Inventory Site Record

Palace Road Nature Garden is on the former garden of a large Victorian house demolished in the 1980s. The site was purchased by Lambeth Council and landscaped with a pond and circular paths, overlaying the earlier domestic garden. A number of the trees and shrubs as well as part of the path system date from the original garden with specimen trees including evergreen oak, Swedish whitebeam and conifer now overlaid by native tree and regenerated native plant material. The pond has good aquatic planting, with a meadow near the entrance. The small park is off a tree-lined road with wide grass verges, itself an important survival of earlier landscaping.

Previous / Other name:

Palace Road Public Open Space

Site location:

Palace Road

Postcode:

SW2 3EB

What 3 Words:

rails.copper.slim

Type of site:

Public Gardens

Borough:

Lambeth

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

weekdays: 7.30am - 15 minutes before sunset

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Public transport:

Rail: Streatham Hill then bus. Bus: 159, 133, 433, 250, 118, 417, 201.

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

19/07/2023

Last minor changes:

07/08/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/parks/palace-road-nature-garden; https://hillsidegardenspark.co.uk/palace-road-nature-garden/

Palace Road Nature Garden is on the former garden of one or two large Victorian houses (34 and 36 Palace Road), which were demolished in the 1980s. Palace Road was at one time  private gated road forming part of the Roupell Park Estate, and was named after the Crystal Palace, rebuilt on Sydenham Hill in 1854.

The site was purchased by Lambeth Council and landscaped for a public open space, with a pond and circular paths, overlaying the earlier domestic garden. A number of the trees and shrubs as well as part of the path system date from the original garden with specimen trees including ash, English and holm oak, Swedish whitebeam, sycamore and conifers such as Cedar of Lebanon, swamp cypress and coastal redwood, now overlaid by native tree and regenerated native plant material. The pond has good aquatic planting, with a meadow near the entrance. The small park is off a tree-lined road with wide grass verges, itself an important survival of earlier landscaping.

The Friends of Hillside Gardens and Palace Road Nature Garden was established in the early 2000s by the local community in order to protect and improve the park and nature garden, working with Lambeth Council. In 2012 The Friends Group was offered a grant of £10,000 by Groundwork UK from the Western Riverside Environmental Fund for environmental improvement works at the Nature Garden. Improvements have included additional woodland paths, a second pond, a summer flowering meadow, orchard, new seating and a woodlands nature trail. A mural was created by the local community on the wall of an adjacent house. It is proposed as a Local Nature Reserve.

Sources consulted:

Joyce Bellamy notes; Ian Yarham, Michael Waite, Andrew Simpson, Niall Machin, 'Nature Conservation in Lambeth', Ecology Handbook 26 (London Ecology Unit), 1994; Friends of Hillside Gardens and Palace Road Nature Garden website: https://hillsidegardenspark.co.uk/palace-road-nature-garden/

Grid ref:

TQ308730 (530850,173050)

Size in hectares:

0.6

Site ownership:

LB Lambeth

Site management:

Environment Directorate, Parks and Greenspaces Unit (Team Lambeth). Friends of Hillside Gardens & Palace Road Nature Garden

Date(s):

1985

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:

Yes - Borough Importance II

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

Park

Palace Road Nature Garden - Photo: Colin Wing
Date taken: 24/08/21 14:58

Click a photo to enlarge.

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