Syon Park *

Site on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens, for Register Entry see https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England was established in 1984 and was commonly called English Heritage. In April 2015 it split into 2 separate entities, Historic England (HE), which continues to champion and protect the historic environment, and the English Heritage Trust, whose role is to look after the 400+ historic sites and monuments owned by the state. HE manages the National Heritage List for England (NHLE) that includes over 400,000 items ranging from prehistoric monuments to office blocks, battlefields and parks, which benefit from legal protection.

Syon Abbey was named after Mount Zion in the Holy Land and was founded by Henry V in 1415, dedicated to the Bridgettine Order, which was established in the C14th by the Swedish mystic St Bridget. Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII is known to have visited the Abbey, which was later dissolved by Henry in 1539. The Abbey's Father Confessor, Richard Reynolds, had been executed in 1535 due to his opposition to the king's divorce and his subsequent action of making himself Supreme Head of the Church in England; his body was placed in the Abbey gateway. In 1547 when Henry VIII's coffin was brought to Syon on its way to Windsor for burial it is said to have burst open during the night and in the morning dogs were found licking up the remains, which was regarded as divine judgement for his desecration of Syon Abbey. Foundations of the Abbey Church were discovered in 2003.

The gardens at Syon have an extensive collection of rare trees and plants, a legacy of the landscaping by 'Capability' Brown. In c.1758 the 1st Duke of Northumberland converted a large orchard into the 'Syon Pleasure Ground'. A statue of Flora on a 55ft high column overlooks a lawn named after her, which now has herbaceous beds containing ornamental thistles, euphorbias, pholox, scabious, gypsophilia and clumps of Prince of Wales plants. One of the main features is the lake, which is a haven for wildlife including terrapins. An ice house was in use at Syon by 1760/1 when it took two days to fill with ice from the lake. The Great Conservatory was built in 1826 for the 3rd Duke of Northumberland. It was designed by Charles Fowler and was the first of its kind to be built out of gunmetal, Bath stone and glass. It was originally designed to act as a show house for the Duke's exotic plants and is said to have inspired Joseph Paxton in his designs for Crystal Palace.