'FoBP is important as it gives park-users a real voice'
Friends of Brockwell Park is a charity made up of members, our committee and other volunteers who want to preserve and protect the park for the whole community.
It is there for local residents, communities and everyone else who lives, works and plays in London. We care about protecting it as an historic, landscaped, beautiful open space, a place of ecological and cultural interest. Brockwell Park is central to the lives of so many people and we want to make sure they are able to continue to freely enjoy its green hills and meadows, its tennis courts and BMX track, its walled garden and paddling pool. Here are some examples of the impact we continue to have on the ‘wellbeing’ of the park along with our partners.
Friends of Brockwell Park history
The Friends of Brockwell Park held their first public meeting at Brockwell Lido in January 1985. The Friends grew out of local groups setting up an action group to oppose Lambeth Council plans for an 1,000-seat athletic stadium within the park. In order to coordinate support for this opposition and to ensure the continued safekeeping of the park, it was decided there should be an amenity group that would draw its members from the park and this became known as the Friends of Brockwell Park. It was one of the first friends groups for Lambeth parks and open spaces.
The Friends became a charity in 2004 with a written statement of its objective namely: ‘For the benefit of local residents and communities, to seek to preserve and protect as a historic, landscaped public space the whole curtilage of Brockwell Park. To seek to maintain its beauty history and ecological interest , to enhance and promote the park and to ensure its free enjoyment by all sections of the community and enhance the quality of life’.
The Friends have been involved in campaigns to not only support the eco-system of the park and to ensure it is well looked after for both the present and future generations but also to defend its amenities and the principles on which the park was originally established as a public open space in 1895.
Our committee
Laura Morland,
Chair
Richard Gilbert, Committee Member
Peter Logan, Committee Member
Michael Taylor, Vice-Chair
Keith Fitchett,
Treasurer
Amy Till,
Committee Member & Comms Officer
Nicky Toms, Membership Secretary
Anita Hall, Secretary
Michael Boyle, Committee Member
Jocelyn Pappenheim, Committee Member
Park history
Beginnings
Until 1807, Tulse Hill and Brockwell Park formed a single estate. It originated from the three manors of Bodley, Upgrove and Scarlettes which were first recorded in the 13th Century. Between 1352 and 1537, the whole land was owned by St Thomas' Hospital, in those days a monastic establishment in Southwark. After Henry VIII seized the monastic estates, the land changed hands several times and by the 1650s was in the hands of the Tulse family. (Sir Henry Tulse was Lord Mayor of London in 1684.)
The original Brockwell Hall stood near Norwood Road, roughly opposite Rosendale Road. A surviving account of a court hearing held there in 1563 describes it as "Brockalle" and other Tudor records refer to Brockholds or Brockholle Lane as the road past it. In 1807, the estate was split in two and the western portion was developed as Tulse Hill.
John Blades
In the next few years, most of the eastern portion was bought by John Blades, a wealthy Ludgate Hill glass merchant. Between 1811 and 1813, he demolished the old hall and built a new house at the top of the hill. His friend and landscape gardener, J.B. Papworth, laid out most of the original fields as the private park of the new Brockwell Hall. Some of the houses in Brixton Water Lane were built from 1815 for estate staff.
In between, Clarence Lodge was built in 1825 (where the BMX track is today). In 1828, work started on a street of houses, Brockwell Terrace on the site of the present lido, but development came to a halt with Blades' death in 1829. Blades' grandson, Joshua Blackburn Jr, inherited the estate on his mother's death in 1860 and building in the area resumed to take advantage of the opening of Herne Hill Station in 1862. A new building, Brockwell House, was added near the site of the present changing rooms and a line of houses was built along the south side of Dulwich Road. Joshua Blackburn contributed to the cost of the new St Jude's Church in their midst, doubtless with one eye on further development, with the church at the centre of a new neighbourhood, but in his later years development was frustrated when he was confined to a lunatic asylum, and died in 1888.
