Inventory Site Record

Pinner Memorial Park is on land that was part of the West House estate, at one time the home of Lord Nelson's daughter Horatia. The last owners left in 1933 and in 1934 part of the grounds were acquired by Harrow UDC for public open space, initially known as Bennett's Park. Additional land was acquired in 1949 after a public campaign for a memorial to those who died in both world wars, at which time West House was also acquired, and the park opened as Pinner Memorial Park in 1950. Surviving elements of the earlier landscape remain including belts of Corsican pine, one or two earlier oaks, the walled garden and the ornamental lake now with a fountain installed in 1985. A small dog cemetery is located near the entrance at the north west of the park, which dates from the C19th. West House was restored in 2010 and in 2016 the Heath Robinson Museum opened built onto the house, celebrating the work of one of Pinner's famous residents.

Previous / Other name:

Bennett's Park

Site location:

Chapel Lane/West End Lane/West End Avenue/Marsh Road, Pinner

Postcode:

HA5 1BA

What 3 Words:

marker.caring.teeth

Type of site:

Public Park

Borough:

Harrow

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

7.30am - dusk

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Children's play area, toilets, café, aviary. West House & Heath Robinson Museum (check website for opening times and events)

Events:

Public transport:

Tube: Pinner (Metropolitan). Bus: H11, H12, H13, 183

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

23/09/2024

Last minor changes:

07/10/2024

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. https://www.harrow.gov.uk/environment-parks/pinner-memorial-park

The public park was formed from the grounds of West House in the old hamlet of West End. The original house was 'new' in 1747 and was then rebuilt in the early C19th. Its landscaped grounds were visible across the valley from St John's Church, Pinner (q.v.) until the railway line was built in 1885 when the owners planted a tree screen to hide this. In the 1860s Lord Nelson's daughter Horatia lived at West End Lodge opposite West House, now a school, and from 1873-1883 her son Nelson Ward lived at West House. The last private owners left in 1933 and in 1934 6.5 acres of the grounds were acquired by Harrow UDC for public open space. It was at first called Bennett's Park after Councillor Bennett, Engineer and Surveyor, who had bequeathed the grounds to the Council. A further 8.5 acres were added in 1949 after a public campaign for a memorial to the local people who had died in both world wars. West House had been requisitioned during WWII but was otherwise unoccupied until it was acquired through public subscription by the people of Pinner. It was given to the Council in 1949 to commemorate the war dead, with one room set aside for an illuminated Book of Remembrance. The rest of the house was used for community purposes, although in 1950 the older part of the house was demolished. The park opened as Pinner Memorial Park in 1950. Pinner Bowling Club has been in the park since 1953, a members club open for five months of the year from May to September.

West House later fell into disrepair and in the 1990s was closed by LB Harrow. However, it has now been restored largely through the efforts of The Pinner Association, with the backing of the council. The Pinner Association, founded in 1932, had been instrumental in raising money for the initial purchase of West House for the public, and now determined to save the historic house for a second time. The West House & Heath Robinson Museum Trust was set up as a charity in 2001 to manage the project, and following extensive renovation, West House was reopened in 2010 in a ceremony led by Michael Rosen, Professor of Children’s Literature at Goldsmith’s, University of London, who was brought up in Pinner and is a Patron of the Trust. This renovation project paved the way for the development of the Heath Robinson Museum to be built on the side of West House. The Trust raised £1.5 million to complete the first phase of restoration with a Heritage Lottery Fund award of £1.3m and generous donations from local people and Heath Robinson fans as far afield as San Francisco and Singapore. The Heath Robinson Museum opened in October 2016. Amenities in West House include the Verden Gallery, a café on the ground floor also providing function catering, a ‘quiet room’ with dedicated shrine for the Pinner Books of Remembrance and a fully-fitted second-floor workspace. West House and the Heath Robinson Museum continue to be run by The West House and Heath Robinson Museum Trust.

Celebrated cartoonist and illustrator William Heath Robinson (1872-1944) was born in Finsbury Park, son of Thomas Robinson, an illustrator and engraver. He trained at Islington School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools and although he wanted to be a landscape painter, he turned to illustration as a more saleable form of art. His joined his older brothers, who were already established as book illustrators. In 1908, with a growing family, he moved to Hatch End near Pinner and then into the village itself, at 75 Moss Lane, where a Blue Plaque can be seen today. His brother Tom was already living in Pinner and they enjoyed meeting in the Queen’s Head in the High Street with their artist friends. It was in Pinner that the finest of his book illustrations were made, as well as much of the work that established him as a humorist.

Surviving elements of the earlier landscape include C19th belts of Corsican pine to the north and south and one or two earlier oaks, the lake and walled garden. The ornamental lake, in existence by 1864, was in its present form by 1894, with the fountain installed in 1985 at a cost of £4,000. A small dog cemetery is located near the entrance at the north west of the park, which dates from the C19th. The trees found in the park are both native and exotic, and include larch, weeping willow, blue cedar, magnolia, copper beech and swamp cypress. Features created when it became a public park include two banks in the centre planted up with shrubberies, a new rockery west of the lake and floral displays in the walled garden, which is now designated a Peace Garden with heathers, rose beds and clematis. In addition to the ducks and geese on the lake, the park has a small aviary of budgerigars. A community centre and village hall dating from the 1980s/90s encroach on the east part of the park. Chapel Lane has been improved with railings, paviors and a plaque erected in 1995 that commemorates the 'donation of the park by the people of Pinner in memory of those who gave their lives in war'.

Sources consulted:

Harrow Local Studies Library, Parks file 16; Joanne Verden 'Ten Walks Around Pinner', (The Pinner Association) 1999 ed.; Teresa Farino, Charlotte Pagendam, Sue Swales & Mathew Frith, 'Nature Conservation in Harrow', Ecology Handbook 13 (London Ecology Unit) 1989; https://www.heathrobinsonmuseum.org/west-house/

Grid ref:

TQ119894 (511970,189430)

Size in hectares:

5.26

Site ownership:

LB Harrow

Site management:

Environmental Services, Parks Services. Pinner Association/West House Restoration Appeal Group

Date(s):

C18th; 1930s; 1949/50

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:

Yes

In Conservation Area:

No

Tree Preservation Order:

Not known

Nature Conservation Area:

Yes - Local Importance

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

Open Space

Pinner Memorial Park with West House in distance, September 2024. Photograph Christiana

Click a photo to enlarge.