It’s Crystal Palace Park’s 170th birthday this month! Opening anniversary is on Monday! (plus: parking charges update – and a little bit of history)

From Crystal Palace Park Trust: Did you know the park turns 170 years old this month? The park opened its gates to an eager public on 10 June 10th 1854. Unfortunately, those gates were opened over a month late due financial and construction issues. Delays also arose due to Victorian sensibilities and the need to protect the modesty of visitors encountering the many nude male statues housed in the exhibition and wider landscape, with new fig leaves and drapes rapidly carved and attached! You can read more about the historic origins of the park below, alongside a round-up of upcoming events, the delightful results of No Mow May, and a welcome to the Trust’s new CEO, Victoria Pinnington. As ever, don’t forget that if you spot anything in the park that needs attention, please contact the park maintenance crew directly: get in touch. Other than that, please do be sure to join us in giving a nod of appreciation to the park’s designer, Sir Joseph Paxton, whenever you next pass his bust. Here’s to the next 170 years of our wonderful park.

A quick update on car parking We had previously said that car parking charges were due to be introduced on June 6th. Due to delays with the delivery of infrastructure these will now be coming later in June. Apologies for any confusion. An updated timetable will be published on our website and social media as soon as it is available. Thank you for your understanding. Car gate closing time in June: 21:30 Times change in line with dusk. For full information on car park opening and closing times, please see our website. Notices are also displayed at vehicle entrances.

The results of No Mow MayWe’ve made some great wildflower finds in the areas of the park where we left the grass to grow for No Mow May, a national campaign which promotes less frequent mowing to encourage more biodiversity. We particularly love the Bee Orchid (above left), which mimics a female bee to draw in the male bee who then pollinates the flower. You have to be patient with these orchids as they can take up to eight years before flowering! Thanks to everyone who contacted us with their finds. Please do keep your spots coming. The Trust’s parks maintenance team will now continue with their roll out of a new grass cutting programme over the summer aimed at increasing biodiversity. This means you’ll notice the grass being cut again in many areas where people sit in the summer, but left long in other places for a little while more.

What’s On this month

As ever, there’s a huge amount happening in the park and you can always find up-to-date details on our website listings page.

• The month-long London Festival of Architecture continues with its theme of ‘Reimagine‘ and a whole array of events coming up in the park organised by Invisible Palace, Friends of Crystal Palace Park and Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs.
• The park is hosting a Big Lunch, celebrating community and neighbourhood friendships, on Sunday 23 June 11:00 – 13:00 in the Cricket Pitch area. This event is free and open to everyone – just bring your own lunch and all your picnic essentials

NEXT MONTH

• Another park birthday, this time for the iconic National Sports Centre which is celebrating its 60th birthday on Saturday 13 July. Expect interactive sports zones, fun activities, live entertainment, delicious food, and plenty of surprises for the whole family.
• The Trust’s fourth ‘Summer of Play‘ which will run over the school holidays in July and August. This year there’s an Olympics theme – as well as the usual wide array of activities for children of all ages.

HISTORY

Celebrating the world’s first theme park

Originally known as Penge Place, the area we now know as Crystal Palace Park was selected by Sir Joseph Paxton to become the new home for his ‘Crystal Palace’ when it moved from its original location in Hyde Park.

Paxton designed the park as a fitting landscape for what was the largest building in the world at the time and the venue for the Great Exhibition, the Victorian celebration of modern industrial technology and design.

Today the Crystal Palace itself is sadly no more but there are still many remnants from the Victorian era to be found, such as the Dinosaurs and geological court, the sphinxes, the Italian Terraces and their remaining statues, the first-class passengers’ Subway, and the English Landscape Garden (now more commonly known as the Concert Bowl).

It’s magical to see so many visitors still enjoying the park today, all these years later. But with great age comes the need for some tender loving care.

The park has been on the Heritage at Risk Register since 2009 and many of its listed features are in urgent need of repair to make sure people can continue to be delighted by them for generations to come.

The Trust are working hard with the London borough of Bromley and a team of landscape and heritage specialists to design a programme of conservation and restoration works to preserve the unique history of this incredible space.

You may notice some of these works taking place this month with urgent conservation repairs being made to our much-loved Dinosaurs, prior to their full-scale restoration in the coming years.

We’re sure Paxton would be very proud to see the love his landscape still inspires today. (Source: Crystal Palace Park Trust)