Ravenscourt Park or RCP is an public park and garden located in the

London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The borou ...

, England. It is one of the Borough's flagship parks, having won a

Green Flag Award The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...

. Stamford Brook and Ravenscourt Park tube stations are close by.

History

The origins of Ravenscourt Park lie in the medieval manor and estate of Palingswick (or Paddenswick) Manor, located on the site and first recorded in the 12th century. The historic name still exists today in the name of Paddenswick Road, which runs along the north east boundary of the park.

Medieval origins

By the 13th century the manor house was a mansion surrounded by a moat fed by the Stamford Brook. The lake in the centre of the park today is a remnant of the original moat. King

Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...

’s mistress

Alice Perrers Alice Perrers, also known as Alice de Windsor (circa 1348 –1400) was an English and British royal mistress, English royal mistress, lover of Edward III of England, Edward III, Monarchy of the United Kingdom, King of England. As a result o ...

lived in the manor during the 14th century.

17th and 18th centuries

The manor house was rebuilt in 1650 and in 1747 it was sold to Thomas Corbett who named it Ravenscourt, probably derived from the raven in his coat of arms, which was itself a pun on his name as ''corbeau'' is French for ''raven''.

19th century

In 1812 the Ravenscourt House and estate were bought by its final private owner, George Scott, a builder and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

who developed nearby St Peter’s Square. Scott employed leading landscaper

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...

to lay out the gardens of the estate, and encouraged the building of houses along its edges. According to a park plan from 1830, there were 78 houses within the park, and by 1845 this number had risen to 330. In 1889, the first public library in Hammersmith opened in Ravenscourt House.

Sale, development and public ownership

In 1887, the Scott family sold the estate to a developer for building purposes, to be covered, it was said, with working-class dwellings. Counterproposals to prevent this, either by repurchasing the property by public subscription or by appealing for public purchase by the

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the principal instrument of local government in a wide area of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent, defined by the Metropolis Management Act 1855, from December 1855 until the establishment of the London County ...

, both failed, largely owing to the exorbitant price – said to be well over £70,000 () demanded by the new freeholder. However, it transpired that the ground-leases of the row of detached and semi-detached residences called Ravenscourt Park, extending southwards from No. 23, contained a proviso giving ground-tenants the right to forbid any building on the width of the park opposite their frontages. The new freeholder promptly took steps to remove this obstacle by buying out the rights of prohibition for small cash sums. Two of the ground-tenants, Ebenezer Stanley Burchett of 23 Ravenscourt Park and Frank Dethbridge of "The Hermitage", determined to block the development by demanding much larger sums of £1000 each. Their action had the desired effect, and other lessees demanded similar sums. A total of at least £10–£12,000 would have been added to the development costs, and this initiative effectively knocked the bottom out of the speculation. The freeholder became amenable to fresh negotiations, and eventually agreed to sell the property for the greatly reduced sum of £58,000. It was acquired by the Metropolitan Board of Works (the Vestry of Hammersmith contributing half the purchase-money) on 20 November 1887. The Board of Works established a public park, laid out by

JJ Sexby John James Sexby VD (known as JJ Sexby) (15 July 1847 – 10 May 1924) was a British civil servant who served as the first Chief Officer for Parks for the London County Council from 1892 to 1909, and was responsible for the creation of many of Lo ...

, in the of land surrounding the House. It was opened on 19 May 1888. Management of the park was transferred to the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

in 1889, to the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

in 1965, and finally to the London Borough of Hammersmith in April 1971. A number of "lodges" (i.e. cottages) on the perimeters of the park were also transferred with the stipulation that they could only be inhabited by Council staff who worked there.

20th century

Part of Ravenscourt House was used as a tuberculosis dispensary from 1918. In 1941 Ravenscourt House was severely damaged by

incendiary bomb Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, t ...

s, during

The Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

, and was later demolished. Today, only the stable block remains, which now houses Ravenscourt Park's cafe, sometimes known as the Ravenscourt Park Tea House.

Modern era

The park is part of the

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

of Ravenscourt and Starch Green, and its north-eastern corner has been designated an Archaeological Priority Area. Today there is still much evidence of historic planting throughout the park, including plane trees and cedars. The park is home to two

Great Trees of London Great Trees of London is a list created by Trees for Cities after the Great Storm of 1987, when the general public were asked to suggest suitable trees. Forty-one were chosen, with a further 20 added in 2008. In 2010, Time Out Guides Limited ...

, an old and stunted plane tree, and a large mature

tree of heaven ''Ailanthus altissima'' , commonly known as tree of heaven, ailanthus, varnish tree, or in Chinese as ''chouchun'' (), is a deciduous tree in the family Simaroubaceae. It is native to northeast and central China, and Taiwan. Unlike other memb ...

. Ravenscourt Park currently offers many facilities including tennis and basketball courts, a bowling green, an all-weather pitch, a walled garden, multiple play areas, and a paddling pool for children. There are two cafes in the park
The Tea House
is run by Fait Maison and is nearest the Paddenswick Road entrance. W6 Cafe is located within th
W6 Garden Centre
on Ravenscourt Avenue near King Street. Friends of Ravenscourt Park is an organisation whose aim is "to maintain and improve a well used and loved park in west London." A memorial in the park to

Giles Hart Giles Vernon Hart (20 November 1949 – 7 July 2005) was a British Telecom engineer working for BT Operate and a trade unionist. Early life Hart was born in Khartoum, Sudan, when his father was head of English at Gordon College. He moved to Engl ...

was unveiled on 5 July 2008. He was a British engineer and

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

killed in the

7 July 2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, often referred to as 7/7, were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamic terrorists in London that targeted commuters travelling on the city's public transport system during the mo ...

References

''Municipal Parks, Gardens, and Open Spaces of London'' by John James Sexby
published by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

Retrieved 13 January 2020

Notes

External links

{{coord, 51.497, N, 0.2385, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Gardens by Capability Brown