Vauxhall Park is 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 ...

-winning municipal park in

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

, South London, run by Lambeth Council. It occupies an 8.5-acre site, and was created at a cost of around £45,000, following a public campaign led by the suffragist Millicent Fawcett, the social reformer

Octavia Hill Octavia Hill (3 December 1838 – 13 August 1912) was an English social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a family of radical t ...

and members of the

Kyrle Society Miranda Hill (Wisbech 1836–1910) was an English social reformer. Biography Hill was a daughter of James Hill (died 1872), a corn merchant, banker and follower of Robert Owen, and his third wife, Caroline Southwood Smith (1809–1902), ...

. The land was purchased from a local developer under the Vauxhall Park Act 1888. and the houses of Lawn Terrace demolished accordingly. The new park was formally opened in 1890 by the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

History

It was the wish of the blind MP

Henry Fawcett Henry Fawcett (26 August 1833 – 6 November 1884) was a British academic, politician, statesman and economist. Background and education Henry Fawcett was born in Salisbury, and educated at King's College School and the University of Cambri ...

that the park be created, and his former garden is one part of the park. The design of the park was the work of Fanny Wilkinson, the first professional female landscape designer in Britain. A statue of Fawcett by the artist George Tinworth was erected in the park in 1903, but was removed by Lambeth Council in 1959 and has since been replaced by a plaque.

, a staunch believer that all people ought to have access to nature and open spaces, and the Commons Preservation Society successfully campaigned against development in the park in the late 19th century.

Features

One of Edgar Wilson's model villages is located in the park (others are located in Brockwell Park and Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne). The model village was restored and re-opened by the then MP

Kate Hoey Catharine Letitia Hoey, Baroness Hoey (born 21 June 1946), better known as Kate Hoey, is a Northern Irish politician and life peer who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Home Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and Minister for Sport from 1999 ...

in 2001. The park is famous for its

lavender ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found in Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, and from Europe across to northern and east ...

garden, located on the former bowling green, and annual lavender harvest. Lambeth Council undertook a major renovation of the park in 2020.

Facilities

The facilities in the park include a children's playground, a One O’Clock Club, a nursery, a multi-use games area, two tennis courts, chess tables, a park café, and two fenced dog areas. There is an active Friends of Vauxhall Park, established in 1999.

References

External links

Official website: Friends of Vauxhall Park
{{coord, 51.4830, N, 0.1220, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Lambeth 1890 establishments in England