Lydekker Park is a park in

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,240 in the 2011 census, whilst the population of the civil parish was 29,448. Har ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. The land was formerly part of the garden of Harpenden Lodge, built in 1803, home for many years to the Lydekkers, one of the town's oldest families. In 1937 Hilda Lydekker, last surviving member of the Lydekker family, entered into an agreement with the former Harpenden Urban District Council that the of land attached to Harpenden lodge should become an open space for the people of Harpenden. Her intention was that the open space should be a memorial to her two brothers and her fiancé, all of whom died in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

However, following the death of Miss Lydekker in 1987, shortly before her 101st birthday, her relatives were able to overturn the terms of her

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

, and the land was subsequently sold for development. Harpenden Town Council made strenuous efforts to have all, or at least part of, the area retained as open space. The Town Council had some measure of control as the developers were depending upon the Town Council to obtain

planning permission Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

to develop the site. In the end, only out of the original 11 were given over to parkland and adjoining carpark, which is leased to the Harpenden Town Council at

peppercorn rent In legal parlance, a peppercorn is a metaphor for a very small cash payment or other nominal consideration, used to satisfy the requirements for the creation of a legal contract. It is featured in ''Chappell & Co Ltd v Nestle Co Ltd'' (960AC 87) ...

. The park was opened to the public on 1 July 1998.

Footnotes

{{Coord, 51.8196, -0.3578, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Parks and open spaces in Hertfordshire Harpenden