Inventory Site Record

Lewisham Park was laid out from the 1840s as a private development of fine houses built by the Earl of Dartmouth on his estate in the Manor of Lewisham, specifically the large South Field, which had been in use for pasture from at least the C13th. The centrepiece of the development was a private park, planted with ornamental trees and shrubs, that was provided for the sole use of residents of the surrounding houses, which from 1878 was managed on their behalf by Trustees. In 1965 the Trustees handed over the park to Lewisham Council for public open space and it was laid out as a public park. The park once had a lake, which was formed as a result of gravel extraction during building work, later infilled for safety reasons and its site is now a circular sunken area ringed with plane trees. Some of the earlier layout including ornamental trees, shrubs, and a number of paths remained when the park was laid out with public amenities.

Site location:

Lewisham Park

Postcode:

SE13 6QZ

What 3 Words:

loft.pure.dive

Type of site:

Public Park, Housing/Estate Landscaping

Borough:

Lewisham

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

8am - sunset

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Play area

Events:

Public transport:

Rail: Ladywell. Bus: 47, 54, 75, 136, 185, 199, 208, 284.

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

20/07/2024

Last minor changes:

20/07/2024

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.lewisham.gov.uk/inmyarea/openspaces/parks

The site of Lewisham Park was once the 'South Field' within the medieval Manor of Lewisham, which is known to have been in use as pasture from at least the mid-C13th when the landowner William de Plummer of Leueusham granted  the 'Suthfeld' to John Ferdebin in 1260. Once owned by Alfred the Great, the Manor of Lewisham was acquired in the late C17th/early C18th by George Legge, later Baron Dartmouth, whose son William became Viscount Lewisham and Earl of Dartmouth. South Field was Lammas land that commoners were permitted to use for pasture for half the year, from Lammas on 1 August to Candlemas on 2 February. Enclosure of commonland was taking place from the C17th and although the area remained relatively rural until the C19th, ribbon development took place along the London/Kent coaching route between the settlements at Lewisham and Catford, and a number of grand villas and country houses were built by wealthy merchants desirous of a rural retreat. The Enclosure Act of 1810 extinguished the rights of commoners to gather wood or graze animals here and the land on which Lewisham Park was later formed was allocated to the 5th Earl of Dartmouth, the Rt Hon William Legge, who was the major landowner in the area. The Enclosure award map of 1819 shows South Field with a footpath running diagonally across it. The arrival of the railway in the mid-C19th, which saw Lewisham Station open in 1849, led to an acceleration of speculative house building, particularly catering for the middle classes encouraged by easy access to the City. Lord Dartmouth, however, decided to build high quality housing on his estate lands, laying out Lewisham Park as an affluent development of detached and semi-detached houses on spacious plots around a central landscaped park.

Construction of the Lewisham Park estate commenced in the 1840s, with a curving road formed around the park, and a lodge built at the northern entrance. By 1863 3 semi-detached houses facing Lewisham High Street had been completed, together with 3 detached villas on the northern edge of the park, only one of which remains today. By 1875 a total of 7 houses had been built on the northern side, as well as 5 pairs of villas on the western side; a number of these properties had substantial grounds, with tennis and croquet lawns, kitchen gardens and stable blocks. The scheme of houses along the southern edge of the park was completed in 1888, but it was not until 1904-6 that the remaining southern and eastern edges of the park were developed when 9 semi-detached and 2 detached houses were built by local builder James Laird. When the Lewisham Park estate was laid out, street trees were planted, including horse chestnut, London plane and lime, many of which survive today.

The central area was laid out as a private park for the residents of the surrounding houses, and planted with a variety of ornamental trees and shrubs. Within the landscape was a gravel pit created during the building process, which became a lake. Later infilled for safety reasons, its site is now a circular sunken area partially ringed with plane trees. The First Edition OS Map published in 1872 shows the parkland with 'Gravel Pit' marked, and trees dotted across the site, with the Second Edition of 1897 and subsequent maps showing a lake encircled by trees, with a number of paths crossing the landscape and around the perimeter, which at one time was bounded by timber fencing. Lord Dartmouth formally handed over management of the park to five (or six) residents acting as Trustees, in a Deed of Arrangement dated 10 October 1878. According to a history of the Lewisham Park area written in the 1980s by Frederick Noquet, last Treasurer of the Trustees, the private park provided various amenities over the years, including residents' tennis courts, golf practice areas, and their children were even taught to drive here. Up until the outbreak of WWII, a number of the larger houses on the Lewisham Park estate that had become educational establishments used the private park for games and recreation; the slopes of the sunken area were used for meetings by Girl Guides and Brownies; and a barrage balloon was stationed on the site of a former bowling green in WWII. During the Blitz of 1940-41 Lewisham Park suffered bomb damage, with numerous houses on the estate seriously damaged or completely destroyed, and all houses suffering some damage. After the war Lewisham Council began redevelopment of bomb-damaged areas in the borough and at Lewisham Park it acquired the freeholds of properties with plans to replace them once their leases expired. Some properties were converted into flats, and damaged houses were demolished and replaced with new housing, including 3-4 storey blocks. The semi-detached villas fronting Lewisham High Street were demolished and replaced by three 17-storey tower blocks in 1965, named after north Kent villages: Bredgar, Kemsley and Malling. At that time the linear strip of green space between these villas and the High Street was formally laid out as the Lewisham Memorial Garden (q.v.), either side of the Lewisham War Memorial, the site for which had been donated by Lord Dartmouth in 1921.

