Violet Hill Gardens

St John's Wood was part of the Great Forest of Middlesex and remained wooded in the medieval period. It was within the Manor of Lilestone (Lisson), owned from 1238 by the Knights Templar and then from 1323 by the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, from where the name St John's Wood comes. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries the land passed to the Crown, and trees here were felled for Henry VIII' ships and royal palaces. By the mid C17th it was largely open grassland, an important source of hay for London's horses, and it remained in agricultural use until the late C18th. The Crown had begun to sell its land at St John's Wood from the early C18th, a large part of which was purchased by Henry Samuel Eyre in 1732 that included the site of Violet Hill Gardens. Immediately to the west was a strip of land bequeathed to Harrow School by John Lyon who had acquired it in 1574. St John's Wood began to be gradually developed in the C19th, with the construction of main thoroughfares such as Abbey Road in 1824 and Wellington Road in 1826 acting as a spur to house building.

Violet Hill Gardens is on the former grounds of a school for boys, girls and infants that was built in the 1870s. By 1955, the old school building to the south of the public gardens was replaced by a furniture depository. Violet Hill Gardens was initially managed by Marylebone Borough Council and later passed to Westminster City Council in 1965. The garden was laid out with a playground and a more formal area with lawn, perimeter planting and path. The garden underwent improvement works in 2008, which included upgrading the 1950s toilet block, which now includes disabled toilets and baby changing facilities.