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London’s oldest public park is in the City of London - Finsbury Circus Garden.. The 2.2 hectare park is the largest open space in the City of London and is a Grade II listed landscape. [View from the top of Tower 42] 1/9
![London’s oldest public park is in the City of London - Finsbury Circus Garden.. The 2.2 hectare park is the largest open space in the City of London and is a Grade II listed landscape. [View from the top of Tower 42] 1/9](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es5z4ELXYAIRygu.jpg "London’s oldest public park is in the City of London - Finsbury Circus Garden.. The 2.2 hectare park is the largest open space in the City of London and is a Grade II listed landscape. [View from the top of Tower 42] 1/9")
The gardens were part of lower Moorfields a marshy patch of land drained between 1605-1607. By the time of Faithorne’s map (1658) a “noisome and offensive place crossed with deep stinking ditches” was transformed into a tree-lined fashionable spot. 2/9
In 1812, City Surveyor George Dance the Younger, designed the Finsbury Estate as a residental suburb with the central gardens for the exclusive use of the residents. Institutions quickly displaced residents, most noteably in 1819, the London Institution
London Institution for the Promotion of Literature and Useful Knowledge was established to rival the Royal Institution. It folded in 1912 partly due to ruinous costs of repairing a building built on marshy grounds. 4/9
The gardens opened to the public July 1901 despite leaseholders’ objections that the public would devalue their properties and make the place look untidy. For generations the gardens were a favourite lunchtime haunt of city workers looking for some peace and a little sunshine.
Slightly more energetic visitors have made use of the garden’s bowling green. Bowls has been played at the site since May 1925. Despite its Victorian appearance, the garden’s bandstand was built in 1955. 6/9
One of the few disturbances of the peace of the gardens was on 15 July 1912. A crowd of over 2000, mostly city clerks, gathered to watch the burning of a copy of the National Insurance Act which came into force that day. 7/9
During the Second World War, a barrage balloon was anchored in the gardens – part of the City’s defence against aircraft attack. 8/9
For the last decade, the gardens have been construction site. A 40m shaft for Crossrail has recently been completed and the work to erect an open pavillon overlooking the lawn and ‘urban forest’ is due to begin. 9/9
