Things to do in KENSINGTON GARDENS and HYDE PARK accordingly to THE LONDONIST (with THANKS!)

London became the world’s first National Park City in July 2019, so that Londoners and urban nature could be better connected.

The National Park City Foundation is an independent charity entirely funded by grants and individual donations from Londoners.

Kensington Gardens began life as one of King Henry VIII’s many hunting parks. The land was actually part of Hyde Park until, in 1689 King William III and his wife Queen Mary (JOINT QUEEN) decided to build a new home – KENSINGTON PALACE – next to the park. To create a private garden for their new Palace, they carved off part of Hyde Park to create Kensington Gardens. 

Queen Mary had a discerning eye for garden design and commissioned a palace garden of formal flower beds and box hedges in the Dutch style.

After MARY, was CAROLINE, another QUEEN (but consort, she was the wife of George II) who in 1728 took the landscape of Kensington Gardens one stage further. The landscape  that we enjoy today is largely down to her, and her innovative garden designer, Charles BRIDGEMAN. Together, they created the winding SSERPENTINE– one of the first artificial lakes in the country designed to appear natural, rather than formal. 

Originally, part of the GE 1851 intricately decorated with metalwork stags  and other ornaments.

They made in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, and now divide Hyde Park from Kensington Gardens

Stretcher fences’ are found dotted around London, but their history is unknown to many. Some still have the body shapes in them made by the injured people they were used to carry…

Now that you are leAving behind KENSINGTON GARDENS, THEY are full of art and archItecturAL features And attractions… perhaps you wish to know more!. AND, WHAT ABOUT KENSINGTON?

What many people involved in these discussions about building new airports for London or enlarging existing ones don’t realise is that there may already be an extra runway in London ready for use… and it’s right in the city centre… and you can come and see it straight away!

Despite its name, it is not circular, but rectangular with stepped and rounded corners. With a long history of popularity with model yacht enthusiasts, it is the home of the Model Yacht Sailing Association (established 1876) and the London Model Yacht Club (established 1884).

And Why not exploring bayswater and notting hill?. You are going to enjoy quiet streets (or the busy ones), a BEAUTIFUL architecture, and lots of shops and eateries!

And now, is Back to our tour, after coalbrookedale gate

To the north  of the gallery, for you to explore kensington gardens

John Hanning Speke (1827-1864) was the Victorian explorer who discovered the source of the Nile.

The Peter Pan statue was erected in secret during the night and 'magically' appeared in the morning of 1st May 1912. In The Times Barrie placed this announcement: "There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine this morning.

The lake is the largest feature. We own it, as a good part of the park, to  the initiative QUEEN CAROLINE, consort of GII, In 1730 the WESTBOURNE STREAM was dammed, in order to give a good spot for the royal yachts to mess about on. The WESTBOURNE arises from streams to the west of  HAMPSTEAD HEATH, joins up in the Kilburn area with another tributary (from FROGNAL) called the KILBOURNE  and flows through Hyde Park, Sloane Square and into the Thames near <<<<Chelsea Bridge.

Indeed, that was originally that  the lake was fed by the River Westbourne entering at the Italian Garden at the north-western end of the Long Water,,but the Westbourne ceased to provide the water for the Serpentine in 1834, as it had become polluted so water was for some years pumped from the tidal Thames. Finally,  the water is now supplied by three boreholes drilled into the Upper Chalk. The first borehole is at the Italian Gardens, the second at the Diana Memorial and the third, drilled in 2012 to a depth of 132 m (433 ft), is within 50 m (160 ft) of there

Historical re-enactment is a centuries-old form of fun. The Romans recreated famous battles in their amphitheaters for public entertainment, and from around the 17th century military displays, mock battles and re-enactments became popular in England. Prints from the King's Topographical Collection show, historical re-enactment was used to celebrate the Grand Jubilee on 1 August 1814, in mock naval battles which took place on Hyde Park's Serpentine River.

Proto-feminist WOLLSTONECRAFT

Members of the Serpentine Swimming Club have been plunging themselves into the freezing lake every Christmas Day since 1864, making it the oldest continuously swam race in the world.

