Grove Hall Park is a 1.19 ha public park in Bow in the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and ...

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

. It includes play areas, a ball games area, and a small walled memorial garden. Grove Hall Park was opened as a

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

in 1909 following its purchase by the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar in an auction in 1906. Previously the land had been in the possession of the Byas family, who had established Grove Hall Private Lunatic Asylum on the plot in 1820. This establishment primarily catered for ex-servicemen and was featured in

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

' novel '' Nicholas Nickleby'' (1839). In 1878 it was the largest asylum in London with capacity for 443 inmates. In 1930 the park was extended with land that had served as the garden for the St Catherine's Convent, Bow. The former convent Church of Our Lady and St

Catherine of Siena Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa (25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), known as Catherine of Siena, was an Italian mystic and pious laywoman who engaged in papal and Italian politics through extensive letter-writing and advocacy. Canonized in 1461, ...

, which opened in 1870, survives in Bow Road, but the Dominican convent itself moved to

Stone, Staffordshire Stone is a market town and civil parish in Staffordshire, England; it is situated approximately 7 miles (11 km) north of the county town of Stafford, 7 miles (11 km) south of Stoke-on-Trent and 15 miles (24 km) north of Rugeley. As a notable c ...

, in 1926.Taking Stock. Catholic Churches of England and Wales
Retrieved 4 July 2014.
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External resources

* Photographs of Grove Hall Park in summer

* A description of Grove Hall in 1898, when it was still a lunatic asylum
Retrieved 4 July 2014.

References

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