Green Park: Difference between revisions

| website = {{URL|https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/green-park}}

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First enclosed in the 17th century by King [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], it was landscaped in 1820 and is notable among central London parks for having no lakes or buildings, and only minimal flower planting in the form of naturalised [[narcissus (plant)|narcissus]].

 

==Description and surroundings==

 

In contrast with its neighbouring parks, Green Park has no lakes, no buildings, no playgrounds and three, early yet distinctive [[Post-war|post-war-era]] public monuments:

The park consists almost entirely of mature trees rising out of turf; the only flowers are naturalised [[narcissus (plant)|narcissus]].

 

 

In 2016 one acre of the park near the Bomber Command Memorial was designated as the 90th [[Coronation Meadows|Coronation Meadow]], named The Queen's Meadow, and established as a [[wildflower]] [[meadow]] using seed taken from ancient meadows at [[Horsenden Hill|Horsenden]] Meadow in [[Ealing]], and Valebridge Common in [[West Sussex]].<ref name="meadow">{{cite web |title=Prince Charles visits The Green Park to help create the 90th new Coronation Meadow |url=https://www.royalparks.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/prince-charles-visits-the-green-park-to-help-create-the-90th-new-coronation-meadow |website=The Royal Parks |access-date=19 January 2021 |language=en |date=6 September 2016}}</ref><ref name="express">{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Green Park, London |url=https://www.britainexpress.com/London/green-park.htm |website=Britain Express |access-date=19 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref> In 2017 a wide range of flowers were reported such as [[yellow rattle]] and [[common poppy]].<ref name="queens">{{cite web |title=The Queen's Meadow in bloom |url=https://coronationmeadows.org.uk/post/the-queens-meadow-in-bloom |website= |publisher=Coronation Meadows |access-date=19 January 2021 |date=27 July 2017}}</ref>

In 1746, Upper St. James's Park was officially renamed The Green Park. The park was an open meadow with few flowers at the time but this state may arise from a feud between [[Charles II of England]] and his [[Queen Consort]], [[Catherine of Braganza]]. The [[oral history]] says the Queen discovered Charles had picked flowers in the park for another woman. In revenge, the Queen ordered that every single flower in the park should be pulled up and no more planted.<ref name="Rabbitts2017">{{cite book|author=Paul Rabbitts|title=London's Royal Parks The Postcard Collection|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4jMqDwAAQBAJ|date=15 June 2017|publisher=Amberley Publishing|isbn=978-1-4456-7315-8}}</ref>

 

Until a few decades later the park was on the outskirts of London; it was dark and somewhat semi-rural. It was known as a haunt of [[Highwayman|highwaymen]] and thieves. During the 18th and 19th centuries, it was a popular place for ballooning attempts and public firework displays; [[Handel]]'s ''[[Music for the Royal Fireworks]]'' was composed specifically for a fireworks celebration held in The Green Park in 1749.<ref>"Fireworks Music" ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music''. [[Michael Kennedy (music critic)|Michael Kennedy]]. Oxford University Press, 2007.</ref> The park was also known as a duelling ground; one particularly notorious one being in 1730 between [[William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath]] and [[John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol]].<ref>''London: what to see, and how to see it'', p. 61. H.G. Clarke, 1862.</ref>

 

 

==Gallery==