Inventory Site Record

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

The municipal park is a remnant of the C18th landscape park that Capability Brown laid out for Earl Spencer of Wimbledon House, an estate that dated from the C16th, once owned by Queen Henrietta Maria and later by the Duchess of Marlborough. The estate was broken up from the late C19th, and in 1914 Wimbledon Borough Council purchased the northern part of the parkland and opened Wimbledon Park as a public park. The lake is a survivor from the earlier landscape and is one of the largest in London. Land to the west was purchased for Wimbledon Golf Course and in c.1930 the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) was established to the west. The Golf Club closed in 2023 after the land was acquired by AELTC in 2018.

Site location:

Wimbledon Park Road/ Revelstoke Road / Home Park Road

Postcode:

SW19

What 3 Words:

civic.transmitted.sank

Type of site:

Public Park, Garden Feature Remnants

Borough:

Merton

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

8am - dusk (weekdays); 9am - dusk (weekends/Bank Holidays)

Special conditions:

Charges for tennis courts, see ClubSpark; Athletics Stadium. Not permitted in lake: swimming, using boats, kayaks, paddle boards & other craft

Facilities:

Adventure (Crazy) golf, 2 children's playgrounds & Splash Pad water play, bowling green, Petanque court, tennis courts (booking via ClubSpark website recommended in summer), football pitches, beach volleyball courts, café (check if open), toilets, car park; Athletics Track; Watersports and Outdoor Centre (runs wide range of activities on the lake)

Events:

Regular nature walks led by resident ecologist Dr David Dawson

Public transport:

Rail/Tube/Tram: Wimbledon. Tube: Wimbledon Park, Southfields (District). Bus: 39, 156, 493

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

17/04/2025

Last minor changes:

17/04/2025

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. https://www.merton.gov.uk/leisure-recreation-and-culture/parks-and-open-spaces/parks-and-recreation-grounds/wimbledon/wimbledon-park#; https://www.friendsofwimbledonpark.org/. For information about the Wimbledon Park Project see The AELTC Wimbledon Park Project - The Championships, Wimbledon - Official Site by IBM

Site on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens, for Register Entry see https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England was established in 1984 and was commonly called English Heritage. In April 2015 it split into 2 separate entities, Historic England (HE), which continues to champion and protect the historic environment, and the English Heritage Trust, whose role is to look after the 400+ historic sites and monuments owned by the state. HE manages the National Heritage List for England (NHLE) that includes over 400,000 items ranging from prehistoric monuments to office blocks, battlefields and parks, which benefit from legal protection.

Wimbledon House was built in the C16th, and extensively enlarged for Sir Thomas Cecil in c.1588, at which time it was known as Wimbledon Palace. In 1639 Charles I bought it for Queen Henrietta Maria, for whom it was remodelled by Inigo Jones and Nicholas Stone. It had formal gardens designed by Andre Mollet, and John Evelyn is known to have given advice. In 1717 it was purchased by Sir Theodore Janssen who demolished the house, but the estate was sold in c.1723 before his new house was finished, and it was demolished by the new owner Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough who built a new house in 1733. The Royal Gardener Charles Bridgeman was consulted on the gardens in 1731-2. After the Duchess's death in 1744, the estate was inherited by her grandson, John Spencer, who died only 2 years later, leaving the estate to his 12 year old son, also John Spencer.

John Spencer came of age in 1755, by then the owner of extensive lands in Surrey, and was created a Viscount and then in 1765 became Earl Spencer. From 1761 Spencer had begun to improve his estate and in 1765 commissioned Lancelot 'Capability' Brown to design a landscape for the park to the north of the house. He also commissioned architect Henry Holland to rebuild Wimbledon House, which was undertaken between 1799-1802. By the early C19th the estate comprised some 480 hectares surrounding the 12-hectare lake created by Brown in c.1760. This had been formed by building a dam to hold water from two streams that emanated from Wimbledon Common (q.v.).

There is a documentary reference to the installation of a Pulhamite feature within the park. A catalogue 'Picturesque Ferneries and Rock-Garden Scenery, in Waterfalls, Rockystreams, Cascades, Dropping Wells, Heatheries, Caves or Cavernous Recesses for Boathouses' published in 1877 by James Pulham and Son refers to the installation of a 'hardy fernery' for N.C. Tuley by James Pulham II (1820-1898) and possibly James Pulham III (1845-1920). The site has been included in the national Pulham database (ID number 85) and subsequently published in the gazetteer. 

