The tropical garden.
The Peace Pagoda at Battersea Park
Battersea Park Lake
The tropical garden.
The Peace Pagoda at Battersea Park
Battersea Park Lake
Battersea Park, in Battersea, SW11 is a major inner London park, and is home to a large number of facilities, gardens, and trees.
It is bounded by the Thames to its north. Albert Bridge Road, and Queenstown Road (which leads to Chelsea Bridge) border its western and eastern sides. On the south, it is bounded by the Prince of Wales Drive.Most of the park's perimeter has shrub plantings overhung by mature trees, which screen its inner areas. Like most Victorian parks, it was built with a surround carriage road. Many of these carriage roads are now stately avenues, shaded by mature plane trees. It also has the famous riverside promenade, giving good views of the north bank of the Thames.
There is a prominent central east-west road through the middle of the park. Vistas through the park can be seen from the Festival Gardens site, and at the bandstand.There are several water features, including a large lake in the south. The lake includes several islands, and is home to much aquatic wildlife. It has benefited from a major clean-out and regeneration in recent years. The former pump-house beside the lake is now a popular art gallery. A cafe looks out over the lake from the east.
The 'Old English' garden, in the northeast of the park, is a quiet enclosed garden, with mixed and herbaceous borders, pergolas, and a pond.
The subtropical gardens date from 1864. It is a scenic and attractive area, but despite the promising name, and a backdrop of many hardy palms, and similar exotic plants, it is rather disappointing in horticultural terms.The Festival Gardens are one of the best known features of the park. This is part of an extensive development first created for the 1951 festival of Britain. Although it became seriously run-down afterwards, it has been recently renovated. It has impressive fountain displays, though these are only operated part of the time. There are also extensive floral displays in the area, including a giant clock.
The Rosery gardens by the southeastern gate include formal entrance rose beds, leading into the lakeside cafe and informal inner areas of the park. A winter garden is planned in the southwest of the park. This is being funded by the Friends of Battersea Park. Other plantings include considerable areas of shrubs, roses, and bedding. Most of these have been recently renovated. Topiary is being developed in some areas.The park is also known for its collection of trees, as it includes a number of mature and notable trees. They include the tallest black walnut in the country. There are also some of the largest or best specimens of hybrid strawberry tree and of Chinese privet, among others. A tree trail leaflet, showing a limited number of these trees, can be obtained from the parks office.
In 1985, a major architectural feature, the Japanese Peace Pagoda was erected by the Greater London Council alongside the Thames. This pagoda is the London representative, of a series of such that were erected at key locations across the world during the 1980s.
Another prominent monument is the bandstand. This forms a focal point of the park, and is at the centre of the main east to west avenue.Several other monuments exist, including a war memorial, a Henry Moore sculpture, and the second 'Brown Dog' statue.
The park is very much a heavily used, inner London park, with limited opportunities for wildlife conservation. The older wildflower meadow near the Chelsea gate has been added to with the 'The Wilderness', a belt of tree and scrub along the park's eastern margin. There are small nature reserves in the park, some of which are locally important for butterflies. The lake is an important habitat for wildfowl, and the islands there provide refuges and safe nesting sites.
There is a children's zoo toward the north of Battersea Park, near the pagoda (charge for entry, see its website). This has a limited range of mostly smaller animals. There is also a 'deer enclosure' near the cafe, which no longer has any deer; however, there are other domestic animals held in it.The Pumphouse Gallery provides a venue for art exhibitions. This renovated building is located on the north side of the lake.
There are several playgrounds in the park, including an adventure playground.Many sports facilities are provided, including space for informal field sports. There is also a sports centre, and an athletics track. At some times, long distance runs and similar events are staged, with numerous users. These mostly use the carriage drives.
All weather sports facilities and an arena have been built in the east of the park - the Millennium Arena. Football, tennis, bowls, and other sports are available elsewhere.An events venue is situated inside the park. This is a commercial venture, run largely independently of the park. See their website at Battersea Evolution.
Fishing and boating are available in parts of the lakes.Battersea Park was constructed on the site of the former Battersea Fields, a somewhat marshy area on the south bank of the Thames. The park was first mooted in 1845 and was built and opened by 1854. Much of the design was by James Pennethorne. It was originally opened as one of the Royal Parks, as there was then no other body in London that could take on the task.
To create the site, the rather marshy slope down to the river had to be filled in. The spoil and material for this was brought in from the construction of new docks in the East End. The basic landscape features, including the carriage drives and the main avenue, the layout of the lake, and the mounds were laid out at this time.In 1951 the park was used to mark the Festival of Britain, when the Festival Pleasure Gardens were developed in the north of the park. Though these gardens were then intended to be temporary, they were very popular, and they remained, eventually being refurbished to become the present Festival Gardens. A permanent funfair was also included, which eventually closed down in 1974. The Battersea Evolution events venue now occupies this area.
Like many other parks, Battersea Park became somewhat rundown in the latter years of the 20th century. However, the park has been extensively renovated in recent years, with funding from the European Union and the Heritage Lottery Fund, as well as Wandsworth Council. This work is still going on.