West Ham Park is a privately owned public

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

in the

London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the s ...

. Spanning , it is the largest park in the borough. The park has been managed by the

City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...

since 1874. Records from 1566 show that the park had been a part of the estate of Upton House, later known as

Ham House Ham House is a 17th-century house set in formal gardens on the bank of the River Thames in Ham, south of Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The original house was completed in 1610 by Thomas Vavasour, an Elizabethan cou ...

. William Rooke, who had inherited the estate, enlarged it to in 1559. The estate was purchased by John Elliott in 1752, who owned it for 10 years. It was acquired in 1762 by John Fothergill, who enlarged the grounds to around and created a sizeable

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

, which had been described as 'second only to Kew'. He would often accept rare plants in lieu of his fees as a physician. After Fothergill's death in 1780, the contents of the garden were largely sold off. The estate was sold to James Sheppard in 1787, and after his death was purchased by Samuel Gurney, his son-in-law, in 1812. During this period, Gurney's sister,

Elizabeth Fry Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney; 21 May 1780 – 12 October 1845), sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the tr ...

, resided there. It was later passed to John Gurney, who lived in Norfolk at had no use for the estate. Ham House was demolished in 1872. In 1874, John Gurney gave a large contribution towards the purchase of the Ham House estate and grounds by the Corporation of the City of London, to serve as a public open space. The park was the home to Upton Park FC, a local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club that drew large crowds at home matches. The venue was the site of the first ever

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

goal, scored by

Jarvis Kenrick Jarvis Kenrick (13 November 1852 – 29 January 1949) was an English footballer. Career Born in Chichester, Sussex, Kenrick scored the first ever goal in the FA Cup, for Clapham Rovers in a 3–0 victory over Upton Park on 11 November 1871. K ...

for

Clapham Rovers Clapham Rovers was from its foundation in 1869 a leading English sports organisation in the two dominant codes of football, association football and rugby union. It was a prominent club in the late 19th century but is now defunct. The club playe ...

in a 3–0 victory over Upton Park on 11 November 1871. The park features ornamental gardens, children's

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...

s, and sporting facilities including

five-a-side football Five-a-side football is a version of minifootball, in which each team fields five players (four outfield players and a goalkeeper). Other differences from football include a smaller pitch, smaller goals, and a reduced game duration. Matches are ...

pitches,

cricket nets Cricket nets are used by batters and bowlers to practice their cricketing techniques. They consist of a cricket pitch (natural or artificial) enclosed by netting on either side, behind, and optionally above. The bowling end is left open. Net ...

and

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

s. Until its closure in 2016, a nursery stood at the north east corner of the park, and was one of the largest operations of its kind in the UK, producing over 200,000 spring and summer bedding plants each year for the park, gardens and churchyards in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

and other Corporation open spaces. Plants grown in the nursery were also used for state occasions and banquets hosted by the City of London Corporation.

References

External links

West Ham Park
at

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Newham Parks and open spaces of the City of London Corporation Defunct football venues in England Sports venues in London Sport in the London Borough of Newham West Ham {{London-geo-stub