The Green Park

Green Park is one of the Royal Parks of London, protected parks which are owned by the crown. Interestingly, the public has no legal right to use the parks as they are still technically property of the crown and terms of public usage can be withdrawn. This, however, is supremely likely to happen due to the severity of the public backlash, and parks are generally considered to be as rightfully usable by any common man as well as the current monarch.

Green Park is some 21 hectares – around 52 acres – in size, making it one of the smaller Royal Parks. It is sandwiched between the much larger, and better known, parks of Hyde Park and St. James’s Park, and is near to the tourist trap and official residence of the British monarch, Buckingham Palace. It is used primarily as a thoroughfare, a use which has almost been promoted in that the Park, while still beautiful, does not have the picturesque qualities of its neighbors.

The Green Park is also different from the nearby larger and better known parks in that it is completely devoid of any ponds. It is instead consisted entirely of wooden meadows. There are relatively few memorials or items of interest within Green Park itself, promoting its status as a mass of land in between important sites. The only real areas of interest are the two memorial statues within the boundaries; the Canada Memorial and the Constance Fund Fountain. However, these are relative unknowns and are rarely enough to attract visitors to the park.

The park does, however, play an interesting role in the overall geography of London. Together with Kensington Gardens and the gardens of Buckingham Palace, Green Park forms an almost unbroken stretch of land from Whitehall to Noting Hill – a considerable stretch of green land for any city, never mind one of the most populous in the world.

Unfortunately, Green Park has a less than savory history. The first records of its usage show the area as a swamp-marsh like burial ground for lepers, the unfortunate souls that perished at the nearby hospital St. James’s. Henry VIII was the first to enclose the area, doing so as a gift to the wealthy Poulteney family and allowing it to form part of their estate. The park also gained a reputation as a dueling ground. Later, in 1668, the Poulteney family surrendered part of the grounds to the monarch Charles II, who made the park public access and laid out the main walks. Charles also created an icehouse in the grounds, to keep drinks cool during summers spent meandering through the park.

Green Park may not be the most stunning or interesting of the Royal Parks of London, but it is centrally placed in such a way that it can be the park of choice for al fresco dining between visiting some of the most known tourist attractions in London. It’s close proximity to Buckingham Palace and to the centre of London in general mean that Green Park has an enduring place in the geography of the stunning city of London.