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26-468: The origins of Ravenscourt Park lie in the medieval manor and estate of Palingswick (or Paddenswick) Manor, located on the site and first recorded in the 12th century. The historic name still exists today in the name of Paddenswick Road, which runs along the north east boundary of the park. By the 13th century the manor house was a mansion surrounded by a moat fed by the Stamford Brook . The lake in

52-531: A builder and philanthropist who developed nearby St Peter’s Square. Scott employed leading landscaper Humphry Repton to lay out the gardens of the estate, and encouraged the building of houses along its edges. According to a park plan from 1830, there were 78 houses within the park, and by 1845 this number had risen to 330. The first public library in Hammersmith at Ravenscourt House was opened by John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury on 19 March 1890. In 1887,

78-407: A corruption of "stony ford", for a crossing by King Street. It has given its name to the surrounding area between Hammersmith and Chiswick , and to the local London Underground station, Stamford Brook . The county of London created in 1889 was bounded by the westernmost course of Stamford Brook; it formed the boundary separating London Boroughs of Hammersmith and Acton in the new county from

104-508: A natural trough, now the long park known as Brook Green . To reach this long green, a line parallel to Attwood and Kilmarsh Roads was taken, after Brook Green the route turned south and then southwest and took Collet Gardens, Wilson and Yeldham Roads to reach the Thames. A ditch of the western channel was funnelled to the southern depression of parkland in Chiswick to augment the waters in

130-443: Is still much evidence of historic planting throughout the park, including plane trees and cedars. The park is home to two Great Trees of London , an old and stunted plane tree, and a large mature tree of heaven . Ravenscourt Park currently offers many facilities including tennis and basketball courts, a bowling green, an all-weather pitch, a walled garden, multiple play areas, and a paddling pool for children. There are two cafes in

156-568: The 7 July 2005 London bombings . 51°29′49″N 0°14′19″W  /  51.497°N 0.2385°W  / 51.497; -0.2385 Stamford Brook Stamford Brook was a tributary of the Tideway stretch of the River Thames in west London supplied by three headwaters . Historically used as an irrigation ditch or dyke , the network of small watercourses had four lower courses and mouths. The name Stamford Brook may be

182-522: The Chiswick and Brentford Urban Districts in Middlesex . By 1900, all six strands of the brook and drainage dykes had been covered over and formed the most useful depressions available to site the neighbourhood's sewers , and many diversionary surface water drains had been created closer to the surface to drain the catchment basin . Stamford Brook has no known connection with Stamford Bridge ,

208-447: The A4 underground. City planners consider however that while extra water provides a few expensive views for residents, it does not provide recreational or air quality improving space. 51°29′25″N 0°14′03″W  /  51.4904°N 0.2341°W  / 51.4904; -0.2341 Great Trees of London Great Trees of London is a list created by Trees for Cities after

234-780: The House. It was opened on 19 May 1888. Management of the park was transferred to the London County Council in 1889, to the Greater London Council in 1965, and finally to the Hammersmith London Borough Council in April 1971. A number of "lodges" (i.e. cottages) on the perimeters of the park were also transferred with the stipulation that they could only be inhabited by Council staff who worked there. Part of Ravenscourt House

260-548: The Scott family sold the estate to a developer for building purposes, to be covered, it was said, with working-class dwellings. Counterproposals to prevent this, either by repurchasing the property by public subscription or by appealing for public purchase by the Metropolitan Board of Works , both failed, largely owing to the exorbitant price – said to be well over £70,000 (equivalent to £9,832,177 in 2023) demanded by

286-553: The centre of the park today is a remnant of the original moat. King Edward III ’s mistress Alice Perrers lived in the manor during the 14th century. The manor house was rebuilt in 1650 and in 1747 it was sold to Thomas Corbett who named it Ravenscourt, probably derived from the raven in his coat of arms, which was itself a pun on his name as corbeau is French for raven . In 1812 the Ravenscourt House and estate were bought by its final private owner, George Scott ,

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312-516: The depression for separate drainage systems. An eastern headwater rose on Old Oak Common in Acton . north east of the Old Acton Wells, also known as Acton Wells and flowed south down Old Oak Common Road and Old Oak Road then SSE down Askew Road. This course, now overtaken by segregation of surface water drainage and sanitary sewers afterwards ran the line of Paddenswick Road where it

338-711: The destination of the stream depicted in early maps, the elevations are 4.4 to 4.2 metres (14 to 14 ft) AOB by Paddeswick Road. Close to the River Thames, the lower reaches of the above routes used for sanitary sewers are intercepted by Sir Joseph Bazalgette 's Northern Low Level Sewer which reaches the Northern Outfall Sewer in Stratford , however directly south of the original mouth are overflow outfalls in Furnival Gardens and of

