Park of the week

17. Canons Park

This large park, Between Edgware and Stanmore, is described by the London Borough of Harrow as the jewel in the crown of their parks. 

The name comes from the former landowners, the canons of the Priory of St Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield, who were granted six acres of land there in 1331. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, the land was sold into private hands. Canons Park is mainly located on the site of the early eighteenth-century country house, Cannons, built in 1725, by the 1st Duke of Chandos. The house was demolished in 1744. North London Collegiate School is next to the park, built on part of the same land.

The park has received the Green Flag Award and is also Grade II listed. It includes a number of listed buildings, including a nineteenth-century mock temple. Inside the park is the walled King George V Memorial Garden, which was converted in 1937 from part of the Duke’s kitchen gardens once the park was opened to the public. This garden was closed when we went last August owing to Covid restrictions, but I believe it’s now open again. It has a pond that’s home to frogs and newts.

Jack and I liked Canons Park a lot – there is plenty of space, woodland walks, trees, and flowers. It’s not just a flat landscape like some of the places I’m not going to write about. There’s a café, a children’s play area and exercise machines. A flat pathway runs around the park making the whole space accessible. It also hosts a 5km park run.

Jack had been there before, without me, but I managed to get away with this second trip for him and the first for me. It’s the site of the Shaw Trust Foundation Horticulture Enterprises, where he had attended several times while at college. He likes gardening.

There are entrances to the park from Canons Drive, Donnefield Avenue, Howberry Road and Whitchurch Lane. There isn’t a car park, so you’ll need to find a space on the nearby streets, but some have restricted parking hours. It’s close to Canons Park Underground station. 

Canons Park, Howberry Road, Edgware, HA7 4SD