Myatt's Fields Park
Myatt's Fields Park in winter
Myatt's Fields Park is located in Greater London
Myatt's Fields Park
Location within central London
TypePublic park
LocationLondon, England
Coordinates51°28′24″N 0°06′12″W / 51.473333°N 0.103333°W / 51.473333; -0.103333
StatusOpen year round
Websitewww.myattsfieldspark.info

Myatt's Fields Park is a 14-acre Victorian park in Camberwell in the London Borough of Lambeth in South London, England, 2.9 miles south-east of Charing Cross.

History

The majority of the area of Myatt's Fields belonged to the estate of Sir Hughes Minet, who in 1770 bought 118 acres of land from Sir Edward Knatchbull on the border of Camberwell and Lambeth. Minet was a third generation descendant of Isaac Minet, a French Huguenot refugee who had fled France following the 1685 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The names of some of the streets around the park, such as Calais Street and Cormont Road, refer to Minet's French connection.[1]

In 1889, Hughes Minet's descendant William Minet gave 14½ acres of land then in the parish of Camberwell to the London County Council to be used for a public park. Initially to be called Camberwell Park, the name Myatt’s Fields was settled on in 1889. In 1900 the irregular Lambeth/Camberwell boundary was tidied up, transferring the park from Camberwell to Lambeth. The Metropolitan Public Gardens Association then spent some £10,000 on the layout of the park, and it was opened on 13 April 1889.[2] In 1935, William Minet's daughter, Susan Minet, gave a further quarter of an acre of land near the junction of Knatchbull Road and Calais Street to the park. Minet family philanthropy also resulted in the construction on the adjacent Knatchbull Road of the neighbouring St James the Apostle church (now converted to flats),[3] the Minet Library, and Longfield Hall, a community hall.[4]

The park was designed by Fanny Wilkinson, Britain's first professional woman landscape gardener.[5] Wilkinson was assisted by Emmeline Sieveking, the daughter of Queen Victoria's physician, Sir Edward Sieveking.[6] It is named after Joseph Myatt, a tenant market gardener, who grew strawberries and rhubarb (for which he was famed) on the land in the 19th century.[7] The park's mulberry tree may date from the land's previous use as a market garden.[8]

Minet estate in 1841

In 2009, a £2.6m renovation of the park was completed with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Lambeth Council, as well as £300,000 raised by the Myatt's Fields Park Project Group. The MFPPG is run by local volunteers and was chaired from 2000 until 2011 by Lindsay Avebury (the daughter of Pamela Hansford Johnson and the wife of Eric Lubbock).[9] The current chair is Marjorie Landels.[10]

Minet estate in 1885

Both the park itself and the bandstand in it are Grade II listed.[11][12]

The singer Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine grew up near the park and has said that her earliest memory was of climbing trees in the park.[13]

The park was once described by former Poet Laureate John Betjeman as a "strangely beautiful place."[14]

Features

The Park includes a bandstand, summerhouse, and café. It is also home to tennis courts, a football pitch, basketball court, picnic area, a children's playground and a community greenhouse.

In 2015, Myatt's Field was voted the 9th best park in the UK in a public vote organised by the Green Flag Award.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "Extended History". Myatt's Fields Park. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  2. ↑ "Park History - Myatt's Fields Park". Myattsfieldspark.info. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  3. ↑ "St James the Apostle, Knatchbull Road" (PDF). southwark.anglican.org. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  4. ↑ "Longfield Hall History". longfieldhall.org.uk. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  5. ↑ Elizabeth Crawford. "A Woman Professional in Bloomsbury: Fanny Wilkinson, Landscape Gardener" (PDF).
  6. ↑ "Myatt's Fields Park: An extended history of Myatt's Fields Park". Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  7. ↑ "Myatt's Fields, Denmark Hill and Herne Hill: Introduction and Myatt's Fields area | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  8. ↑ "Myatts Field Park Mulberry, Camberwell, London | International Plant Location Database". Locations.sprouting.org. 15 July 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  9. ↑ "Park's £2.6m makeover complete". South London Press. 23 June 2009.
  10. ↑ "Myatt's Field Park Project: Who We Are". Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  11. ↑ "National Heritage List Entry No 1000822". Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  12. ↑ "National Heritage List Entry No 1357895". Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  13. ↑ "Florence Welch - My London". Evening Standard. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  14. ↑ "Extended History - Myatt's Fields Park". Myattsfieldspark.info. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  15. ↑ "Tower Hamlet's Victoria Park voted as the nation's favourite for the second year in a row". Archived from the original on 5 December 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
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