Park of the week

127. Roe Green Park

Roe Green Park occupies two former farms, taken over during the rapid development of the area in the 1930s. Some of the original trees and hedges of one of them, Valley Farm, are still in the park today. The manor house of the other, Roe Green Farm, survives as Kingsbury Manor House. It still has its original walled kitchen garden, which been adapted as a demonstration wildlife garden, Roe Green Walled Garden. The site is managed by volunteers from the Barn Hill Conservation Group and is open three days a week. It caters for a range of school and community groups.

In 1928 the television pioneer John Logie Baird rented the Coach House and the stables. Here he undertook his television experiments, receiving the first television signals from Berlin in 1929. He moved to other premises elsewhere in the early 1930s. At the beginning of World War 2, the two 80ft aerial masts were removed in case they could be used as landmarks by German bombers, and all that remains is the concrete base with its metal fixings. 

During the winter of 2021-22 The Association of Jewish Refugees planted trees around the UK to mark its 80th anniversary, to thank all the British people who helped Jewish refugees find safety in Britain from Nazi Europe, and to celebrate the contribution that the Jewish refugees made to every walk of British life. A tree was planted at Roe Green Park, in March 2022. We saw one before, at Preston Park (number 110).

Roe Green Park is part of the Fields in Trust historic protection programme and has been protected since April 2013 under the Queen Elizabeth II Fields protection type. It’s also a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation. 

Large sections of the park are now planted as a meadow area. The park contains a number of parkland oaks, younger flowering and specimen trees, beds of conifers, and roses along the main road boundary. There are sports pitches, tennis courts, an outdoor gym and a children’s playground. There’s a small car park.

Judith Field

Roe Green Park, Kingsbury Road, London, Brent, NW9 9HA