Wandle Park (version 2)

Wandle Park is the name of two separate parks in London, on the course of the River Wandle.

The Wandle Trail passes through both parks.

Wandle Park, Croydon

The larger of the two Wandle Parks, at 8.5 hectares (21 acres), is located in the Broad Green Ward of Croydon. 51°22′28″N 0°06′41″W It was opened in 1890 by the Mayor of Croydon.

The River Wandle flows through the park in an underground culvert which was constructed in 1967. The park used to contain a boating lake which dried up and was filled in.

The park is used by many people and is popular with dog walkers, footballers, joggers, skateboarders and families. The park is easily accessible by public transport using Wandle Park Tramstop. The Park has a 'Friends Group' of local residents and park users that are working with Croydon Council to improve the park[[1]]

History

One of the oldest public open spaces in Croydon, Wandle Park was built to meet the leisure and recreation needs of the population of a growing industrial town. The park was formed from two watermeadows to the west of Croydon town called Frog Mead and Stubbs Mead. The deed of sale records that Croydon Corporation bought Frog Mede in 1888 from the Briton Medical & General Life Association Limited for £1,518. 15s. The 13 acres of Stubbs Mead was part of the Archbishop of Canterburry's land holdings in Croydon. The Archbishops had long held land in Croydon and their presence was recorded in the Doomsday Book. On December 12 1889 Croydon Corporation bought Stubbs Mead from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners £2,700. The indenture states that 'The land shall be forever dedicated and used as an ornamental pleasure ground and place of recreation for the inhabitants of the Borough of Croydon and for no other purpose whatsoever."

Improvements to the park were overseen by the Corporation's Road Committee. Minutes of the Committee available in Croydon's Local Studies Library record that a Mr W. Powell, the Roads Surveyor was instructed to draw up plans and obtain prices for the works. The centrepiece of the new park was an artificial boating lake with an island in the centre planted with trees. It was proposed to divert the River Wandle to feed the lake with water but whilst the lake was being constructed sufficient groundwater was found for this purpose. Proposals were then modified and a separate channel took the river to the north of the boating lake. John Hubert Schmitz, the Mayor of Croydon, opened Wandle Park in May 1890. A newspaper report of the time recorded that approximately 30,000 attended. The park is featured in postcards produced at the turn of the century which frequently record people enjoying the lake. In the early 1900s the lake was extended to the east and another island created that could be reached by two rustic bridges. By the 1930s there was a bandstand, bowling green (with pavilion) and tennis courts and the Park was the venue for the Borough's Summer Show [[2]].

Photographs show that the lake froze in winter and was used for ice-skating. Other photographs of the time show that the water level in the lake was found to be erratic and completely dried up at times in the summer[[3]]. In 1967 a concrete culvert was constructed, the river was diverted into it, and the old river bed filled in. The River Wandle was now buried from view and at the same time the now dry lake was filled in, topsoiled and grassed. The former course of the river can be traced by following the line of trees that cross the park. A flint wall on the southern side of the children's playground is also thought to be part of the wall on the north side of the river. A rose garden was created in the 1970s next to the sports pavilion and more recently a skatepark has been provided on the site of the old tennis courts [[4]].

External links

• http://www.wandlepark.com
• http://www.croydon.gov.uk/leisure/parksandopenspaces/parksatoz/wandle/wandlepark
• http://www.croydon.gov.uk/leisure/archives/lslibrary

Wandle Park, Merton

Another Wandle Park can be found in Merton, 6.8 km to the North-West, near Colliers Wood Underground station. It is about half the size of the Croydon park, approximately 11 acres. It is bounded to the south by Colliers Wood High Street, where there is an entrance, the River Wandle to the West, and Byegrove Road to the North. 51°25′07″N 0°10′48″W

External links

• http://www.merton.gov.uk/leisure/history-heritage/heritage-sites/wandle_park.htm