In 1959 Lewisham Council purchased the freehold of the private park for £5,500, although the Trustees continued to maintain it until 1964 by which time they were struggling with maintenance costs. On 1 January 1965 the Trustees decided to hand the park over to Lewisham Council to be used as public open space. On 21 July 1965 Lewisham Council's General Purposes Committee met and approved proposals that "provided for the improvement of the lawns, interspersed with ornamental trees, flowering shrubs and flower beds, the development of the old gravel pit as a formal garden with a series of paved terraces approached by a broad flowerlined path from the main entrance, a children’s playground and a building to be located close to the children’s playground, comprising mess room, store, shelter, refreshment kiosk and lavatories, with a groundsman’s flat over." Metal hoop railings were also proposed to replace the remaining timber fencing around the perimeter. Although work to create the park was due to be completed in the summer of 1966, not all these proposals were achieved and some took place over ensuing years. A large rose and lavender garden was created in the sunken area, encircled by plane trees and reached by steps on one side. This survives as a grassed bowl now surrounded on three sides by 22 huge plane trees, survivors of the Great Storm of 1987, with the western side now open. In 1971 LB Lewisham decided to lay out the oval pit as an open grassed play area, and in 1975 a new playground and pool were approved. A petition by residents requesting installation of lavatories and age restrictions for the paddling pool (under 8s only) led to mobile toilets being provided during the summer until permanent toilets were provided. The paddling pool was infilled in 2014 and converted for basketball.

Lewisham Park retains some of the ornamental trees and shrubs from the original planting, such as a pair of rare weeping ash, a tulip tree, substantial horse chestnuts, yew and variegated hollies, and although the original path layout is altered, perimeter walks remain as originally laid out and the park's structure, principally of London plane trees, is still discernible, including part of the ring around the site of the lake and one notable oak. More recent planting of cypress, flowering cherry, birch, rose beds, rhododendron etc., has partially obscured the original coherence. New rose beds and trees were planted on the northern side to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. An avenue of 20 cherry trees at the east end of the park planted in the 1960s was restored in 2012 with the planting of 8 replacement trees by the Lewisham Park Crescent Residents Association, who among other works also planted a rare black poplar in 2013. Since the late 1990s the western edge of the park alongside the Lewisham Park tower blocks has been managed as a meadow, with an annual cut in autumn, and has a diversity of grasses, and the park overall provides a good habitat for butterflies, birds and also fungi.

Lewisham Park Conservation Area was adopted on 26 June 2019, its boundary encompassing the park, the large Victorian and Edwardian houses on its southern and eastern edges, together with the War Memorial Gardens to the west that front onto Lewisham High Street. The Lewisham Park Residents' Association, which was established in 2012, provided much of the research that informed the Conservation Area appraisal, including Residents Association records dating back to 1878.

Sources consulted:

LB Lewisham, 'Parks historical trail' (n.d.); Lewisham Park Conservation Area Character Appraisal, Adopted 26 June 2019; Candy Blackham, 'Green Lewisham', (Clink Street Publishing, 2022)

Grid ref:

TQ380745 (538050,174550)

Size in hectares:

4.05

Site ownership:

LB Lewisham

Site management:

Greenscene Department, Glendale Grounds Management

Date(s):

1840s; 1965

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:

Yes

Conservation Area name:

Lewisham Park

Tree Preservation Order:

No

Nature Conservation Area:

No

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

Yes - Area of Archaeological Priority

Other LA designation:

Public Open Space

Lewisham Park - Photo: Candy Blackham
Date taken: 03/12/19 13:51

Click a photo to enlarge.