Park of the week

99. Neasden Recreation Ground

I wrote about the Welsh Harp Open Space in March 2021 (no 10), after we visited the northwest side of the Welsh Harp Reservoir, set up as a nature reserve in 1965. Apparently, Neasden means “nose-shaped hill” in Old English. The reservoir itself was constructed in 1835. 

There is also a park on the south side, known as Neasden Recreation Ground. It comprises flat, open space with sitting areas, a multi-use games area, an outdoor gym and a children’s play area. There’s also a wildlife conservation area.
During the first world war, From 1916, the fields between the reservoir and the top of Dollis Hill, to the south (including the space the park occupies), became a testing ground for a new weapon, the tank. The best known was the Mark IX, developed locally, the world’s first specialised armoured personnel carrier. 
In the 1920s the area attracted naturists, who sunbathed on the north bank and swam nude, or semi-nude in the reservoir. They marked out a sunbathing area and put up notices saying “Sun-bathing ground. Please keep away”. This didn’t deter some curious locals, who would go to stare at the nudists and take photographs. Other local residents took offence at the nudity and in June 1930 a group of naked sunbathers were attacked by two hundred local objectors. No-one seems to have been seriously injured, but the event is still referred to as “The Sun-Bathing Riots”.
During the Second World War a seaplane was kept on the reservoir, rumoured to be there to evacuate the Prime Minister and other senior figures from a secret bunker in Dollis Hill in the event of a German invasion. A small pond close to the north bank of the main reservoir is said to have been created when an unexploded bomb was detonated there during the war, although I could find no documentary evidence to support this.
These days the park is a peaceful place where everyone keeps their kit on, or at least they did on the day we were there, and no bombs fall. You can forget that the benighted north circular is behind you. We walked across, and up a slight slope, only to see sails moving past – it’s very close to the reservoir with its sailing clubs.

There are no toilets or cafe. There is a small car park, and parking space is available on nearby streets.
 

Judith Field

Neasden Recreation Ground, Aboyne Road, London NW2 7TE