364-406: The ground-tenants, Ebenezer Stanley Burchett of 23 Ravenscourt Park and Frank Dethbridge of "The Hermitage", determined to block the development by demanding much larger sums of £1000 each. Their action had the desired effect, and other lessees demanded similar sums. A total of at least £10–£12,000 would have been added to the development costs, and this initiative effectively knocked the bottom out of

390-615: The grounds of Chiswick House . Its main supply the Hazeldene ran from a lake near Sydney House to the west. The waters feed the lakes and fountains at Chiswick House, and then drain into the River Thames downstream of Barnes Bridge An additional western channel was added from Stamford Green, running underneath Stamford Brook Avenue and British Grove. Accordingly, elevations of Stamford Brook Avenue range from 4.8 to 5 metres (16 to 16 ft) whereas east in Ravensbourne Park,

416-431: The long-established swimming location fed from the mineral wells above, Acton Swimming Baths, then ran south down Warple Way where toward the end of this road is a large sewage storage and pumping station. After this the brook split at The Brook public house on Stamford Brook Common. One branch from this point headed east past Ravenscourt Park and fed the former moat there. From Paddenswick Road by Ravenscourt Park

442-435: The new freeholder. However, it transpired that the ground-leases of the row of detached and semi-detached residences called Ravenscourt Park, extending southwards from No. 23, contained a proviso giving ground-tenants the right to forbid any building on the width of the park opposite their frontages. The new freeholder promptly took steps to remove this obstacle by buying out the rights of prohibition for small cash sums. Two of

468-511: The original and middle mouth took a due south route along Dalling Road, under King Street and through Hammersmith Registry Office, Cromwell Avenue to the River Thames. This mouth, once providing high tide mooring was known as Hammersmith Creek . The eastern mouth, Parr's Ditch was a more complicated, field-watering affair, an alternative brook as the main area inconveniently for agriculture overflowed at times and for irrigation of Hammersmith, that continued due east through Hammersmith into

494-581: The park. The Tea House is run by Fait Maison and is nearest the Paddenswick Road entrance. W6 Cafe is located within the W6 Garden Centre on Ravenscourt Avenue near King Street. Friends of Ravenscourt Park is an organisation whose aim is "to maintain and improve a well used and loved park in west London." A memorial in the park to Giles Hart was unveiled on 5 July 2008. He was a British engineer and trade union activist killed in

520-615: The rear of numbers up to 438 Chiswick High Road , then turn ENE follow the lowest depression of that watercourse, cutting across Chiswick Common, crossing the District Line at Turnham Green tube station to reach the formerly seasonally waterlogged, low-lying area of Stamford Brook Common . Fresh water features such as the fishponds by the London Transport Museum Depot on the current location of Acton Town Underground station have been lost due to use of

546-457: The site of Ealing Common Underground station , midway between Ealing and Acton and travelled south, then southeast, then divided, part was channelled south to Chiswick House and Chiswick; the remainder was channelled into four mouths described below. The main flow travelled east to the north of King Street, Hammersmith . Surface water and foul water drains beside and under short stretches of Piccadilly and District lines followed by

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572-519: The site of a bridge which carries the Kings Road over the stream to the east called Counter's Creek which rose to the immediate west of Notting Hill . The West London bridge gives its name to Chelsea Football Club's adjoining ground. A western headwater, the Bollo Brook or Bollar Brook was the westernmost brook feeding the channels running through Chiswick and Hammersmith . This rose on

598-548: The speculation. The freeholder became amenable to fresh negotiations, and eventually agreed to sell the property for the greatly reduced sum of £58,000. It was acquired by the Metropolitan Board of Works (the Hammersmith Vestry contributing half the purchase-money) on 20 November 1887. The Board of Works established a public park, laid out by JJ Sexby , in the 13 hectares (32 acres) of land surrounding

624-647: The western mouth on Chiswick Eyot which regularly are in use during rainy days, leading to a major project underway, the Thames Tideway Scheme , a strong motivation for which is the desire to comply with the EU's Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. Audacious plans in 2008 were proposed by a firm of architects whose chief vision was to recreate a marshy stream at the Walbrook , as in pre-Roman London, to recreate Hammersmith Creek in Hammersmith by putting

650-623: Was joined by a flow emerging from Ravenscourt Park. A middle headwater formed in North Acton near the interchange of the A40 and was known locally as the "Warple" — this ran southwards just west of Horn Lane, under the park Springfield Gardens turned east underneath the small park, The Woodlands by Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College in Acton, ran south of Acton High Street/the Vale behind

676-621: Was used as a tuberculosis dispensary from 1918. In 1941 Ravenscourt House was severely damaged by incendiary bombs , during The Blitz , and was later demolished. Today, only the stable block remains, which now houses Ravenscourt Park's cafe, sometimes known as the Ravenscourt Park Tea House. The park is part of the Conservation Area of Ravenscourt and Starch Green , and its north-eastern corner has been designated an Archaeological Priority Area . Today there

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