Syon Park is the garden of Syon House, the London home of the

Duke of Northumberland Duke of Northumberland is a noble title that has been created three times in English and British history, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain. The current holder of this title is Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of N ...

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

in the

London Borough of Hounslow The London Borough of Hounslow ( ) is a London borough in west London, England, forming part of Outer London. It is governed by Hounslow London Borough Council. The borough stretches from near Central London in the east (Chiswick) to the b ...

. It was landscaped by

Capability Brown Lancelot "Capability" Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783) was an English gardener and landscape architect, a notable figure in the history of the English landscape garden style. Unlike other architects ...

in the 18th century, and it is Grade I listed by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

under the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 for its special historic interest. The main gardens are a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I, and the flood meadows next to the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

are a biological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI) and a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation.

History

Syon was the site of Sion Abbey, which was founded in 1415 and named after

Mount Zion Mount Zion (, ''Har Ṣīyyōn''; , ''Jabal Sahyoun'') is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City to the south. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew Bible first for the City of David ( ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. It was dissolved in 1539. Foundations of the abbey were discovered in 2003. Landscaping of the gardens in the middle of the eighteenth century have left them with a collection of rare trees and plants and a lake which has a population of terrapins. The Great Conservatory, built in 1826 to a design by Charles Fowler, was the first to be built out of

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

. In 1609,

Thomas Harriot Thomas Harriot (; – 2 July 1621), also spelled Harriott, Hariot or Heriot, was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer and translator to whom the theory of refraction is attributed. Thomas Harriot was also recognized for his con ...

was working at Syon when he made the first ever use of the newly invented

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

to make astronomical drawings of the moon on 26 June, several months ahead of

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

's observations. A plaque commemorating Harriot can be found in the grounds, not far from where the observations took place.

Flood meadows

The Tide Meadow next to the Thames is a SSSI. It is a tall

wet meadow A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are Solubility, saturated for part or all of the growing season which prevents the growth of trees and brush. Debate exists whether a wet meadow is a type of marsh or a completely separate type of ...

of reed-grasses, with rye-grass and meadow-grass on higher ground. There are many small ditches, and it is used by many over-wintering birds and has a number of rare invertebrate species, including uncommon flies.

Access

Access is from Park Road. The park is open for an admission charge in the summer and closed in the winter.

References

External links

Syon Park website
{{Coord, 51.4761, -0.3080, type:landmark_region:GB, format=dms, display=title Sites of Special Scientific Interest in London Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Hounslow Grade I listed parks and gardens in London

History

Flood meadows

Access

See also

References

External links