Inventory Site Record

Vauxhall Park was laid out as a public park in 1890 on land that was previously part of the grounds of two houses, The Lawn and Carroun House, which were proposed for housing development. The site was purchased in 1888 through the efforts of Octavia Hill and others, including Henry Fawcett MP, the Postmaster-General, whose statue was later erected in the park. The layout was designed by Fanny Wilkinson for the Kyrle Society, and it was opened by Albert, Prince of Wales in 1890.

Site location:

South Lambeth Road/Fentiman Road/Lawn Lane

Postcode:

SW8 1QY

What 3 Words:

risk.crowds.yards

Type of site:

Public Park

Borough:

Lambeth

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

7.30am - 15 minutes before sunset

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Tennis courts, children's play area (dog free), garden for people with disabilities, café, toilet

Events:

Public transport:

Rail/Tube: Vauxhall (Victoria). Bus: 2, 88

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

04/01/2024

Last minor changes:

04/01/2024

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.lambeth.gov.uk; www.vauxhallpark.org.uk

The land on which Vauxhall Park is sited was originally part of the Manor of South Lambeth. In the C13th it was owned by the De Redvers family, Earls of Devon; part of the land became Vauxhall Manor, named after Falkes de Breauté who had gained possession through his marriage to Margaret de Redvers. He built a hall that became known as Falkes Hall. After his death in 1226 ownership of the land passed to the King and was subsequently granted to various families, for a time reverting to the de Redvers family. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries most of the land was transferred to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church Canterbury, with some land granted to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church leased the land out until 1801 when they sold it to a number of different people including John Daniel of The Lawn and land adjoining Carroun House to Sir Charles Blicke. In 1886 there was a proposal to develop part of the area occupied by Carroun House, its gardens and The Lawn for housing by speculative developer John Cobeldick. Through the efforts of Octavia Hill and others, 8.5 acres were purchased for £43,500 by the Lambeth Vestry for the formation of a park, following a special Act of Parliament, the Vauxhall Park Act 1888. Contributors to the cost included the London County Council, the Charity Commissioners, and Mark Beaufoy, MP for Kennington, who also guaranteed to pay for maintenance of the park in its first three years and to pay interest on a loan taken out for the land purchase.

The creation of the park was the special wish of Henry Fawcett MP, the blind Postmaster General who lived at The Lawn and who did much to encourage the employment of women by the Post Office. His widow Millicent Garrett Fawcett, younger sister of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and herself a supporter of the women's suffrage movement and founder of Newnham College Cambridge, co-operated with the Kyrle Society and the park was created out of the grounds of The Lawn and Carroun House in 1889. The Kyrle Society paid £2,000 for the cost of laying out the park and employed as designer Fanny Wilkinson, one of the few female landscape gardeners of that time. Wilkinson's plans had two straight paths at right angles meeting at a statue of Henry Fawcett, a series of winding paths with groups of trees and shrubs alongside them and around the park's edges, and a shelter in the south-east corner. It was opened by Albert, Prince of Wales on 7 July 1890. The gates and railings were designed by the Society's architect Charles Harrison Townsend, but only the piers survived until recent restoration work took place and the present main gate is a good modern reproduction.

On 7 June 1893 a statue of Henry Fawcett was unveiled in the park by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the work of sculptor George Tinworth, and donated by Sir Henry Doulton, in whose Lambeth factory it was made. It was erected on the site of Henry Fawcett's house, which had been demolished in 1891, and had a pedestal with panels representing Justice, Good and Bad News, Sympathy, Courage, Truth, India and the Post Office. This, like the fine Doulton-ware fountain, has since gone, although the head of the statue is preserved in the Henry Fawcett Junior School.

In 1894 a children's playground was provided by Henry Lloyd of Caterham and by 1914 the park had a bandstand, tennis court, bowling green, drinking fountain and toilets. Later additions included an open-air theatre, a further tennis court and bowling greens in front of the shelter and refreshment facilities. The bandstand is now gone and one of the bowling greens later became a garden with wooden pergolas and climbing roses. This is now a lavender garden created in 2003 to mark the centenary of the Vauxhall Motor Company whose original factory was located nearby. There was a small rockery between this and the east-west path, providing a background for a miniature village of half a dozen houses constructed of concrete, which were made in 1949 according to a plaque on the site. The houses were originally part of a Model Village given to Brockwell Park (q.v.) in 1947 by Edgar Wilson of Norwood, a retired engineer who took up model village making; he also gave a model village to Finsbury Park (q.v.), which is no longer in existence. Lambeth Council decided to removed some of the Brockwell Village in order to establish another Village in Vauxhall Park. These were restored in 2001 by local resident Nobby Clark.  A new Victorian-style fountain has been installed at the north of the east-west path, beyond which is a series of cast iron arches leading to a playground. There is a pavilion of c.1950 south of the playground. The park's original railings were removed during WWII and replaced by chain link fencing with privet hedge planted against it inside the park, but have been replaced as part of improvement works in 2020. A 1960s children's toilet, built by the Direct Labour Organisation for £6,000, was decorated with a mosaic of broken tiles by artist Tony Holloway. The toilet block near the entrance on Fentiman Road / South Lambeth Road closed in the 1990s and Parco Cafe is now in its place. 

The Friends of Vauxhall Park was set up in 1999 with the aim of protecting and enhancing the park 'as a place of freedom, recreation and enjoyment for all sections of the local community' and became a registered Charity in 2016. The park upkeep depends increasingly on volunteers from groups of residents to groups from the corporate sector spending days out from the office doing specific tasks. In 2004 the park was a recipient of Vauxhall Cross S106 money. In  May 2010 the Friends submitted a document opposing the planned building of a tall building, Bondway Tower, adjacent to the park that would adversely affect the park through casting considerable shade as well as intensifying the park's use.

Sources consulted:

Candidate for Register: M P G Draper 'Lambeth's Open Spaces', London 1979; Illustrated London News, 12 January 1889; 'The London County Council and what it does for London: London Parks and Open Spaces' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1924); Peter Reed 'A Brief History of Vauxhall Park' (Friends of Vauxhall Park) 2000.Marie Draper 'Lambeth's Open Spaces, An historical account', LB Lambeth 1979; Bridget Cherry & Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: London 2: South (Penguin) 1999; Elizabeth Crawford, 'Enterprising Women: The Garretts and their Circle' (Francis Boutle Publishers, 2nd ed. 2009); History – Friends of Vauxhall Park; Vauxhall Park Refurbishment | Lambeth Council; 'The Impact of Bondway Tower on Vauxhall Park, representation prepared on behalf of the Friends of Vauxhall Park by Land Use Consultants, Thursday 13 May 2010.

Grid ref:

TQ304776 (530450,177650)

Size in hectares:

3.17

Site ownership:

LB Lambeth

Site management:

Environment Directorate, Parks and Greenspaces Unit (Team Lambeth). Friends of Vauxhall Park.

Date(s):

1889/90

Designer(s):

Kyrle Society: Fanny R. Wilkinson

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:

Yes

Conservation Area name:

Vauxhall

Tree Preservation Order:

No

Nature Conservation Area:

No

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

Park Regeneration Area. Park

Vauxhall Park - Photo: Colin Wing
Date taken: 05/10/20 14:38

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