Once meadowland used for hunting and the occasional duel, Green Park was first recorded in 1554 when Sir Thomas Wyatt led a rebellion in protest against the marriage of Mary I to Philip II of Spain. Green Park once contained lodges, a library, an ice house and two vast ‘temples’. In 1668, the Park was enclosed by Charles II and stocked with deer and a ranger’s house. The Tyburn Pool was built within the park, and the Queen’s Basin reservoir was made in the 1720s to supply water to St. James’s Palace and Buckingham House. Green Park was opened to the general public in 1826, and it was considered a fashionable venue of the time. The park’s two ‘temples’ (the Temple of Peace and the Temple of Concord) were destroyed in fireworks accidents during festivities in the park, and the Ranger’s Lodge, the Queen’s Library, the Queen’s Basin and the Tyburn Pool were all demolished by 1855. Today, Green Park is one of London’s eight Royal Parks, and covers 40 acres linking St. James’s Park and Hyde Park.
- Green Park
- www.royalparks.org.uk
- Underground: Green Park