Wandle Park, Croydon

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Wandle Park

Wandle Park is a suburban public park of 21 acres in the Broad Green area of Croydon, Surrey. It was opened in 1890 by the Mayor of Croydon.[1]

The site is protected by Fields in Trust through a legal "Deed of Dedication" safeguarding the future of the space as public recreation land for future generations to enjoy.[2]

The River Wandle flows through the park and gives it its name. Between 1967 and 2012 this was in an underground culvert built by the council. The park used to contain a boating lake, but this dried up and was filled in.[1]

The park is used by many people and is popular with dog walkers, footballers, joggers, skateboarders and families. The park has a 'Friends Group' of local residents and park users which is working with Croydon Council to improve the park.

In the British Museum is a ceremonial middle bronze age spearhead three feet long recovered from a gravel pit near the River Wandle and found at some time before 1901.[3]:[4] Needham (and others) claim that it was found on the site of today's Wandle Park.[5] The spear-head was deliberately broken in five pieces[4]

History

...under the low red roofs of Croydon, and by the cress-set rivulets in which the sand danced and minnows darted above the Springs of Wandel
—John Ruskin, Praeterita[6]

One of the oldest public open spaces in Croydon, Wandle Park was laid out to meet the leisure and recreation needs of the population of a growing industrial town.

Frog Mead and Stubbs Mead

The park was formed from two watermeadows to the west of Croydon town called Frog Mead and Stubbs Mead. These meadows can be dated back to at least 1543.[7][8] They are both shown for context on the boundary of a 1692 map of the manor of Waddon.[9][10][11]

At about 30 acres,[12] Stubbs Mead was the larger of the two meadows lying to the north of the Wandle, and Frog Mead to the south.[13][14] In 1797 Frog Mead was in the ownership of Daniel Richard Warrington. It subsequently expanded to about 7 or 8 acres,[15] bounded on the south by the Wimbledon and Croydon railway.

Stubbs Mead was part of the Archbishop of Canterbury's land holdings in Croydon. The Archbishops had long held land in Croydon and their presence was recorded in the Domesday Book.[16] Around 1800, at least part of Stubbs Mead (near the barracks) was used as a bleaching ground by William Lane and Benjamin Lay[17][18][19] and a portion of Stubbs Mead towards the north was isolated by the Surrey Iron Railway by 1803. Part of the railway's course survives as a section of Factory Lane, while the isolated land became home to an iron works and an electricity generating station.[20][21][22]

Wandle Park

According to Alderman Coldwells, the necessity of recreation grounds for the welfare of Croydon had been established by the Croydon Board of Health, who had purchased Duppas Hill in 1865. Others saw recreation grounds as a way of attracting home buyers to Croydon and there was a desire for every ward in Croydon to have a recreation ground. There was an urgency because it was perceived the whole of Croydon was being built upon. In 1885 the sanitary committee had attempted to purchase Frog Mead for an infectious hospital, but the owners (Briton Medical & General Life Association Limited) went into liquidation before the sale could be completed.[23][24] The sanitary committee abandoned the site, partly due to public opposition[25][26] and the liquidators were subsequently willing to sell the site for something under £1,600. The Ecclesiastical Commission was willing to sell the whole of Stubbs Mead, but the budget limited what could be purchased. After negotiation, the Ecclesiastical Commission matched the Frog Mead price of £200/acre[27] and 13½ acres of Stubbs Mead was purchased with Frog Mead, leaving about £1,700 to lay out the park and build two footbridges across the railway.[28]

The deed of sale records that Croydon Corporation bought Frog Mead in 1888 from the Briton Medical & General Life Association Limited for £1,518. 15s. On 12 December 1889, Croydon Corporation bought Stubbs Mead from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for £2,700. The indenture states that "The land shall be forever dedicated and used as an ornamental pleasure ground and place of recreation for the inhabitants of the Borough of Croydon and for no other purpose whatsoever."

Improvements to the park were overseen by the corporation's Road Committee.[1] Minutes of the Committee available in Croydon's Local Studies Library record that a Mr W. Powell, the Roads Surveyor was instructed to draw up plans and obtain prices for the works. The centrepiece of the new park was an artificial boating lake with an island in the centre planted with trees. It was proposed to divert the River Wandle to feed the lake with water but whilst the lake was being constructed sufficient groundwater was found for this purpose.[29] Proposals were then modified and a separate channel took the river to the north of the boating lake. The lake was initially limited to just four boats, to be hired out at an affordable rate.[30] John Hubert Schmitz, the Mayor of Croydon, opened Wandle Park on 14 May 1890, which was attended in the evening by approximately 50,000 - 60,000 people.[31] Being a Wednesday, shops closed early and a procession of various bands, school children and friendly societies marched from Katharine Street, followed by dignitaries in carriages. The procession went down the High Street, North End and London Rd to Broad Green into Sumner and Handcroft roads, which at the time continued to Pitlake and Westfield Road, the main entrance to Wandle Park. After the opening ceremony there were activities to entertain the children, while the park was illuminated by electricity in the evening and finished with fireworks.

