| Green Park | |
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  Green Park | |
| Type | Public park |
| Location | London,SW1 United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°30′15″N0°08′37″W / 51.50417°N 0.14361°W /51.50417; -0.14361 |
| Area | 19 hectares (47 acres) |
| Operated by | The Royal Parks |
| Public transit access |  Green Park |
| Website | www |
The Green Park, one of theRoyal Parks of London, is in theCity of Westminster, Central London. Green Park is to the north ofthe gardens and semi-circular forecourt ofBuckingham Palace, acrossConstitution Hill road. The park is in the middle of a near-continuous chain of green spaces in Westminster that includesSt James's Park,Hyde Park, andKensington Gardens. To the northwest of Green Park is the district ofSt James's including,Lancaster House,Clarence House, andSt James's Palace.
First enclosed in the 17th century by KingCharles II, it was landscaped in 1820 and is notable among central London parks for having no lakes or buildings, and only minimal flower planting in the form of naturalisednarcissus.
Green Park covers just over 40 acres (16 ha)[1] betweenHyde Park andSt. James's Park. Together withKensington Gardens and the gardens ofBuckingham Palace, these parks form an almost unbroken stretch of tended green land. This combined parkland is mostly bounded on the four cardinal compass points byHorse Guards Parade or adjoiningDowning Street (east); theVictoria/Belgravia district (south);Kensington andNotting Hill (west) andSt James's,Mayfair andBayswater (north).
In contrast with its neighbouring parks, Green Park has no lakes, no buildings, no playgrounds and three, early yet distinctivepost-war-era public monuments:
The park consists almost entirely of mature trees rising out of turf; the only flowers are naturalisednarcissus.
The park is bounded on the south byConstitution Hill, on the east by the pedestrian Queen's Walk, and on the north byPiccadilly. It meets St. James's Park at Queen's Gardens with theVictoria Memorial at its centre, opposite the entrance toBuckingham Palace. To the south is the ceremonial avenue ofthe Mall, and the buildings ofSt James's Palace andClarence House overlook the park to the east.Green Park Underground station has platforms of thePiccadilly,Victoria andJubilee lines. It is by the north end of Queen's Walk. TheTyburn stream runs beneath Green Park.[3]
In 2016 one acre of the park near the Bomber Command Memorial was designated as the 90thCoronation Meadow, named The Queen's Meadow, and established as awildflowermeadow using seed taken from ancient meadows atHorsenden Meadow inEaling, and Valebridge Common inWest Sussex.[4][5] In 2017 a wide range of flowers were reported such asyellow rattle andcommon poppy.[6]
The park is said to have in been for many medieval years a swampy burial ground forlepers from the hospital at St James's on its north side. It was first enclosed in the 16th century to be part of the estate of Poulteney family. It was then, as probably earlier too, partly excavated for the sand for themortar for brickwork and stone building elements. In 1668, this part of "the Poulteney estate", the "Sandpit Field", was surrendered toCharles II, who made the bulk of the land into a Royal Park as "Upper St James's Park" and enclosed it with a brick wall.[7] He laid out its main walks and built anicehouse to supply the household with ice for cooling drinks in summer.
In 1746, Upper St. James's Park was officially renamed The Green Park. The park was an open meadow with few flowers at the time but this state may arise from a feud betweenCharles II of England and hisQueen Consort,Catherine of Braganza. Theoral history says the Queen discovered Charles had picked flowers in the park for another woman. In revenge, the Queen ordered that every single flower in the park should be pulled up and no more planted.[8]
The Queen's Walk was laid out for George II's queenCaroline; it led to the reservoir that held drinking water forSt James's Palace, called the Queen's Basin.[9]
Until a few decades later the park was on the outskirts of London; it was dark and somewhat semi-rural. It was known as a haunt ofhighwaymen and thieves. During the 18th and 19th centuries, it was a popular place for ballooning attempts and public firework displays;Handel'sMusic for the Royal Fireworks was composed specifically for a fireworks celebration held in The Green Park in 1749.[10]
The park was also a principal venue for theGrand Jubilee of 1814 on 1 August, celebrating peace with France and the centenary of theHanoverian succession.Sir William Congreve, Comptroller of the Royal Laboratory at Woolwich, designed a revolving Temple of Concord which was initially concealed within a mock Gothic castle; a staged siege with cavalry, artillery and rockets culminated in the castle walls collapsing to reveal the illuminated temple.[11]
The park was also known as a duelling ground; one particularly notorious one being in 1730 betweenWilliam Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath andJohn Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol.[12]
In 1820,John Nash landscaped the park, as an adjunct toSt James's Park.[13] On 10 June 1840, it was the scene ofEdward Oxford's assassination attempt onQueen Victoria, onConstitution Hill.
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