Park of the week

125. Harrow Weald Recreation Ground

This park, in Harrow, is also called Boxtree Park, named after the box trees that used to grow there.

The land it occupies was once part of a larger estate owned by the Archbishops of Canterbury and used for hunting. The area that is now the park was donated to the parish in 1895, by local benefactor Thomas Francis Blackwell, the son of Thomas Blackwell of Crosse and Blackwell. He made the donation in recognition of the loss of common rights suffered by local people through the Land Enclosure Act. In 1896, an advertisement appeared in a local paper for a “caretaker” for the park, to work from 7-8 am and from 5pm till dusk, from April to October. The job paid 15s per week (equivalent to to 75p). 

The recreation ground was extended in 1937 when Harrow Council purchased nearby land. The neighbourhood Home Guard trained there during World War II, using the park’s fields and open areas for exercises and manoeuvre practice.

A neighbourhood organisation, the Friends of Boxtree Park, was established in the early 2000s with the purpose of repairing and enhancing the park. A public golf course that had been installed in the park was removed in 2002. It had been fenced off but the area is now accessible to all. Throughout the year, the park is the setting for community gatherings, such as festivals, charity runs, and concerts in the summer. 

The park has raised beds and formal planting and a lot of open space. It includes football pitches, a pavilion with changing rooms, cricket square, bowling green, a children's play area, tennis courts and basketball hoops and exercise machines. There are a Café and toilets. There are entrances on High Road, Boxtree Lane, Maricas Avenue and Weighton Road, Harrow. There’s a car park, and room to park on nearby streets.

Judith Field

Harrow Weald Recreation Ground, High Rd, Harrow HA3 6EJ