The park is featured in postcards produced at the turn of the 20th century which frequently record people enjoying the lake. In the early 20th century the lake was extended to the east and another island created that could be reached by two rustic bridges. By the 1930s there was a bandstand, bowling green (with pavilion) and tennis courts and the park was the venue for the Borough's Summer Show.[32] The lake was just three feet deep to be “perfectly safe for skating”[33] and the park’s noticeboard shows a photograph from the local studies and archive centre of people on the frozen lake. Other photographs of the time show that the water level in the lake was found to be erratic and it completely dried up at times in the summer.[34]

In 1967, a concrete culvert was constructed, the river was diverted into it, and the old river bed filled in. The River Wandle was buried from view and at the same time the then dry lake was filled in, topsoiled and grassed. The former course of the river was able to be traced by following a line of trees that cross the park. A flint wall on the southern side of the former location of the children's playground is also thought to be part of the wall on the north side of the river. A rose garden was created in the 1970s next to the sports pavilion and more recently a skatepark was provided on the site of the old tennis courts.[32]

Location

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Winterman, M.A. (1988). Croydon's Parks: An illustrated history. London Borough of Croydon, Parks and Recreation Department. pp. 110–112. ISBN 0951348108. 
  2. ↑ "Wandle Park, Cromwell Road, Croydon, London, CR0 3RD". Fields in Trust. http://www.fieldsintrust.org/Wandle-Park. 
  3. ↑ Johnson, Walter; Wright, William; Polkinghorne, B. C. (1903). Neolithic man in North-East Surrey;. University of California Libraries. London : E. Stock. pp. 20. https://archive.org/details/neolithicmaninno00john/page/20/mode/2up. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Collection: Spear-head" (in en). https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_WG-2255. 
  5. ↑ Needham, S (September 1990). "Middle Bronze Age ceremonial weapons: New Finds from Oxborough, Norfolk and Essex/Kent". Antiquaries Journal 70 (2): 249 – 250, 534. https://books.google.com/books?id=FSMpAAAAYAAJ. 
  6. ↑ Ruskin, John (1907). Praeterita. University of California Libraries. London: George Allen. pp. 34. https://archive.org/details/praeterita01rusk/page/34/mode/2up. 
  7. ↑ "Stubbs Mead :: Survey of English Place-Names". https://epns.nottingham.ac.uk/browse/id/53287103b47fc40c23000355-Stubbs+Mead. 
  8. ↑ "Wandle Park – a brief history" (in en). 2019-02-05. https://wandlepark.wordpress.com/about/wandle-park-a-brief-history/. 
  9. ↑ Ward, John (1692). Map of the Manor of Waddon. doi:10.1163/9789004337862__com_120081. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004337862__com_120081. Retrieved 2023-08-25. 
  10. ↑ Thornhill, Lillian (1977). "A Croydon backcloth : some little-known estate maps in Lambeth Palace Library". Proceedings of the Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society (Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society): 105–123. 
  11. ↑ CNHSS (1977). "Copy of plan of the manor of Waddon by John Ward November 1692". https://www.surreyarchives.org.uk/collections/getrecord/SHCOL_ZS_129_3. 
  12. ↑ Steinman, George Steinman (1833) (in en). A history of Croydon. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman. pp. 252. https://books.google.com/books?id=Ea8HAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA252. 
  13. ↑ Bainbridge, Thomas (1800). "Croydon Enclosure Plan". https://london-road-croydon.org/history/sources/enclosure/croydon-enclosure/interactive-map/#12/51.3844/-0.0856. 
  14. ↑ Anderson, John Corbett (1889). Plan and award of the commissioners appointed to inclose the commons of Croydon. Blade. pp. 262. 
  15. ↑ "Frog's Mead". Croydon Times: pp. 6. 19 May 1888. 
  16. ↑ Wandle Park, Croydon in the Domesday Book
  17. ↑ McGow, Peter (March 2005). "Chapter 2: Calico Bleaching Grounds, near The Barracks, Croydon.". https://wandle.org/aboutus/mills/mcgow/mcgow2.htm. 
  18. ↑ Malcolm, James (1805) (in en). A Compendium of Modern Husbandry. 1. London: The Author. pp. 6. https://books.google.com/books?id=UX9aAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA6. 
  19. ↑ "Lease and Release of Stubbs Mead, Croydon". 29 September 1801. https://archives.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=T%2fA%2f76%2f10%2c11. 
  20. ↑ "Notes and News 195: GLIAS walk, Croydon". August 2001. http://www.glias.org.uk/news/195news.html. 
  21. ↑ Ordnance Survey. "Kent Sheet XV (Scale 1: 10,560". https://maps.nls.uk/view/102343477. 
  22. ↑ Ordnance Survey (1933). "Kent Sheet XIV.9 (Scale 1: 2,500)". https://maps.nls.uk/view/103314517. 
  23. ↑ "In the High Court of Justice - Chancery Division". London Gazette (25549): pp. 220. 9 January 1886. 15 January 1886. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/25549/page/220. 
  24. ↑ "Roads committee". Croydon Advertiser: pp. 2. 13 February 1886. 
  25. ↑ "The Croydon Guardian". 4 February 1888. pp. 5. 
  26. ↑ "Some time ago …". Croydon Chronicle: pp. 5. 4 February 1888. 
  27. ↑ "Government Inquiry". Croydon Guardian: pp. 7. 30 June 1888. 
  28. ↑ "Roads committee". Croydon Advertiser: pp. 6. 30 June 1888. 
  29. ↑ "The recreation grounds". Croydon Guardian: pp. 6. 10 May 1890. 
  30. ↑ "Roads committee". Croydon Guardian: pp. 2. 10 May 1890. 
  31. ↑ "Opening of Wandle Park and Upper Norwood recreation grounds". Croydon Guardian: pp. 2. 17 May 1890. 
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 "Wandle Park - Wandle Park - London Borough of Croydon". http://www.croydon.gov.uk/leisure/parksandopenspaces/parksatoz/wandle/wandlepark. 
  33. ↑ "Stubb's Mead and Frog's Mead". Croydon Guardian: pp. 2. 8 December 1888. 
  34. ↑ "Local studies - London Borough of Croydon". http://www.croydon.gov.uk/leisure/archives/lslibrary. 
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