We've found 129 parks

Founded by His Highness Aga Khan IV, the Aga Khan Centre opened in 2018 as a place for education, knowledge, cultural exchange and insight into Muslim civilisations. The building was designed by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, and is influenced by Islamic architectural heritage, representing the values of openness, dialogue and respect for different viewpoints. The Centre incorporates a collection of gardens, courtyards and terraces that demonstrate the diversity and influence of Islamic landscape design around the world. Although the Islamic Gardens are private spaces, there are regular public tours. Within the Centre is the Aga Khan Centre Gallery, which hosts events, exhibitions and talks that are open to the public.

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens 

Alexandra Road Park was laid out as part of the Alexandra Road Estate, which was was built on a 16 acre site, formerly part of the Eyre Estate developed in the late C19th. It is a large Council-owned and built housing estate, designed in the late 1960s and executed in the 1970s, with landscaping an important component of the scheme. Three long low-rise stepped terraces are integrated with landscaped gardens, walkways and terraces, the flats provided with balconies and window boxes. It was the first post-war housing estate to be listed, described in 1993 as 'one of the most distinguished groups of buildings produced in England since the second World War and of exceptional architectural interest.' The park was substantially restored in 2015-2016.

Alf Barrett Playground is a largely hard-landscaped open space with a number of plane trees along the boundary railings to Old Gloucester Street. A sculpture of Humphry, a well-known local cat set on a granite plinth was unveiled by the Mayor of Camden, Cllr Ray Adamson, in October 1997.

Ampthill Estate is on the site of Ampthill Square, a garden square laid out in 1800 as a development of terraced houses around a crescent-shaped garden. Crossed by railway tracks from Euston by the end of the C19th, in 1912 part of the land and houses were purchased by the London Midland and Scottish Railway Company. The garden was then divided into two enclosures, one maintained for local residents of the square. Little remains of the original square today and the re-landscaped area is now overlooked by C20th tower blocks, although some mature trees from the earlier landscaping survive.

Antrim Gardens was formerly the site of tennis courts for Kingsley School, which was evacuated in WWII. The site was then laid out as a small public garden with lawn, shrub and flower beds and a children's playground. The garden contains two curiosities presented in 1945: a well-head made from the stonework of the old House of Commons, and a sundial made from a baluster from old Waterloo Bridge. Beyond the garden to the west is an area of allotments, divided by a low brick wall.

Argyle Square garden appears on an estate plan of 1832, although the garden itself was probably laid out in the 1840s when the first buildings were built around the square. The original layout had 4 entrances, perimeter trees / shrubs and a perimeter path, a line of 3 trees at either end of the garden and a central tree. By 1877 an east-west and a north-south path were added, dividing the garden into 4 plots, and 2 semi-circular beds around the central tree. The current layout dates from 1995, albeit with some later changes. Access was originally restricted to the residents of Argyle Square and a few adjoining houses, but it is now a public garden. Six mature London plane trees from the earlier layout survive and it is overlooked by surviving C19th terraces along most of three sides. Enclosed by reproduction cast iron railings, it has been redesigned to incorporate a tarmac sports pitch, children's playground and landscaping with shrubs and planting.

Planning permission for development of Athlone House and its grounds, to be called Kenwood Place (in progress)

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

Bedford Square was built between 1775-86 on the Bedford Estate to provide fashionable town houses. The estate remained sealed by gates until 1893. The square is no longer residential and the central garden, laid out between 1775-80, is now mainly surrounded by offices. Described as 'the best and most complete Georgian square left in Bloomsbury', its large oval garden remains for the private use of keyholders. It is surrounded by late C18th cast-iron railings and has shrubberies, lawn and mature plane trees, and a C19th hexagonal pavilion, which has been restored, and new benches and metal edging have been installed on the resurfaced perimeter path.

In the 1860s this sloping woodland was part of land owned by the Midland Railway Company. In 1948 the company leased it for various uses including tennis courts, nursery gardens and an industrial estate. Later owned by LB Camden, redevelopment of part of the land was under discussion from 1971, but it was not until 1982 that an architectural competition led to a scheme that provided for recreational use and housing. Russell's Nursery Estate housing estate abuts the woodland, which is partly freely accessible and partly a Nature Reserve managed as ecological woodland, having restricted access.

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

Bloomsbury Square was laid out in the early 1660s on land then owned by the Earl of Southampton, but from 1723 became part of the Bedford Estate. The central garden originally had a cruciform layout. From 1800 the 5th Duke of Bedford began developing his estate, demolishing Bedford House to the north of Bloomsbury Square. He commissioned Humphry Repton to redesign Bloomsbury Square in c1806 and by the 1820s there was a large lawn with oval line of trees in the centre, perimeter shrubbery and walk, and an oval shrubbery in each corner. The layout changed at various times throughout the C20th but refurbishment carried out in 2006/7 reflected elements of Repton’s layout, and restored views and links to Russell Square.

Branch Hill Woodland was originally part of Hampstead Heath, from which it was cut off when Branch Hill House was built in its own grounds in the 1860s. Branch Hill Allotments are now on part of its former garden. The sloping site also has areas of woodland, open grass and wooded grounds of private houses. One area is particularly known for its bluebells. Housing development in the woodland includes Oak Hill Park built with landscaped grounds and below Branch Hill House is a low-rise tiered housing scheme built unobtrusively in the midst of the woods.

The site was that of Tavistock House and grounds, built in 1796 and demolished c.1900, once the home of Charles Dickens. The buildings occupied by the British Medical Association were originally designed for the British Theosophical Society by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1911-14. The unfinished site was acquired by the BMA in 1923 and Lutyens again worked on the project until 1925, when the new headquarters opened, although later additions were made by others. Lutyens' work included the rear Council Garden, his design comprising a semi-circular terrace and oval pool that echoed the geometry and clarity of his architectural style. He also designed a memorial garden in the Court of Honour but this was re-configured in 1954 with a bronze fountain in a circular pool, flanked by figurative stone sculptures representing Sacrifice, Cure, Prevention and Aspiration. Planting in the Council Garden includes a fine Catalpa and a collection of plants with medicinal properties.