Raphael Park (pronounced "Ray-full") is 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 ...

Gidea Park Gidea Park () is a neighbourhood in the east of Romford in the London Borough of Havering, south-east England. Predominantly an affluent and residential area, it was historically located in the county of Essex. It saw significant expansion in t ...

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

, in the

London Borough of Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities include Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham, Lo ...

, United Kingdom. It is one of a series of parks stretching northwards from the railway line between Romford and Gidea Park. The southern entrance to Raphael Park is on Main Road, formerly called Hare Street, and the northern entrance is just south of the A12 Eastern Avenue. The western boundary of the park follows the line of Black's Brook, a small stream that was dammed where the park meets Main Road to form a lake 12–20 ft deep and called Black's Canal, this being done before the park was created. The dam itself is just inside the park next to the 18th century bridge which carries Main Road and known as Black's Bridge. The park itself is part of the parkland that once surrounded

Gidea Hall Gidea Hall was a manor house in Gidea Park, the historic parish and Royal liberty of Royal Liberty of Havering, Havering-atte-Bower, whose former area today is part of the north-eastern extremity of Greater London. The first record of Gidea Hall ...

. Raphael Park contains two ancient

Pedunculate Oak ''Quercus robur'', the pedunculate oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe and western Asia, and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It grows on soi ...

s recorded by the Woodland Trust. The park is named after Sir Herbert Raphael MP, who gave it to Romford Urban District in 1904. In addition to the lake, which is used for

angling Angling (from Old English ''angol'', meaning "hook") is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated with a fishing rod, although rodless te ...

, there are several amenities provided within the park. In the southern part of the park is a

bandstand A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an ornamen ...

, and then near the end of the lake is a rockery which is used by the Romford Summer Theatre. Beyond this point the park widens to the east, and there are sports pitches (

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

in winter and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

in summer) and sunken

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...

s, the sunken nature of which is reputed to be the result of sand having been dug there for use in construction of the surrounding houses. To the north of the tennis courts is a children's play area which was remodelled in 2009, the circular play area plus tennis courts having previously been filled with water and known as the "Spoon Pond". Apart from these the park consists of parkland, mature woodland and grassland. The park also contains a statue of the children's character Percy the Park Keeper, created by author and illustrator

Nick Butterworth Nick Butterworth (born 24 May 1946) is a British author and illustrator of children's books. His picture book ''The Whisperer'' won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize in 2005. His '' Percy the Park Keeper'' books became an animated television seri ...

, the inspiration for whom was said to have come from a real life park-keeper in Raphael Park. Raphael Park Panorama 2024

References

External links

Raphael Park page at haverning.gov.uk

Friends of Raphael & Lodge Farm Parks website
Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Havering Romford {{london-geo-stub