Tatem Park and Hollywood Gardens

Tatem Park is on a former gravel pit and once formed part of the estate of Wyer Hall, Edmonton, which dated back to the C14th. In 1610 it became the property of a George Huxley, haberdasher of the City of London, who renovated the mansion. It was eventually demolished in 1818 by James Tatem, after he inherited the property, but the name persisted in the local ward of Weir Hall. Southgate Urban Council leased land at Weir Hall in order to excavate materials for road building. In 1934 two nieces of James Tatem, Ellen Harman and Margaret, offered the former quarry of c.6ha. to Edmonton Borough Council for a public recreation ground. Plans for a playground were drawn up by Messrs Mawson and Partners, and the sisters contributed half the cost of the works (£4,000) provided that their uncle's name was associated with the new park. Recreational areas were made out of the quarry itself and Tatem Park was opened on 8 May 1937. The lower area was filled with deposits of clay and the OS Map of 1894 shows 2 kilns here where bricks produced were used to build surrounding housing estates of what is now known as Palmers Green. Excavations in the gravel pit in 1913 had unearthed some remarkable discoveries of the last Ice Age in the form of 5 skeletons of Mastodon, 2 skeletons of Megatherium and numerous Mammoth bones, as well as a milk tooth of a baby Mammoth and 2 skulls from unknown dinosaurs.

Hollywood Gardens are on the level part of the site in the south. In 1945 Edmonton Borough Council purchased what was then a piece of adjacent wasteland used as a rubbish tip by Tottenham Borough Council. Middlesex County Council provided a third of the cost (£9,000) provided that it would be used for public open space in perpetuity. Named after Councillor George E Hollywood, Chairman of the Edmonton Parks Committee and former Mayor of Edmonton, it was laid out with ornamental features as a public garden. In 1983 Hollywood Gardens and Tatem Park were united to form one site.

The formal gardens occupy a triangle between two busy roads at the junction of which is the entrance, where pleasant period gates are flanked by red-brick piers and railings. This leads initially into a small rectangular paved garden with central and perimeter flower-beds, hedging and shrubs, at the far end of which a pergola leads to rose beds and the rest of the gardens. Curving paths run through lawns dotted with shrubs, including magnolia, dwarf cypress and holly, as well as rose beds and other perennial beds. A beech hedge encloses a formal sunken garden, and a circular raised brick structure contains an ornamental pond that has goldfish and attracts damsel and dragonflies on warm days. Trees planted include blue Cedar, horse chestnut, and willows.

Behind the formal gardens, the land slopes considerably downwards with an area to the west where playgrounds and the skating and cycle track are laid out. Many international and British championship races take place on the roller skating track, which has a modern record-breaking surface. In 1983 further landscaping was carried out in the central area with the accent on wildlife conservation, creating a Nature Area, with over 1,000 trees planted, together with wild flowers and native grasses, and a pond designed to attract wildlife. The south-facing banks in the recreation area are left uncut to provide breeding sites for insects, attracting many species of butterfly as well as wild flowers for the bees.