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Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London. It is also known as one of the Royal Parks of London, mostly famous for its Speakers' Corner. The park is split in two by the Serpentine. Although Hyde Park is contiguous with Kensington Gardens, Kensington Gardens has been technically separate since 1728. Hyde Park covers 142 hectares (350 acres), and combined with Kensington Gardens, it covers an area larger than the Principality of Monaco (196 hectares, i.e. 484 acres). Hyde Park is now a traditional location for mass demonstrations and big concerts.
Opening hours: 5am - midnight all year round
Contact: The Park Office, Rangers Lodge, Hyde Park, London. W2 2UH
Phone: +44 (0)20 7298 2100
Fax: +44 (0)20 7402 3298
Email: hyde@royalparks.gsi.gov.uk
Hyde Park has a range of facilities. Cafes and restaurants offering everything from ice creams and sandwiches to three course meals are scattered all over the park. For children there is a playground and the Lookout, a former police observation point, and now an education centre where children learn about nature. There are also toilets, including facilities for disabled people. Between April and September, weather permitting, deckchairs are available during daylight.
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| By the Serpentine |
Liberty Drives provides free mobility for anyone who finds it difficult to see both Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens due to advanced age, disability or poor health, restricting their mobility. They offer electric buggies with wheelchair facilities, each seating five people and providing half hour rides. The possibility of being dropped off at a specific place and be picked up later is also available. Liberty Drives operates May to October, from 10am to 5pm Tuesday to Friday.
Contact: Richard Briggs OBE, Chairman of Hyde Park Appeal
Phone: +44 (0)7767 498 096
Further information: www.hydeparkappeal.org
In 1536 Henry VIII acquired Hyde Park from the monks of Westminster Abbey. The park remained a private hunting ground until James I permitted limited access to gentlefolk and appointed a ranger to run the park. Charles I changed the park completely - he had the Ring created and in 1637 opened the park to the general public. William III moved his court to Kensington Palace (on the far side of Hyde Park) at the end of the 17th century. He had 300 oil lamps installed, thus creating the first artificially lit highway in the country. George II's wife, Queen Caroline, had extensive renovations carried out, such as the creation of the Serpentine - in the 1730s, a lake of some 11,34 hectares was created. In 1814 the Prince Regent organised fireworks to mark the end of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1851 the Great Exhibition was held in the park, and in 1977 a Silver Jubilee Exhibition was held in honour of 25 years on the throne of Queen Elizabeth II. In 1866 Reform League meeting was held in Hyde Park, leading to a great conflict between the League and the police. However, the Prime Minister allowed the meetings to continue, and since 1872, people have been allowed to speak at Speaker's Corner on any subject they want to.
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| Enjoying the sun |
The area between Rotten Row and South Carriage Drive is known as the Sports Field and is used extensively for games of football, touch rugby, cricket, softball, rounders and frisbee. Cycling (as well as roller-blading and skateboarding) is allowed on all roads and specially designated cycle tracks. The park's paths and grass areas are used for walking, jogging and running. The Serpentine Lido and its accompanying paddling pool are available for swimming. Hyde Park Tennis & Sports Centre is located at the western end of the Sports Field, providing quality tennis facilities. People are welcome to visit the centre and play, while regular players can choose among a range of membership options which are available to them. Coaching courses are also available, and tournaments are organised.
7 July Memorial
This is a permanent memorial to honour the victims of the 7 July 2005 London Bombings. The Memorial was unveiled in Hyde Park by Their Royal Highnesses, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. The ceremony was attended by senior political figures and the families of the 52 killed. The ceremony occurred on 7 July 2009. The Memorial is located in the south east corner of Hyde Park and comprises 52 stainless steel pillars, representing each of the 52 victims. The pillars are grouped together in four inter-linking clusters, reflecting the four locations of the incidents.
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain
This Memorial was opened by Her Majesty the Queen on 6th July 2004. The Memorial is in fact a fountain built out of 545 pieces of Cornish granite. Each piece is shaped by the latest technology and pieced together using traditional skills. The design of the Memorial reflects Diana's life, with water flowing from the highest point in two directions as it cascades, before meeting in a pool at the bottom. There are three bridges crossing the water, leading right to the centre of the fountain.
Speakers' Corner
The Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park is the original and most noted site. It is located is in the north-east corner of Hyde Park. Speakers are there permitted to speak as long as the police consider their speeches lawful, i.e. until they receive a complaint or if they hear profanity. Although most of the speakers "using" the Corner today are non-mainstream, in the past the likes of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, George Orwell and William Morris frequented the spot.
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| The statue of Peter Pan |
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Once reserved for the residents of Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens are now one of the Royal Parks of London, situated immediately to the west of Hyde Park. Together with Hyde Park, Green Park and St. James's Park, Kensington Gardens almost continuously form a "green lung" of London. The gardens are popular as sunbathing and picnic spot. The park is also popular as a walking route with many paths. Cycling is allowed on the designated path. The Diana, Princess of Wales' Memorial Playground is a wonderful place for kids up to the age of 12.
