Valentines Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Valentines Park is, at 125 acres, the largest green space in the London Borough of Redbridge, between Ilford and Gants Hill. It was acquired in various purchases and gifts of land, starting in 1898 and culminating in the 1920s. The Valentines Estate had been in private hands since long before the 1690s, when the present Valentines Mansion was built.
In 1899 the Cranbrook Estate, to the west of Valentines, was about to be sold for housing. The Municipal Borough of Ilford had acquired its first section of parkland a year previously and was keen to enlarge its size as land became available. Local officials realised that unless an area of "relaxation and pleasure" was retained for the growing urban population, all traces of an undeveloped rural Ilford would be lost.
[edit] References
- Valentines Park, Ilford: A Century of History. Précis on London Borough of Redbridge website ISBN 0-901616-25-5 . Retrieved on January 26, 2007.