Thomas Bristowe
In the same year, the Lambeth Vestry had obtained consent to make a new public park on the east side of Brixton Hill. But when it became apparent that the Brockwell estate would come on the market, Thomas Bristowe, Norwood's MP, led a campaign to divert the funds to secure the larger and more attractive site. Bristowe took a Bill through Parliament to create the park, led the committee to negotiate the price and raised the funds from contributions from local authorities and the community. Tragically, Bristowe, who had done most to establish the park, collapsed and died on the steps of Brockwell Hall just after the formal opening ceremony on 6 June 1892.
Efforts continued over the next 10 years to add the remainder of the estate to the new park. Another three and a half acres were bought in 1895 to provide access from the Brixton direction via Arlingford Road. J.J.B. Blackburn, Joshua's son, had died in 1898 and the remaining 43 acres were bought from his trustees by the LCC in 1901, and opened formally in 1903, but until the leases expired on the four remaining houses, only about half were actually available. The last house was demolished in 1923 and its site incorporated in the park.
Beauties of nature
J.J. Sexby, the Chief Officer of Parks of the LCC, designed the conversion of the estate into a public park. He described the estate as displaying ‘a wildness … the beauties of Nature unadorned … long stretches of undulating grassland dotted here and there with fine specimen trees … When it was bought for the people of London, it was already a park - not a park site.’ Sexby introduced recreational activities, a swimming pond, lakes and cascades, a rustic bandstand and floral carpet bedding near the Hall. Tea rooms operated in the hall from the beginning and a children's gymnasium was installed in the stable yard between the hall and the stable block.
His real masterpiece and our jewel in the crown was the conversion of the estate's kitchen garden into a stunning old English walled garden.
The lido opens
The lido open air swimming pool opened in 1937, leaving the old pond to model boats and geese. A children's playground, all-weather football pitches and tennis courts were also added. While building the first phase of the Tulse Hill Estate in 1939, the LCC added access on to Tulse Hill itself, with a way through the new estate to the Brixton Hill area beyond.
Today Brockwell Park is as important and valuable as ever. It is our green lung, our daily contact with the natural environment, a place of active recreation, a haven of peace and tranquillity and a respite from the urban environment.
Essential Documents
Park Groups
Friends of Brockwell Park is a member of Brockwell Park Community Partners (the working name of the Brockwell Park Management Advisory Committee). Brockwell Park Community Partners are an umbrella organisation for the stakeholders in the park. They work with Lambeth Council on the long-term management and development of Brockwell Park. For more details of all park groups, please go to the website of Brockwell Park Community Partners.
Questions you've asked (or FAQs)
Q: Can I drive my car into the park?
A: Cars are strictly discouraged in the park, and only those on essential business are allowed in. There is a car park by the lido for park users, where the first two hours of parking are free.
Q: How can I book the Bowling Green?
A: Please contact Luke or Heather who run the Bowling Club - lukejdalton@hotmail.com or hbouchierh@aol.com
Q: Is there a Lost Property Office?
A: Sadly, no. There is nowhere official for lost property. However, some people do leave items up at Brockwell Hall Cafe.
Q: Is it possible to book Brockwell Hall for functions?
A: Not at the moment. But, Lambeth are applying for Heritage Lottery funding to refurbish the Hall. If the bid is successful, function rooms will be available in the future.
Q: Can I get married in the park?
A: The Park itself is not licensed for marriages, but it provides an ideal backdrop for photographs after the wedding.
Once the heritage lottery bid for the renovation of the hall is successful we hope to have it licensed for weddings.
Q: Can I have a party in the park?
A: There is nothing to prevent you from having a party in the park, provided you do not inconvenience other park users. The Walled Garden,however, is a haven of peace and quiet and parties are not allowed in that space.
Q: Do I need permission to film in the park?
A: Yes, you do. You will need to contact Lambeth Film Unit at info@lambethfilmoffice.co.uk
Q: Who organises the BMX Training?
A: You need to contact the Brixton BMX at kenfloydebmxman@hotmail.co.uk
Q Would it be possible to have a small commercial event on Brockwell Park, such as a tai chi class or participative performance, where a fee would be charged?
A: Some commercial events are permitted in the park but you will need to complete an event application form which is available from Lambeth Council Events Team.
Q: Is cycling permitted through Brockwell Park or is it a no-cycle zone?
A: There may be a bye-law against it but it is not enforced. So you are allowed to cycle through the park, provided you show consideration to other park users.