The author of Peter Pan, JM Barrie, started watching in 1903 and presented the cup all the way up to 1932

The MANOR OF EIA belonged to the Crown, after the DISSOLUTION of WESTMINSTER ABBEY, who had owned the area in SAXON times. A Royal CHASE, stocked with deer, but, as well, used for military manoeuvres and encampments. 

in 1637, opened as a public space (milk available from a red cow!). Crowds came to see horse-racing and other sports, but the COMMONWEALTH sold it out , only for the new owner to charge for admission  (to the indignation of PEPYS). With the RESTORATION, the sale was cancelled, and the access became restricted to the “beau monde”. A high wall was erected,  replaced by railings in 1825. That beau monde used to ride round THE TOUR -later called THE RING-  a circular drive, pausing for gossip and to admire each other’s equipage. Fashionable carriages could be seen along ROTTEN ROW…

The activities taking place in the park were very diverse, in the 18th and 19th cs:In 1768 took place the last formal royal hunt. A little later, pits were dug along the E and N borders to supply clay for bricks, to build the new houses of MAYFAIR and MARYLEBONE. Gunpowder magazines and arms depots were sited in more isolated places. A large reservoir  was sited in the Eastern boundary. and an ideal spot for FOOTPADS to rob all those crossing the park (as HORACE WALPOLEJohn Rocque's Map of London, 1746, marks a point inside the park, close to the Tyburn gallows, as "where soldiers are shot." in 1749).

A wonderful open space, a leisure ground, in the middle of built-up areas, large enough for allowing you to lose sight of the city. “The lungs of London”, according to PITT THE ELDER, almost 300 years ago.

At 10:43 am,^[5] a nail bomb exploded in the boot of a blue Morris Marina parked on South Carriage Drive in Hyde Park.^[6] The bomb comprised 25 lb (11 kg) of gelignite and 30 lb (14 kg) of nails.^[6] It exploded as soldiers of the Household Cavalry, Queen Elizabeth II's official bodyguard regiment, were passing. They were taking part in their daily Changing of the Guardprocession from their barracks in Knightsbridgeto Horse Guards Parade.^[7] Three soldiers of the Blues and Royals were killed immediately, and another, their standard-bearer, died from his wounds three days later.^[6] The other soldiers in the procession were badly wounded, and a number of civilians were injured.^[6] Seven of the regiment's horses were also killed or had to be euthanised because of their injuries.^[6][8]Explosives experts believed that the Hyde Park bomb was remotely triggered by an IRA member inside the park.^[6][8]

For you to explore….
On the other side of the bridge, and north of the serpentine…

HIDDEN away, but nearby!

In 2000, a four-strong team of roller skating officers were introduced to the Royal Parks Constabulary in London's Kensington GardensDespite promises that they would revolutionise the policing of London's parks, the pilot scheme was abandoned only a few months later. There was said to be a fatal flaw in the idea of a skating pursuit. Perpetrators would simply run across the grass, where the skate police could not follow.

The Hudson Memorial Bird Sanctuary is a carved stone memorial commemorating the 19th century writer and naturalist, William Hudson. He helped to establish the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and campaigned for wild areas in parks, at a time when they were always neat and tidy.

The carving, by Sir Jacob Epstein, represents Rima, the child goddess of nature who featured in Hudson's novel Green Mansions, published in 1904. The engravings are by the designer Eric Gill. The memorial was installed in 1924 and was immediately controversial. The Daily Mail wrote: "take this horror out of our park".

This modern art sculpture caused a great controversy regarding its nudity. A letter demanding the removal of the memorial with as little delay as possible appeared in the Morning Post, in Nnovember 1924, signed by a number of noted persons. This manifesto declared that Epstein's design was "by universal consent so inappropriate and even repellent that the most fitting course open to the authorities would be to have it removed bodily. It would be a reproach to all concerned if future generations were allowed to imagine that this piece of artistic anarchy in any way reflected the true spirit of the age."

During the WW1 period, there was a tragic murder here. On the evening of 19 February 1915, a policeman found the body of local woman Alice Elizabeth Jarman lying in Bridgeman's ha-ha ditch. Despite an extensive investigation, no culprit was ever found.

The ditch was soon covered over, in order to deter further tragedies. It remained this way until 1995 when it was re-excavated, revealing the outline of the bastion you can still see here today.

The house with, arguably, the biggest front garden in London… This almost-fairytale-like Victorian detached cottage was built in 1858. It is one of the sneaky houses hidden in Hyde Park, rented out by Royal Parks and can be found near Lancaster Gate in Kensington Gardens.
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London's Hyde Park was the site of an informal pet cemetery between 1881 and 1903, in the gatekeeper's garden, part of VICTORIA LODGE.  From the first burial of "Cherry" until its official closure in 1903, it received 300 burials with miniature headstones,^[with a final special burial of the Royal Marines mascot dog "Prince" in 1967.

