Valentines Park
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Valentines Park is a park, south of
Gants Hill Gants Hill is an area of Ilford in East London, England, within the borough of Redbridge. It is a suburb east northeast of Charing Cross. It lends its name to a central roundabout where five roads meet. History The name likely originated f ...
, it is the largest green space in the
London Borough of Redbridge The London Borough of Redbridge is a London borough established in 1965. The borough shares boundaries with the Epping Forest District and the ceremonial county of Essex to the north, with the London Borough of Waltham Forest to the west, the ...
. The park was originally the grounds of Valentines Mansion, a residence built in 1696. Valentines Park holds 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, ...
and was voted one of the ten best parks in Britain in 2019. The park, including Valentines Mansion, is managed on behalf of Redbridge Council by ''Vision RCL'', a registered charity.


History

Valentines Park was put together by various purchases and gifts of land, starting in 1898 and culminating in the 1920s.


Cranbrook Estate

In 1899 the Cranbrook Estate, which now makes up an area in the west of the park, was about to be sold for housing. The
Municipal Borough of Ilford Ilford was a civil parish and local government district in south west Essex, England from 1888 to 1965, covering the town Ilford. The district saw a considerable rise in population throughout its life, caused by the expansion of the built-up ar ...
had acquired its first section of parkland a year previously and was keen to enlarge its size as soon as land became available. Local officials believed that, unless an area of "''relaxation and pleasure''" was retained for the growing urban population, all traces of a rural Ilford could be lost. The park was opened in the same year under the name of ''Cranbrook Park''.


Valentines Mansion

Valentines Mansion was built in 1696 for Lady Tillotson, the widow of
John Tillotson John Tillotson (October 1630 – 22 November 1694) was the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury from 1691 to 1694. Curate and rector Tillotson was the son of a Puritan clothier at Haughend, Sowerby, Yorkshire. Little is known of his early youth ...
,
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
. For twenty years until around 1780 it was the family home of Sir Charles Raymond who had considerable interests in the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
as a ship owner and later became a banker. The house remained a family house until Sarah Ingleby, its last inhabitant, died on 3 January 1906. Following the death of the mansion's owner the local council acquired the remainder of its grounds and expanded the park. It is now a
Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
building.


Cricket Grounds

County Cricket Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...
was first played at Valentines Park in Ilford in 1922 and a pavilion was completed a year later after a Mrs Ingleby, who owned 136 acres of land surrounding it, donated the venue to Ilford CC. The first ever county match to be played on a Sunday was played there on 15 May 1966 between Essex and Somerset, with 6,000 spectators attending.


Features

During 2007–2008 Valentines Park underwent an extensive renovation financed by the
Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
and by the owners, the Council of the London Borough of Redbridge. The survival of formal
Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
features in a suburban park have given the park great heritage value, the park itself is Grade II Listed with several constructions in the park also holding listed status such as the Gardeners Cottage (Grade II) and the railings and gates (Grade II*). Valentines Mansion (Grade II*) is now open to visit as a historic house and is hired out as a wedding venue. Some of the parks other features include: *Boating Lake *Bandstand *Children's Play Area *Cricket Grounds *Cycle routes *Dog Exercise Area *Fitness Equipment *Picnic Area *Tennis Court *
Parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...
route *Public Toilets *Walled Garden The park previously had a
lido Lido may refer to: Geography Africa * Lido, a district in the city of Fez, Morocco Asia * Lido, an area in Chaoyang District, Beijing * Lido, a cinema theater in Siam Square shopping area in Bangkok * Lido City, a resort in West Java owned by MN ...
but this was demolished in 1995.


Ecology

Valentines Park has a number of mature trees (including tulip trees, Scots pine,
horse chestnuts The genus ''Aesculus'' ( or ), with species called buckeye and horse chestnut, comprises 13–19 species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae. They are trees and shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with six species n ...
, limes, and
cedars of Lebanon ''Cedrus libani'', the cedar of Lebanon or Lebanese cedar (), is a species of tree in the genus cedrus, a part of the pine family, native to the mountains of the Eastern Mediterranean basin. It is a large evergreen conifer that has great rel ...
) large
yucca ''Yucca'' is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flo ...
s, and manicured beds of shrubs other plants. The park is popular with
birdwatcher Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...
s and the species that have been spotted there include Marsh Tits and Turtle Doves. It is also home to the Valentines Park
Field Maple ''Acer campestre'', known as the field maple, is a flowering plant species in the family Sapindaceae. It is native to much of continental Europe, Britain, southwest Asia from Turkey to the Caucasus, and north Africa in the Atlas Mountains. It has ...
, one of the
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 p ...
.


In popular culture

Valentines Park is one of parks claimed to be the subject of the
Small Faces Small Faces were an English rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966. The band w ...
hit,
Itchycoo Park "Itchycoo Park" is a song written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane, first recorded by their group, the Small Faces. Largely written by Lane, it was one of the first music recordings to feature flanging, an effect at that time made possible by e ...
. It was the filming location of season 2 of ''
The Great British Bake Off ''The Great British Bake Off'' (often abbreviated to ''Bake Off'' or ''GBBO'') is a British television baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, att ...
''.


References

National Heritage List for England {{Green London Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Redbridge Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Redbridge Cricket grounds in Essex Sports venues in Essex Essex County Cricket Club Sports venues completed in 1923 1898 establishments in England