| Finsbury Park | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Interactive map of Finsbury Park | |
| Location | Harringay, London[1] |
| Area | 110 acres (45 ha) |
| Opened | 1869 |
| Designer | Frederick Manable[2] |
| Operated by | London Borough of Haringey |
| Open | 24 hours |
| Awards | Green Flag Award 2007–2018[4][5] |
| Designation | Grade II Listed[3] |
| Public transit access | Finsbury Park,Manor House,Harringay,Harringay Green Lanes |
| Part of a series on |
| Harringay |
|---|
| History |
| Locations |
| Other |
Finsbury Park is apublic park inHarringay, north London, England. The park lies on the southern-most edge of theLondon Borough of Haringey.[1] It is in the area formerly covered by thehistoric parish ofHornsey, succeeded by theMunicipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first ofthe great London parks laid out in theVictorian era. The park borders the neighbourhoods ofFinsbury Park,Stroud Green, andManor House.
Finsbury Park should not be confused withFinsbury, which is a district ofCentralLondon roughly 3 miles (5 km) to the south, forming the south-eastern part of theLondon Borough of Islington.
The park was landscaped on the northeastern extremity of what was originally a woodland area in the Manor or Prebend of Brownswood. It was part of a large expanse of woodland called Hornsey Wood that was cut further and further back for use as grazing land during the Middle Ages. In the mid-18th century atea room had opened on the knoll of land on which Finsbury Park is situated. Londoners would travel north to escape the smoke of the capital and enjoy the last remains of the old Hornsey Wood. Around 1800 the tea rooms were developed into a larger building which became known as the Hornsey Wood House/Tavern. A lake was also created on the top of the knoll with water pumped up from the nearbyNew River. There was boating, a shooting and archery range, and probablycock fighting and other blood sports. The Hornsey Wood Tavern was demolished in the process of making the area into a park, but the lake was enlarged. Once the park had opened, a pub across the road from its eastern entrance alongSeven Sisters Road called itself the Hornsey Wood Tavern after the original. This pub was later renamed the Alexandra Dining Room and closed for business in April 2007. It was subsequently demolished.[6]
During the early part of the second quarter of the 19th century, following developments inParis, Londoners began to demand the creation of open spaces as an antidote to the ever-increasing urbanisation of London. In 1841 the people ofFinsbury on the northern perimeter of the City of London petitioned for a park to alleviate conditions of the poor. The present-day site of Finsbury Park was one of four suggestions for the location of a park.[7]
Originally to be namedAlbert Park,[6] the first plans were drawn up in 1850.[3] Renamed Finsbury Park, plans for the park's creation were ratified by anact of Parliament, theFinsbury Park Act 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c. cl).[2] Despite some local opposition, the park was opened in 1869.
During theFirst World War the park was known as a location for pacifist meetings.[8]
During theSecond World War, the park was used as military training grounds and also hostedanti-aircraft guns.[9]
Through the late 20th Century the park began to fall into a state of disrepair with most of the original features gone by the 1980s. This decline was worsened in 1986 when the then owner,Greater London Council, was wound up and ownership was passed on toHaringey Council, but without sufficient funding or a statutory obligation for the park's upkeep.[10]
A £5 millionHeritage Lottery Fund Award, made in 2003, enabled significant renovations including cleaning the lake, building a new cafe and children's playground and resurfacing and repairing the tennis courts. The park now contains tennis courts, a running track, a softball field and many open spaces for various leisure activities.[11]
The park has a mixture of open ground, formal gardens, avenues of mature trees and anarboretum. There is also a lake home to many species of waterfowl, a children's play area, a cafe and an art exhibition space. Sports facilities in the park includefootball pitches, a cycling club, abowling green,[12] askatepark,[13] anathletics stadium, andtennis andbasketball courts.[4] Unusually forLondon, the park hosts two facilities for "American" sports: anAmerican football field, home to theLondon Blitz, and diamonds forsoftball andbaseball, home to theLondon Mets.
TheParkland Walk provides a pedestrian and cycle route that links the park withCrouch Hill Park,Crouch End, andHighgate Underground station.
The park has hosted many live music performances[14] andmusic festivals including: the Irish-themedFleadh (Irish for ‘festival’; 1990–2003),[15]Great Xpectations Festival (1993),[16]Big Gay Out (2004–2005),[17]Rise Festival (2006–2010) andWireless Festival (2014–2019, 2022–).
By the 2010s, the number of live festivals decreased, as local council finances were stretched thin. Furthermore, there were the issues of damaged park property and yellowing, unsightly grass, as well as no-entry blockades due to the special events. Local residents would be inconvenienced and prevented from accessing select areas and thoroughfares of the park, often for several days at a time, during the run of a festival. Local MPDavid Lammy went as far as to say: "There are parts of the park that look like the Serengeti—a bald dust bowl where there was once grass."[18]
A local group, The Friends of Finsbury Park, (unsuccessfully) tookHaringey Council to the High Court in a bid to stop future large, live music events."The group had contended the council had no right to grant the festival permission under the Greater London Parks and Open Spaces Act 1967, claiming Haringey’s actions were unlawful because the event shuts off 27 per cent of the park when the maximum permitted by legislation is 10 per cent."[19] They lost the case,[20] but the decision made it abundantly clear that the council held Finsbury Park in trust, and that any funds raised in the park from events must be used for the park itself. This somewhat reduced the number of events in the park, moving forward, but also allowed for more rational investments to be made in improving the park (e.g., maintaining the property, new playgrounds, refreshing the Richard Hope play space, etc).
Finsbury Park has been used as a filming location formusic videos such asGroove Armada's "Song 4 Mutya", feature films such asRachid Bouchareb'sLondon River and TV programmes such asSilent Witness.[21]
Newsreel item on the break-up of a pacifist meeting in Finsbury Park, London
| Governing bodies | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National teams | |||||
| Clubs | |||||
| Seasons | |||||
| Venues | |||||
| Hosted events | |||||
| |||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| Geographic | |
51°34′16″N0°06′03″W / 51.5712°N 0.1009°W /51.5712; -0.1009
