ground was laid out in the 1930s and has fine trees at the entrance on Dennis Lane including mature oak and areas of shrub planting near the pavilions.
Practical Information
| Previously known as | Stanmore Hall |
|---|---|
| Site location | Dennis Lane/Stanmore Hill |
| Postcode | HA7 |
| What3Words | ///exile.keeps.weep |
| Type of Site | Public Park |
| Borough | Harrow |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | 7.30am - dusk |
| Facilities | Children's play area, football pitch, bowling green, car park |
| Public Transport | Tube: Stanmore (Jubilee). Bus: 142 |
| Research Updated | 1 January 2012 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
In the late C18th the owner of Stanmore Hall was James Forbes (1749-1819) who had married Rose Gayland of Stanmore in 1788. He had travelled to India for the East India Company between 1765 and 1784, and was very knowledgeable about Indian culture, flora and fauna, later publishing 'Oriental Memoirs'. He enlarged the house and undertook works in the garden, which included building a small octagonal pagoda in which he displayed Hindu sculptures that he had been given by the Brahmins of Hindustan. Stanmore Hall was conveyed by the then owner Thomas Teed to Matthew John Rhodes in 1842 and the house was re-sited in order to command south-easterly views. In 1847 Stanmore Hall was purchased by Teed's son-in-law Robert Hollond MP, whose widow Ellen Julia (nee Teed) lived here until her death in 1884. The Hollond mausoleum was in the old parish church at Great Stanmore (q.v.), but it was later vandalised and reduced to a slab.
In 1889 the estate was purchased by William Knox D'Arcy, who had made a fortune in Australia in partnership with 3 prospectors who found gold in 1882 and later developed the Anglo-Persian Oil Field. He not only modernised Stanmore Hall but also laid out the garden 'on a lavish scale. [. . . ] He introduced many rare and tropical plants and laid down magnificent glass houses, but the show piece was a waterfall and ornamental lakes, which he stocked with fish, plants, and waterfowl'. He lived here until his death in 1917. The house was then used as an assize court and during WWII was used by US troops and then a nurses' home for the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in 1947 until 1971. By the 1930s the grounds were already being built over by new houses and the recreation ground appears on OS Maps of the 1930s.
In 1889 the estate was purchased by William Knox D'Arcy, who had made a fortune in Australia in partnership with 3 prospectors who found gold in 1882 and later developed the Anglo-Persian Oil Field. He not only modernised Stanmore Hall but also laid out the garden 'on a lavish scale. [. . . ] He introduced many rare and tropical plants and laid down magnificent glass houses, but the show piece was a waterfall and ornamental lakes, which he stocked with fish, plants, and waterfowl'. He lived here until his death in 1917. The house was then used as an assize court and during WWII was used by US troops and then a nurses' home for the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in 1947 until 1971. By the 1930s the grounds were already being built over by new houses and the recreation ground appears on OS Maps of the 1930s.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ169925 |
|---|---|
| Size in hectares | 2.63 |
| Site Ownership | LB Harrow |
| Site Management | Environmental Services, Parks Services |
| Dates | 1930s |
| 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 | Harrow |
| In Conservation Area | No |
| Tree Preservation Order | Not known |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | No |
| Other LA Designation | Open Space |
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
Bernays Gardens is located on what was once part of the grounds of a large house called Manor House, since demolished. The secluded public garden dates from the mid-C20th and was laid out with lawns, shrubbery beds, areas of ornamental planting and contains a number of fine trees. Former outbuildings Church House Cottage and Cowmans Cottage face onto the garden. It takes its name from the Bernays family, of whom Leopold and later Stewart Bernays were rectors of Stanmore parish church. The nearby Ernest Bernays Memorial Institute commemorates Leopold's eldest son Ernest who died tragically in 1870.
The churchyard contains the ruins of the old brick church of St John the Evangelist, built in 1632, and the new church, which was built in 1850 when the old church was too small and also found to be unsafe. The parish had strong connections with the many local dignitaries with estates in the area, to whom there are notable monuments in the church and churchyard. These included Stanmore Park, Stanmore Hall and Bentley Priory, the latter at one time the home of Lord Abercorn and Lord Aberdeen, whose son Douglas Gordon was Rector and one of the donors of the new church.
Stanmore Country Park was part of the estate of Warren House, an C18th mansion with landscaped grounds as well as land in agricultural use. In 1937 the land was acquired for public open space by Harrow Council and Middlesex County Council and later owned by the GLC. It transferred to LB Harrow in 1976 and was designated a country park. It is managed as a nature reserve. It is possible that the ancient city of Sulloniacae was once situated within the Warren House Estate grounds.