Alongside BAYSWATER ROAD, buses taking you here or to Central London. Try 94 to TURNHAM GREEN, or 274 to PRIMROSE HILL

And, at the eastern end of bayswater road, Around Edgware road

After the serpentine south gallery…back tO LBTC TOUR

The fountain is located in the southwest corner of Hyde Park, just south of the Serpentine lake and east of the Serpentine Gallery. Its cornerstone was laid in September 2003 and it was officially opened on 6 July 2004 by Queen Elizabeth II. Also present were Diana's younger brother Charles Spencer, her husband Prince Charles (the future Charles III), her sons Prince William and Prince Harry, Prince Philip and her two sisters Lady Jane Fellowes and Lady Sarah McCorquodale. The opening ceremony brought the Windsors and the SPENCERS  together for the first time in seven years.

Born Feb. 21, 1859, near Halesworth, Suffolk. Died May 7, 1940, London. He was a leader of the British Labour Party (1931–35), a Socialist and poor-law reformer who was forced to resign the party leadership because of his extreme pacifism. 
A railway worker at the age of 14 and later a timber merchant, he became a propagandist for Henry Mayers Hyndman’s Social Democratic Federation in 1892 but eventually repudiated its strict Marxism. He helped to found (1912) and for a time edited, the Daily Herald, the first British newspaper devoted to labour subjects. In World War I he defended the rights of conscientious objectors.

A Labour member of the House of Commons (1910–12, 1922–40), he served as first commissioner of works in the Labour government of 1929–31 and then became leader of the parliamentary opposition. Unwilling to join his associates in calling for economic sanctions that might have led to war against Italy for its aggression in Ethiopia, Lansbury resigned in 1935 and was succeeded as party leader by his deputy, Clement Attlee (prime minister, 1945–51). In 1937 Lansbury visited Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in the belief that his personal influence could stop the movement toward war.

His son, Edgar, who had married first Minnie, after her death, with his second wife fathered the actor ANGELA Lansbury (1925 -2022).

The site of the Great Exhibition is now a grassed open area, lined by trees. The aerial view shows part of Hyde Park. Part of The Serpentine is at the top right. Part of the road through the park is on the far left and meets up with Exhibition Road (E). Knightsbridge runs along the bottom of the view. The tall building, casting a long shadow is the Knightsbridge Barracks (K).

You are leaving behind, to your right, KNIGHTSBRIDGE (the district)

To your left,  EXPLORE MORE OF HYDE PARK 

The planting, set in smooth grass, is mainly for foliage effect with, for example, spiky yucca, tall reeds, cypress and other evergreens, and a magnolia. Behind you, at the exit of the stream, is a swamp cypress (Taxodium distichum, see page 18), with a stand of gunnera, looking like a giant rhubarb nearby. Other interesting species include a strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) up the bank and a Caucasian elm (Zelkova carpinifolia), with toothed leaves and peeling bark. This is a rich corner, worth a visit in winter when the different shapes of the bare trees create picturesque patterns. In early spring the grass is alight with snowdrops and other bulbs, and the magnolia is in magnificent flower.

A necklace of small rose garrdens, a type of planting very much in tune with current fashion. Follow the path leftward to walk through an impressive new feature, a long, sinuous, metal-framed pergola, planted with a white rambler, 'Gloire de Dijon' and other roses (all name-tagged), and large-flowered hybrid clematis. Teresa Short, the supervisor in charge of the rose garden, is creating a new look for the area, with a sense of enclosure, and is planting it with spring and herbaceous bedding and border plants to give all-year interest. Take a few minutes to wander among the rose beds - the species and varieties are all named. There is more general planting among the roses, with the silvery cotton lavender often prominent.

You are still following rotten row:
To your right, the FRENCH EMBASSY And, opposite, that of kuwait.

From here you can branch out from the regular route, for A Possible alternative route through BELGRAVIA, pimlico and westminster, on your way back to lambeth

Back to the lbtc original route, To your right

The southeast corner of Hyde Park has been a hotbed of horticulture for a century and a half. The Victorians delighted in the botanical discoveries being made at the ends of their empire, and enthusiastically grew many of the plants newly introduced by botanists, many of them delicate species native to hotter climates, in greenhouses for bedding out in the warmer months.

But, Why not TAKING SOME TIME AND EXPLORING AND discovering a bit oF…

. Monumental, again!. George Peabody lived here

CHESTER SQUARE. Residents: Thatcher, Lloyd-Webber, Abramovitch…

EBURY STREET, ELIZABETH S. Eateries

LOWER BELGRAVE ST. Eateries.