Park of the week

132. Callowland Recreation Ground

The Callowland area of North Watford was developed during the nineteenth century. In 1881 the area belonged to the Earl of Essex, who purchased the land from the Master and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford. By 1890 house building was underway.  In the early twentieth century Watford Council purchased 130 acres of the Callowland Estate with a view to house building. The area had become industrialised with the introduction of two cocoa works, Dr. Tibbles’ Vi-Cocoa and Bolsselier’s Chocolates, a printing works and the London and Northwestern Railway Company.
By the 1930s, a toilet, children’s playground, bowling green and pavilion and two shelters were there. By the 1960s a pavilion with tennis courts had been added.

I wondered what Dr Tibbles’ Vi-Cocoa was. According to an advertisement from 1897 it contained, in addition to cocoa, kola, extract of malt and extract of hops. It was said not to be a medicine but to “impart health”, particularly to the lungs. It was recommended for children, men and women with weak lungs, and for all men “who have to be exposed to the bleak uncertainty of our trying climate”. In the 1990s, I had a job enforcing the Medicines Act 1968, and one of the things we clamped down on were people making “medicinal claims” for unlicensed medicines. The factory burned down in 1903 and as far as I know, you can’t get it today – at least I don’t remember it from my law enforcement days.

Anyway- back to the park, which holds the Green Flag Award. It’s got shaded areas and wildflower planting, but also open space, with benches. There’s a sports court, with basketball nets and football goals, a children’s playground, outdoor gym, two football pitches with changing rooms, a cricket wicket and table tennis tables. It is also home to North Watford Bowls Club, and has a 1000step/0.4-mile route signposted around the park.

There are toilets, but no café. We found space to park on a nearby road.

Judith Field

Callowland Recreation Ground, 140 Gammons Ln, Watford WD24 5HY