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Inventory Site Record

Islip Manor Park (Ealing)

Brief Description

Islip Manor Park was created on the former grounds of Islips Manor, whose history dates back to a C14th estate of the Ruislip family, Ruislips Place. It was renamed Islips Manor when the Lord of Northolt Manor purchased the estate in 1629. In 1853 it was purchased by antiquary George Harris who laid out the grounds and rebuilt the house, which remained in his wife's family after his death in 1890. Ealing Town Council purchased house and grounds in 1929; the house was used as a clinic and the grounds opened as a public park. There are vestiges of the C19th planting, with many fine trees, and the municipal layout included new planting, a bowling green and modest modern flower garden.

Practical Information
Site location:
Eastcote Lane/Mandeville Road/Islip Manor Road/Alderney Gardens, Northolt
Postcode:
UB5
What 3 Words:
humans.hatch.pushed
Type of site:
Public Park
Borough:
Ealing
Open to public?
Yes
Opening times:
7.30am - dusk
Special conditions:
Facilities:
Bowls (Northolt Bowls Club), play centre for pre-school children, playground, cricket pitch, basketball and five-a-side area, car park.
Events:
Public transport:
Tube: Northolt (Central). Bus: 90, 120, 140, 282, 398, E10.
Research updated:
01/10/2010
Last minor changes:
19/07/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.ealing.gov.uk/services/environment/parks_and_open_spaces

Full Site Description

Islip Manor Park was formerly the grounds of Islips Manor, a quaint, barge-boarded house of 1865, which was built by the antiquary and barrister George Harris on a site where a house had been since medieval times. The Ruislip family had established their estate, Ruislips Place, here in c.1301, which was then renamed Islips Manor when William Pennyfather, Lord of Northolt Manor, purchased it in 1629 and used the house as his manor house. The land was used for farming over the years. George Harris purchased the house in 1853 and spent the next 12 years laying out the grounds and rebuilding the house, which then stayed in his wife's family after his death in 1890; he was buried at Northolt parish churchyard.

Ealing Town Council purchased the house and grounds in 1929, with a loan from the Ministry of Health of £2,063 and contribution of £687 16s by Middlesex County Council. The Ministry also sanctioned a loan of £1,000 for the purchase and allocation of Manor buildings as a health centre for maternity and child welfare and school medical work, as a result of which the house was used as a clinic, but was later boarded up and empty. At the time of the sale, it was described as a 'fair-sized country house together with cultivated gardens and a well-wooded estate of a total extent of 12 acres'.

Off Eastcote Lane, around the drive, there are some good horse chestnuts with yew, box, laurel understorey, also hornbeam and lime. The remainder of the park has vestiges of its C19th planting including a notable Lebanon Cedar west of the house; a pair of horse chestnut, a pair of sycamore and oak, two more oaks, a clump of ash and a number of horse chestnuts around perimeter. Its layout as a public park included new planting on the lawn of Juniper and other ornamental shrubs, a bowling green and modest modern flower garden, the C19th mock-Tudor lodge, wooden pavilion and pretty ticket kiosk. A new play park opened in the park in 2008, with local schoolchildren involved in the design, and with funding from Ealing Council and the Big Lottery Fund. Part of the park is managed for nature conservation.

Sources consulted:

Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner, 'The Buildings of England London 3: North West' (Penguin, 1999 ed) p187; Meg Game, John Archer, Mathew Frith, 'Nature Conservation in Ealing', Ecology Handbook 16 (London Ecology Unit), 1991 p31; Peter Hounsell, 'Ealing and Hanwell Past' (Historical Publications, 1991); MCT 12/10/1929

Further Information (Planning and Conservation)
Grid ref:
TQ127843 (512715,184391)
Size in hectares:
6.68
Site ownership:
LB Ealing
Site management:
Parks & Countryside Service
Date(s):
1865; 1929
Designer(s):
Listed structures:
Islip Manor on draft local list.
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:
Not known
Nature Conservation Area:
No
Green Belt:
No
Metropolitan Open Land:
No
Special Policy Area:
No
Other LA designation:
None

Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.