Nursery Row Park is a

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

Walworth Walworth ( ) is a district of South London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. It adjoins Camberwell to the south and Elephant and Castle to the north, and is south-east of Charing Cross. Major streets in Walworth include the ...

, London. It is located between Brandon, Stead and Orb Streets, and the

East Street Market East Street Market also known locally as 'East Street', 'The Lane', or 'East Lane', is a street market in Walworth, London, Walworth in South London, South East London. Location East Street is in the London Borough of Southwark and is betwee ...

. It is in the

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council ...

History

The early history of the park is complicated, and difficult to establish with certainty. Walworth had been market gardens (hence ‘Nursery Row’), but was heavily built out for residential use in the 19th century. Until the 1980s, there was a commemorative fountain in the park. The inscription on that fountain (now lost) stated that the park was planned in 1885, making use of a grant from Lewis Isaacs, MP for the Walworth division of Newington. However, there are also records which indicate that the site was acquired in 1897, with funding provided by James Bailey, by then the MP for Walworth, the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

and the Vestry of St Mary Newington. The park was then planted and laid out by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association; some of the

London plane The London plane, or sometimes hybrid plane, ''Platanus'' × ''hispanica'', is a tree in the genus ''Platanus''. It is often known by the Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Platanus'' × ''acerifolia'', a later name. It is a Hybrid (biology ...

trees which were planted by the MPGA still survive. That initial park was called the East Street Recreation Ground, although by the 1970s it was known informally as the Old Swing Park. In 1980 the park was extended following the demolition of tenements and terraces on Blendon Row, Eltham Street and Nursery Row, and then renamed after the latter street. Part of the park was zoned for housing in the 2004 Southwark

Local Plan A development plan sets out a local authority's policies and proposals for land use in their area. The term is usually used Town and country planning in the United Kingdom, in the United Kingdom. A local plan is one type of development plan. The d ...

. These plans were cancelled in 2010. The park was renovated in 2006-07, when a meadow and central hill were introduced. The latter hides contaminated rubble. The renovation was undertaken by Farrer Huxley Associates architects and Anna French Associates landscape architects. The park includes two playground areas, a

community orchard A community orchard is a collection of fruit trees shared by communities and growing in publicly accessible areas such as public greenspaces, parks, schools, churchyards, allotments or, in the US, abandoned lots. Such orchards are a shared res ...

and a wildflower meadow.

Conservation

The park has been protected as a Field in Trust since 2013. There are no listed structures in the park.

Friends of Nursery Row Park

There is a Friends of Nursery Row Park organisation, established in 2007. In 2017 the Friends were incorporated as a

Community interest company A community interest company (CIC, pronounced "see-eye-see", or colloquially, "kick") is a form of social enterprise in the United Kingdom intended "for people wishing to establish businesses which trade with a social purpose..., or to carry on ...

References

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