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The beginnings of public parks
Battersea Park has been enjoyed by Londoners for more than 150 years, since its opening in 1854. Like most other public parks it has changed with time because of the introduction of new facilities and management regimes.
By the mid 19th century, the population of London was rapidly expanding as the industrial revolution spread across the country from 1801-1911. London's population grew from 1,114,000 to 7,252,000. The city could not cope with this influx, cholera epidemics sweeping across Europe spread through the urban slums. Public health became a major concern to the authorities. Official recognition of the value of Parks followed the 1833 report of the select committee on public works, noting the benefits of such sites as 'lungs for the city'. By the 1840's public parks were envisaged as part of a package of measures to improve living conditions.
Battersea Park
At Battersea Fields, however, there were also other concerns. There was a tavern called the Red House, notorious for illegal racing, drinking and gambling. It was "chiefly with a view to doing away with this state of affairs" that the public park was created. The park was certainly designed to regulate and formalise behaviour, as well as to provide space and beauty for healthy exercise and pleasure. It was intended to encourage moral conduct and a respect for, and pride in, Britain and the Empire.
Private enterprise took the first step at Battersea. In 1844, Thomas Cubitt, a speculative builder, envisaged the development of Battersea Fields as a park, with the surrounding land designated for housing. This echoed the success of a similar project at Birkenhead Park. In 1846, the Government passed an Act of Parliament which enabled the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to lay out a royal park at Battersea.
A schematic park design was drawn up by James Pennethorne in 1845. This included land in the periphery of the park for the building of large mansions. There was also a plan for a large exhibition hall and hippodrome adjacent to the lake. Pennethorne had already contributed to the design of Regent's Park and went on to outline other parks for the capital, including Victoria and Kennington Parks.
Seven hundred and fifty thousand tons of material excavated from the Surrey Docks was used to raise the level of the site and further material was moved to create the ground shaping. At low tide it is possible to see how much the river embankment has been raised to create the park.
It was not until 1854 that the carriage drives, lake and mounding, that still form the defining elements of the park today, were designed and built by the first park superintendent, John Gibson. Gibson had been a pupil of Joseph Paxton, the remarkable head gardener to the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth and also designed one of the first public parks at Birkenhead. Paxton not only taught Gibson to understand design and planting, in 1835 he had sent the young man on an extraordinary plant-hunting mission to India, which inspired one of Battersea Park's horticultural highlights, the Sub-Tropical Garden. Gibson was responsible for,
"the elegant circulation patterns; the serpentine undulations of the lake, which create such a sense of anticipation in the visitor; the substantial mounds,planted with a range of trees and shrubs, separating the distinctive areas of the landscape; the sequence of views across and through the park. To his credit, too, was the tremendous diversity of trees and shrubs and the level of horticultural excellence, for which the park was famed. It is clear that Gibson wanted as wide a range of plants as possible, the majority introduced from other parts of the world and some of these among the newest plants available in the late 1850's. Nowhere was this more visible than in the dramatic highlights of his composition, the subtropical gardens.
Of course, there were wide-open spaces, available for energetic activities. There were various facilities and also the handsome promenade along the Thames. The most compelling characteristic of this landscape, however - still just discernible today - was its dynamic conjunction of opposites. The dominant serpentine line (the 18th century 'line of beauty') was scythed through by the axial walks and a manipulated sequence of views. The drama of the individual garden areas was hightened by their enclosure and their contract with the open fields. The sense of great exuberance was matched by a passion for detail. All this, enhanced by a rich palette of colour, texture, light and shade, created a magnificent landscape. These are the themes which must govern the restoration."
The park was officially opened in 1858 by Queen Victoria. It became a major attraction for all classes of society and was described in newspapers and journals of the day. It continued to be a unique destination until the early years of this century.
The impact of war
During both the First and Second World Wars, anti-aircraft guns and barrage balloons were installed to help protect London from enemy air raids. Shelters were dug and part of the park was turned over to allotments for much needed vegetables. A pig farm was also set up. At this time the maintenance of the park began to be reduced as the war effort took priority.
After the Second World War, the nation began to look to the future. To signal this new age the Government proposed The Festival of Britain. Organised for a public recovering from the effects of a devastating war, it offered an optimistic vision of a new modern age.
Sites around the country were developed, most notably the South Bank and the Royal Festival Hall in London.
The Festival Pleasure Gardens at Battersea Park were to offer a light hearted alternative to the more serious cultural exhibits at the South Bank.
37 acres of the park were developed to form the Pleasure Gardens in 1951. They were designed to be a temporary attraction but because the innovative designs were so popular they lived on in a patched up form. Ad hoc repairs were carried out to some elements until the large funfair was closed down and removed in 1974. Since that time some repairs and restoration works have been carried out in a piecemeal fashion.
The overal quality of the 19th century landscape also declined over time, the feature areas and high quality horticulture were lost.
Wandsworth Council
When we became responsible for the Park in 1986, it was showing serious signs of neglect. Many improvements have been carried out since, most recently about two thirds of the lake edges were returned to their former Victorian splendour, hard bank edges were removed and the margins and banks replanted. This project, undertaken from 1993 to 1996, was jointly funded by us and the European Union.
With the funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund we intend to return the park to its former glory. |
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