Walpole History
Walpole Park is named after Sir Spencer Walpole, who sold it to Ealing UDC in 1899. The 12-hectare Grade II park in West London, which is included in the English Heritage Register of parks and gardens of special historic interest, contains an ornamental bridge remodelled to a design by Soane, a pond on whose banks he sat and fished with his friend Turner the painter, a rose garden and a boating lake.
The original house and grounds were bought and renovated by John Soane, the celebrated architect, in 1800. During the 19th century the estate passed into the Perceval Walpole family and in 1899 Sir Spencer Walpole sold it to UDC of Ealing for £40,000. It was opened to the public as a park in 1901. The Borough surveyor, Charles Jones, who negotiated the sale, is commemorated in a plaque in the park today. Jones designed the tree-lined avenues, paths and flowers in the wider park and planted the sides of the pond nearest to the house (originally much deeper) with plants and shrubs. This pond is overlooked by a Grade II* ornamental bridge remodelled to a design suggested by Soane.
Pitzanger Manor in Walpole Park, Ealing. The park was created in 1901 from the original grounds of the house. To the right is the restored public library extension of 1940.
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