Bushy Park
| Bushy Park | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Type | Public park |
| Location | Teddington and Hampton, London |
| Coordinates | 51°24′46″N 0°20′17″W / 51.41278°N 0.33806°W |
| Area | 445 hectares (1,100 acres) |
| Operated by | The Royal Parks |
| Website | http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/bushy_park/ |
Bushy Park is the second largest of London's Royal Parks, at 445 hectares (1,100 acres) in area,[1] and lies immediately north of Hampton Court Palace and Hampton Court Park.
It is surrounded by Teddington, Hampton, Hampton Hill and Hampton Wick, and is a few minutes' walk from the north side of Kingston Bridge.
The park is within the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and most of it is open to the public. Its acid grasslands are mostly just above the 25-foot contour.[2]
History
The area now known as Bushy Park has been settled for at least the past 4,000 years: the earliest archaeological records that have been found on the site date back to the Bronze Age. There is also evidence that the area was used in the medieval period for agricultural purposes.
When Henry VIII took over Hampton Court Palace from Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1529, the King also took over the three parks that make up modern-day Bushy Park: Hare Warren, Middle Park and Bushy Park. A keen hunter, he established them as deer-hunting grounds.
His successors, perhaps less involved in traditional sporting activities, added a number of picturesque features, including the Longford River, a 19-km canal built on the orders of Charles I of England to provide water to Hampton Court, and the park's various ponds. This period also saw the construction of the main thoroughfare, Chestnut Avenue, which runs from Park Road in Teddington to the Lion Gate entrance to Hampton Court Palace in Hampton Court Road. This avenue and the Arethusa 'Diana' Fountain were designed by Sir Christopher Wren as a grand approach to Hampton Court Palace.
The park has long been popular with locals, but also attracts visitors from further afield. From the mid-19th century until World War II, Londoners came here to celebrate Chestnut Sunday and to see the abundant blossoming of the trees along Chestnut Avenue. The customs were discovered and resurrected in 1993 by Colin and Mu Pain.[3]
Among those who served as ranger (an honorary position, long including residence at Bushy House) was King William IV, while Duke of Clarence (1797–1830). To ensure his consort Queen Adelaide, could remain at their long-time home after his death, he immediately appointed her as his successor as ranger (1830–1849).[4]
During World War I, Bushy Park housed the King's Canadian Hospital, and between the wars it hosted a camp for undernourished children.
During World War II, General Dwight D. Eisenhower planned the D-Day landings from Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) at Camp Griffiss in the Park. A memorial by Carlos Rey [1] dedicated to the Allied troops who fell on D-Day now marks the spot where General Eisenhower's tent stood. The nearby Eisenhower House is named in the General's honour. From 1942, the site, which was also known by the codename Widewing, hosted the de facto headquarters of the US Eighth Air Force under Maj Gen (later Lt Gen) Carl Spaatz, who went on to command the US Army Air Forces throughout the European Theatre of Operations (ETO). In early 1944, Spaatz became commander of the newly formed US Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF) in Europe at Bushy Park.
The park today
Originally created for royal sports, Bushy Park is now home to Teddington Rugby Club, Teddington Hockey Club (from 1871 onwards, the rules of the modern game of field hockey were largely devised at Bushy),[5] and four cricket clubs, including Teddington Town Cricket Club, Hampton Wick Royal Cricket Club, Teddington Cricket Club and Hampton Hill Cricket Club.
It also has fishing and model boating ponds, horse rides, formal plantations of trees and other plants, wildlife conservation areas and herds of both Red Deer and Fallow Deer.
The park also contains several lodges and cottages, Bushy House, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) at the Teddington end and the Royal Paddocks, and two areas of allotments: the Royal Paddocks Allotments at Hampton Wick and the Bushy Park Allotments at Hampton Hill.
As part of an upgrade of the park facilities, the new Pheasantry Café was added, and the restored and largely reconstructed Upper Lodge Water Gardens were opened in October 2009.[6] The work was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Transport
The closest railway stations are Hampton Court in East Molesey to the south, Hampton Wick to the east, Teddington and Fulwell to the north, and Hampton to the west. All are within a 10- to 20-minute walk.
Transport for London bus routes 111, 216, 265 and 411 pass the Hampton Court Gate on Hampton Court Road (the main southern entrance to the Park).
R70, R68 and 285 buses stop near the two Hampton Hill Gates off the High Street, while the R68 also serves the Blandford Road Gate (next to the NPL on Hampton Road, Teddington) before continuing to Hampton Court Green via Hampton Hill.
To the north the main Teddington gate on Park Road and a second on Sandy Lane are only served by an hourly 481 bus service. But the main gate is best reached, either on foot or by car, from Teddington's town centre, via Park Road, or from the railway station.
The main north and south Gates, connected by the Chestnut Avenue causeway, provide vehicle access to through traffic from 6.30am until dusk or 7.00pm in the winter months.
Ever since motorists have been allowed to drive in the park thousands if not hundreds of thousands have been caught speeding well above the 20mph speed limit and given penalty charge notices by the Metropolitan Police Service for doing so as well as dangerous driving and illegally stopping on the private highways within the park and parking illegally on the grasslands of the park.
This official plan omits one of the largest, most popular car parks, Upper Lodge (approx 500 metres west of Cannon Gate), foreshadowing Royal Parks decision to close it permanently on 8 November 2010, in favour of the new Pheasantry and Clapperstile car parks.
Gallery
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Dukes Head walk in Winter -
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Tablet marking the location of the US Army Air Forces European headquarters
See also
References
- ^ "Bushy Park". The Royal Parks. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
- ^ Bushy Park: Royals, Rangers and Rogues, Kathy White and Peter Foster, Foundry Press (1997) ISBN 0-9530245-0-4
- ^ "About the Friends of Bushy and Home Parks". Fbhp.org.uk. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
- ^ William Page (Editor) (1911). "Spelthorne Hundred: Hampton Court Palace: parks". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 2: General; Ashford, East Bedfont with Hatton, Feltham, Hampton with Hampton Wick, Hanworth, Laleham, Littleton. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ Christopher Winn: I Never Knew That about the Thames (London: Ebury Press, 2010), p. 143.
- ^ Upper Lodge Water Gardens: BBC illustrated news report
