Inventory Site Record

Originally called Victoria Recreation Ground, Victoria Park opened in 1902 but was originally planned to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. It remained Finchley's only public pleasure ground until 1914. The early layout included a bandstand as well as facilities for tennis and bowling, with a park-keeper's lodge at the south entrance and a small body of water was found along the boundary with Etchingham Road. Planting includes bedding displays and a formal garden.

Previous / Other name:

Victoria Recreation Ground

Site location:

Ballards Lane/ Long Lane/Park View Road, Finchley

Postcode:

N3 2NE

What 3 Words:

dark.tribal.basin

Type of site:

Public Park

Borough:

Barnet

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

closes at dusk

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Tennis, bowling, 2 playgrounds, café; Finchley Victoria Park Bowling and Croquet Club

Events:

Children's Fair. Community activities organised by Finchley Victoria Park Bowling and Croquet Club

Public transport:

Tube: West Finchley, Finchley Central (Northern) then bus. Bus: 143, 13, 26, 82, 260.

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

01/11/2017

Last minor changes:

19/07/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.barnet.gov.uk; https://victoriaparkfinchley.com

Victoria Park opened in 1902 as Victoria Recreation Ground but had originally been planned to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. Located between residential streets the park remained Finchley's only public pleasure ground until 1914. At the main entrance to the park on Ballards Lane is a grass strip with bedding displays and the gates have mosaic decoration on the gate piers; near the entrance is an electricity sub-station, in the form of a crenelated structure of red and yellow brick. The park was laid out with a rectangular formal garden enclosed by a hedge in the south-east and beyond this were tennis courts and two hedged bowling, greens and clubhouse, the latter used by the Finchley Victoria Bowling Club since its formation in 1925. One of the park's two bowling greens was converted for croquet in 2016, this change of use prompted by Barnet Council's decision to cease funding the borough's bowling clubs, requiring them to become more self-sufficient. As a result of this the Bowling Club reformed itself into the Finchley Victoria Park Bowling and Croquet Club and now offers a wider range of community activities and year-round opening has replaced the club's April-September season. A small area of garden in the north is dedicated to Vyvyan Wells, former Councillor and Mayor, and was opened on 21 May 1955 according to a plaque on the site..

On the corner of Long Lane and Park View Road the former park-keeper's house, known as The Lodge, was somewhat controversially sold by Barnet Council but the net profit from the sale has been ring-fenced for expenditure on improvements to Victoria Park. In order to ensure this takes place and to safeguard the park, a new Friends of Victoria Park was formed, itself growing out of an informal group called Etchingham Friends who had in the past paid for planting an avenue of trees in the park.

Sources consulted:

Victoria County History, Middx VI, V; S Gillies and P Taylor, 'Finchley and Friern Barnet, a Pictorial History', 1992.

Grid ref:

TQ257912 (525844,191054)

Size in hectares:

7.43

Site ownership:

LB Barnet

Site management:

Leisure and Youth Services, Green Spaces Division/Friends of Victoria Park

Date(s):

1887- 1902

Designer(s):

Listed structures:

None

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

No

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

No

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

No

Tree Preservation Order:

No

Nature Conservation Area:

No

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

Yes - Area of Special Archaeological Significance (part/ at entrance)

Other LA designation:

Premier Park

Victoria Park, Ornamental planting adjacent to entrance on Ballards Lane, August 2000.

Click a photo to enlarge.