From the 1870s much of the estate was sold for housing and the mansion was demolished in 1949, by then separated from what was left of the park. The east side of the estate was cut off by the construction of the South Western Railway's Wimbledon to Wandsworth line in the late C19th. In 1914 the northern part of the park, including the lake, was purchased by the Borough of Wimbledon for public open space; during WWI part of the parkland was used for food-growing. A private golf course was laid out over part of the remaining parkland and in 1922 the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) (q.v.) was established on its new grounds to the west. Wimbledon Park comprised 19ha of public park, the private golf course, and a private sports club (The Wimbledon Club) on the west side of the lake where by 1899 some 3ha of land was made into a cricket ground with a pavilion and other subsidiary buildings. The lake, now reduced to 9 hectares, is an important wildlife habitat and has restricted public access. The northern part of Wimbledon Park is in LB Wandsworth.

Wimbledon Golf Club was a private and municipal golf course with 18 holes, with its main entrance on Home Park Road. Much of the planting on the course dated from the C20th although there may be remnants of C18th planting. The Golf Club closed on 1 January 2023 when the land was acquired by AELTC (see below).

The public park has its main entrance at Wimbledon Park Road, and contains an area of woodland, Horse Close Wood, that predates Brown's landscaping. Various amenities were provided for recreation in the C20th, including sports pitches, bowling greens, tennis courts and playgrounds. The running track in the park was laid out for £8,000 and was opened in 1952 by former Olympic hurdler Lord Burghley. In 1953 it was regularly used by Wimbledon Athletics Club, which had been set up in 1938, foundered when war broke out and re-formed in 1953 after the running track at Wimbledon Park opened. It is now Hercules Wimbledon Athletics Club, following its merger in 1967 with Hercules Ladies Athletic Club. Consultation in March 2012 led to a number of new facilities, including the creation of two beach volleyball courts and a picnic area. Since 2021 5 of the 20 tennis courts were made available as netball courts; the tennis courts include astro-turf floodlit courts and hard courts were refurbished in 2023. 2 outdoor table tennis tables were installed in 2021 and 2024, and a Petanque court was installed in 2024. Municipal planting includes a lime avenue, and formal gardens were laid out by the tennis courts. 

The Friends of Wimbledon Park (FOWP) was formed in 2012 to promote collaboration and offer a forum for discussion between the 3 owners (Merton Council, the AELTC and The Wimbledon Club), leaseholders (Wimbledon Park Golf Club, Wimbledon Park Angling Club and Wimbledon Park Bowls Club), residents and park visitors. FOWP was incorporated as a charity in January 2025. Their aim is to develop a long-term vision for the park that takes account of local people's views, protect the green open space and its wildlife habitats while striking a balance between the needs of the many park users. 

In December 2018 the All England Tennis and Croquet Club acquired part of the adjacent Wimbledon Park Golf Course in order to realise expansion plans that include 38 new tennis courts, a new Show Court as well as a new 23-acre public park. Known as the AELTC Wimbledon Park Project, planning applications were submitted in July 2021 and following public consultation a new 4-acre area of public parkland adjacent to the entrance to Wimbledon Park was added, with pathway links to the northern and southern parklands, in addition to proposals to enhance the public park with a new children's playground, toilet facilities, new planting and an upgrade to the Watersports and Outdoor Centre. Planning permission for the AELTC Project was granted in September 2024.

Sources consulted:

See EH Register: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000852?section=official-list-entry: Victoria History of the County of Surrey IV, (1912), pp 122-3; Country Life, 105 (18 March 1949), p 615; 132 (2 August 1962), pp 248-50; Dorothy Stroud, 'Capability Brown' (1965), p 121; Peter Willis, 'Charles Bridgeman' (1977), pp 58-9, 159, 184; J Harris, 'The Artist and the Country House' (1979), p 102; R Milward,' A Georgian Village, Wimbledon 1724-1765' (1986), pp 41-7

Grid ref:

TQ248724 (524850,172450)

Size in hectares:

26.95 (+17.65 in LB Merton)

Site ownership:

LB Merton

Site management:

Leisure and Culture Services, Wimbledon Park Heritage Group; Friends of Wimbledon Park

Date(s):

C18th on; 1914; 1930s

Designer(s):

Lancelot 'Capability' Brown

Listed structures:

None

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

Yes

NHLE grade:

Grade II*

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:

Wimbledon North

Tree Preservation Order:

No

Nature Conservation Area:

Yes - Borough Importance I (Lake/woods/golf course

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

Yes

Special Policy Area:

Yes - Archaeological Priority Zone

Other LA designation:

Public Open Space. Historic Parks and Gardens. Green Corridor

Wimbledon Park - Photo: Colin Wing
Date taken: 18/08/20 09:52

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