We've found 62 parks

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

Abney Park Cemetery, one of London's 'magnificent seven' private cemeteries, opened in 1840 to meet the need for Non-Conformist burial. The chosen site was formerly part of the grounds of Fleetwood House and Abney House, both important as meeting places for Dissenters; hymn-writer Isaac Watts stayed in both houses and has a monument in the cemetery. With a fine chapel as the centrepiece, it was laid out as a garden cemetery and landscaped by George Loddiges with plants supplied from his nursery in Hackney. It had an extensive arboretum and a rosarium, and some earlier features from the former grounds were retained. It was enlarged in 1843, again landscaped by Loddiges, and continued to develop until the 1870s. Many important Non-conformists have been buried here. Now run by Abney Park Trust, it is managed as a nature reserve.

Albion Road was built in 1829 to link Church Street and Newington Green. By 1928 the small triangular piece of land at the junction of Albion Road and Clissold Crescent had been acquired for £60 by Stoke Newington Borough Council who maintained it as public open space. In 1953 it was re-landscaped as a garden to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and is now known as Albion Parade. In 2015 the site was again re-landscaped to create a space that could be used for community events, with funding through the Pocket Parks initiative. 

Albion Square was laid out on part of an estate that was inherited in 1838 by Sir William Middleton, who commissioned the building of the square in 1844 as Hackney was being developed. In 1898 the central garden was saved from dereliction when it was acquired by Lady de Saumarez. A new garden was laid out by the MPGA, who gave it to the Hackney Vestry on condition it was properly maintained, and it was opened by MPGA Chairman Lord Meath in 1899. It remains an ornamental garden with symmetrical beds, grass and trees; the central drinking fountain was erected by the MPGT in 1910.

Allens Gardens forms a strip of communal garden behind a development of 10 blocks of 3-storey flats on Bethune Road built in 1874 by Matthew Allen, from whom the site takes its name. He was in partnership with the Improved Industrial Dwellings Company. The garden was for the use of residents, with greenhouses and wash houses as well as recreational facilities. The Bethune Lawn Tennis and Bowling Club was based here until 1929. The gardens were later publicly accessible, a series of garden 'rooms'. Since 2004 a compartment in the south has become an urban market garden run by Growing Communities, with raised beds, fruit trees, and an eco-building.

Butterfield Green is a small public park that takes its name from William Butterfield, the architect of St Matthias Church on Newington Green. The area was first developed in the C19th but the Green is surrounded by post-war council housing of the late 1940s/50s and the park was created when houses that occupied the sites of the various parts that make up the Green were demolished. An old footpath runs between Butterfield Green and blocks of flats. A community orchard has been planted in the park (2007) and further improvements in recent years have included a dry creek bed with water play space, and refurbished play area (2022)

The Cathedral Church of the Good Shepherd was originally built as the 'Ark of the Covenant' for the Agapemonite (Abode of Love) sect, which had been founded in Somerset by Henry James Prince. Prince came to Clapton with his congregation when he built the church here in 1892. It was closed in the 1920s but later acquired in 1956 by the Ancient Catholic Church. The church has a garden to the front with lawn, flower beds and shrubberies either side of the path leading from the fine wrought iron gates to the church door.

The laying out of Charles Square commenced in 1684 with the first houses built along the east side. The square was completed in c.1770, at which time it was described as 'set with greens, plants, fruit and other trees'. The central garden was acquired by Shoreditch Vestry in 1897 and laid out as an ornamental garden. One of the original Georgian house remains, with the garden now surrounded by 1950s flats.

Church Street Gardens existed as a shrubbery maintained by Stoke Newington Borough Council in the early C20th, but was laid out as a garden in 1953 in celebration of the Queen's Coronation. A small oval garden with grass, circular rose bed and ornamental trees surrounded by low walling, it is situated opposite the ancient parish church of St Mary and adjacent to the newer church, built to accommodate the growing parish.

Clapton Common is a small fragment of the former Broad Common; the south side, overlooked by the early C19th Clapton Terrace, forms an extension to the Common. Maps of 1745 show a number of hamlets in the area and in the C18th/C19th smart villas were built in Upper Clapton for City bankers and merchants, development accelerating after arrival of the railway. Clapton Common was preserved as public open space in 1872 as a result of a successful public petition that led to 180 acres in Hackney being protected from encroachment. It retains its large pond but public amenities, such as a Keeper's Box and drinking fountain, no longer exist, and the small mock-Tudor pavilion provided as public toilets became derelict.

Clapton Park is on land formerly the site of a farmyard, which was itself built on what was probably an old Roman foss-way leading directly across the old River Lea. The area was laid out by the London County Council as Clapton Park Housing Estate between 1967-1972. The small park consists of a flat grassed open space with perimeter shrubs and some notable trees. It is overlooked by Council housing and separated from Hackney Marshes by the River Lee Navigation. A tarmac path runs between two entrances, and a fenced-off adventure playground and children's playground are the only amenities.

Clapton Pond today consists of two small enclosures divided by Newick Road, the south side laid out with a bridged pond purportedly dug in the C17th. The pond, once the heart of the village of Clapton, was used as a reservoir for water supplied to the village in the early C18th and then between 1760-1833, the water brought via pipes from the River Lee. In 1898 Hackney District Board acquired Clapton Pond for public gardens. They were re-landscaped in 1977-79 retaining the bridge and most of the trees including a number of semi-mature Willows, the gardens particularly replanted with shrubs.

Clapton Square was laid out gradually on Clapton Field from 1811-18 with the central garden remaining as 'grass land' enclosed by iron railings until the late C19th. On an axis with the adjacent church of St John-at-Hackney, the garden was regarded as an extension of the churchyard. It became neglected as a residents' garden and was acquired by the LCC who vested it in Hackney Borough Council in 1924 as a public square. Most of the original houses were destroyed between 1943-47. A restoration programme for the garden began in the 1990s and it retains early C19th cast iron railings and a historic drinking fountain.