Information line: +44 (0)20 7298 2141
Opening hours: from 6am to dusk all year round
Contact: Kensington Gardens Office, The Magazine Storeyard, Magazine Gate, Kensington Gardens, London W2 2UH
Phone: +44 (0)20 7298 2000
Fax: +44 (0)20 7724 2826
Email: kensington@royalparks.gsi.gov.uk
Kensington Gardens' facilities include two children's playgrounds, and toilets for the disabled at Mount Gate WC. Deckchairs are also available. You can get them from April to September during daylight hours, weather permitting.
Kensington Gardens, originally part of Hyde Park, are the setting for Kensington Palace, the London home of William III and Mary II. Queen Victoria was born in the palace and lived there until she became queen in 1837. In 1728 Queen Caroline, wife of George II, changed the appearance of the gardens to their present form by creating the Serpentine and the Long Water. At first the gardens were closed to the public, but once they opened, only the respectably dressed could enter. Later, Queen Victoria commissioned the Italian Gardens and the Albert Memorial. The bronze statue of Peter Pan is one of the best-loved features in Kensington Gardens. The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground and the seven-mile Memorial Walk were both opened in 2000. There is statue of Queen Victoria sculpted by her daughter, Princess Louise, outside Kensington Palace.
The Albert Memorial is located in Kensington Gardens, facing the Royal Albert Hall. Queen Victoria commissioned the memorial in memory of her beloved husband, Prince Albert, who died of typhoid in 1861. The Albert Memorial was designed in the Gothic revival style by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The statue of Albert in the memorial's centre was made by John Henry Foley. The statue was ceremonially "seated" in 1875, and faces to the south, towards the Royal Albert Hall. The statue of Albert is holding a catalogue of the Great Exhibition, and is robed as a Knight of the Garter. The elaborate sculptural Frieze of Parnassus, surrounding the central part of the memorial, depicts 169 individual figures of composers, architects, poets, painters, and sculptors. Musicians and poets were placed on the south side, with painters on the east side, sculptors on the west side, whereas architects are located on the north side. Henry Hugh Armstead carved the figures on the south and east side and grouped them by national schools. The figures on the west and north side were carved by John Birnie Philip who arranged them in chronological order.
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| Albert Memorial |
There are two allegorical sculpture programs at the corners of the central area and at the corners of the outer area. Four groups depict Victorian industrial arts and sciences (agriculture, commerce, engineering and manufacturing), and four more groups represent Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas with several ethnographic figures and a large animal. The mosaics on the canopy of the memorial were designed by Clayton and Bell and manufactured by the firm of Salviati from Murano, Venice. Each external mosaic depicts a central allegorical figure of the four arts (poetry, painting, architecture and sculpture), supported by two historical figures either side. These historical figures are: King David and Homer (poetry), Apelles and Raphael (painting), Solomon and Ictinus (architecture), and Phidias and Michelangelo (sculpture). There is a dedicatory legend around the canopy reading: Queen Victoria And Her People • To The Memory Of Albert Prince Consort • As A Tribute Of Their Gratitude • For A Life Devoted To The Public Good. The pillars and niches of the canopy feature eight statues representing the practical arts and sciences: Astronomy, Geology, Chemistry, Geometry and Rhetoric, Medicine, Philosophy and Physiology. Eight statues of the moral and Christian virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity and Humility, and Fortitude, Prudence, Justice and Temperance) are located close to the canopy's tower. Above them are gilded angels raising their arms heavenwards. Everything's topped with a gold cross.
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| Queen Mary's Gardens |
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The Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London, located in the northern part of central London. Regent's College and the London Zoo are situated in the Regent's Park. The Park has an outer ring road called the Outer Circle (4,3 km) and an inner ring road called the Inner Circle, surrounding Queen Mary's Gardens. Apart from the two roads linking the Circles, the park is reserved for pedestrians. Elegant white stucco terraces of houses designed by John Nash can be found at the south, east and most of the west side of the park. Regent's Canal runs through the northern end of the park and connects the Grand Union Canal to the former London docks. Apart from a wide range of facilities and amenities, there are also gardens, a lake with a heronry, waterfowl and a boating area, sports pitches, and children's playgrounds. Winfield House, the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, is located in the western section of the park. To the north of Regent's Park is Primrose Hill, a park with fine views of Westminster and the City. This is a Royal Park and belongs to the Sovereign.
Opening hours: from 5am all year round, closing times vary depending on the season
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Contact: The Store Yard, Inner Circle, Regent's Park, London, NW1 4NR
Phone: +44 (0)20 7486 7905
Fax: +44 (0)20 7224 1895
Email: regents@royalparks.gsi.gov.uk
The Regent's Park features an open air theatre, bandstands, puppet shows and London Zoo. There are also toilets for disabled people and nappy changing rooms. Weather permitting, deckchairs are available from April to September during daylight hours.
The Regent's Park, together with Primrose Hill, covers 197 hectares. It used to be known as Marylebone Park and remained a royal chase until 1646. John Nash, architect to the crown and friend of the Prince Regent, developed the still visible "image" of the Regent's Park. John Nash designed a large round park with palatial terraces, a lake, a canal, 56 planned villas out of which only 8 were ever built, and a second home for the Prince - never built. The park became the home of the Zoological Society and the Royal Botanic Society. In 1835, during the reign of King George IV, the general public were allowed into the sections of the park only for two days of the week. In the 1930s, Queen Mary's Gardens were created.
