The lost gardens of London

Have you ever taken a walk on Hampstead Heath? You probably don’t know it but your stroll was made possible by opponents of former landowner Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson, who had drawn up plans to build on it. After a battle that started in 1829 and lasted for 40 years, MPs agreed that, as the “lungs of the metropolis”, the heath should stay.

Today Hampstead Heath has protected status, as do many of London’s great green spaces. The best known are the expansive former hunting grounds of the Royal Parks – including Hyde Park, Regent’s Park and Green Park – which have long since been reimagined as multifaceted public spaces. Smaller pockets of communal greenery, such as the private garden squares that punctuate the streets of prime central London, often accessible only to key holders, feel just as integral to our experience of the capital.

Yet many notable London parks and gardens have been lost forever – even if some of the more eye-catching examples felt unforgettable at the time. “London is an incredibly green city by international standards,” explains Ella Finney, a curator at the Garden Museum in Lambeth, “but if you look at the past 500 years, there are historically important records of thousands of gardens and parks that are no longer here.”

The museum’s Lost Gardens of London exhibition reveals some fascinating nuggets, including the fact that Southwark once had a zoo; that Britain’s first ecological park was built near Tower Bridge; and that one of the capital’s most famous botanical gardens now lies beneath Waterloo station.

We also learn that the Albertopolis museum quarter, centred on Exhibition Road, once included the ambitious RHS South Kensington Gardens. “It was one of the pet projects of Prince Albert, with greenhouses housing plants from all over the world,” says Finney. “The gardens were here from 1861 until 1888, but ultimately the climate and levels of pollution at that time were part of what made it impossible to continue.” For the RHS, a move to Wisley, in Surrey, followed.

The city’s unchecked air pollution was also an issue for renowned botanist Sir William Curtis, who created splendid gardens to educate Londoners on the power of plants, particularly as medicine. His first, a nursery developed in 1779 near what is now the Old Vic theatre, had to be abandoned after a decade – much to his disappointment – due to the sooty local air.

“There is something almost uniquely nostalgic about the idea of a park or a garden that is no longer there,” reflects Chris Beanland, whose books include City Parks: A Stroll Around the World’s Most Beautiful Public Spaces, and who hosts the comedy podcast Park Date. “Parks are some of the first places we are ever taken to as children. They are places that hold memories. But once a green space is lost, it’s usually lost forever.”

He cites Clissold Park in north London as an example of a space that came close to being built over, but was saved by local support in 1889. “Housing is vital,” says Beanland, “but I don’t think anybody now would believe it was a good idea to just build over all of Clissold Park, the same way you’d never do that to Hyde Park. Many London parks are protected, and for good reason – even if there are going to be other times when it’s right to change the design of public space.”

When it comes to creating new parks, Beanland points to the enthusiasm for the High Line in New York – a 2009 innovation that turned a former railway track into an urban park. “So many cities have seen its success and want to do something similar where an existing architectural feature can be made into green space. In north London, planning permission is in place for the Camden Highline, which will be a park to connect Camden and King’s Cross.”

The city’s surviving historic parks and squares are moving towards a future that includes “adaptive reuse” as a model for public spaces. “Ultimately,” says Finney, “if you are in London and you are standing in a green space, it is often because someone has fought to keep it there.” And we should continue to value these little pockets of green – they are part of what makes London living so unique.

The Lost Gardens of London exhibition is at the Garden Museum, London SE1, 23 October, 2024-2 March, 2025; gardenmuseum.org.uk