Park of the week

71. Queen’s Park, West Kilburn

The area now partly occupied by Queen’s Park was a showground created for the International Exhibition of the Royal Agricultural Society, opened by Queen Victoria in 1879. Some of the land was built up as a grid of terraced housing and the remaining open space was originally called Kilburn Recreation Ground.  It was renamed in honour of Queen Victoria in 1887.

Like several of the parks we’ve visited, it used to belong to the Church Commissioners, but this one was acquired by the City of London Corporation in 1886. In 2020 it won Green Flag status for the twenty-fourth year in a row, and an additional Green Heritage Site award for its care and conservation of open space and facilities. It’s also a site of local importance for nature conservation. 

Designed without any straight paths, the park has bold tree planting, shrubberies with natural outlines, and large open areas of lawn. There are tennis courts, a pitch and putt course, a woodland walk, children’s playground with paddling pool and a small children’s farm (by which I mean, aimed at children rather than displaying them). I assume this, anyway, because it closes at 4pm and we got there too late (I hadn’t realised it was there when I planned the visit). There’s a café, and toilets. 
A landmark in the park is the bandstand, was completed in 1887. In the late nineteenth century, bandstands were considered to be essential in parks of all sizes. Music was seen as an important moral influence, and as part of the reforming potential of parks. The bandstand has a timber roof with wrought-iron scrolled devices to each facet, and a central wrought- iron lantern. It was restored in 1992 and Grade-II listed in 2000. 

At the southeast corner is a small formal quiet garden, created in 1966 to keep the design of the original late Victorian formal planting, in contrast with the rest of the park. At the end of the garden, by the original park entrance (now closed) is a lych-gate with seats, built in 1936. There’s no car park but there is parking on the surrounding streets.

This park is among my favourites, of the 177 we’ve visited.

Queen's Park, Kingswood Avenue, London NW6 6SG