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About Regent's Park

Official site
http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/regents_park/

Capacity: 3,000

Location: NW1

Status
A temporary 3000 seat facility will be built in Regent's Park for viewing the conclusion of the Road Cycling event. The facility will be taken down after the Olympics.

About Regent's Park

Earlier known as Marylebone Park, it was a part of the Middlesex forest. It was then covered with thick vegetation, especially the area near the Primrose Hill slope. Deer used to graze near the woods on the lower section. In 1538, King Henry VIII ordered the destruction of the Barking Abbey and confiscated the 554 acre park from Abbess of Barking. One of his favourite indulgences was hunting, and he transformed the farmland into a hunting ground. A trench was dug around the park to keep the deer in and the poachers out. The park largely remained unchanged, serving as an entertainment area for the visiting dignitaries for the next 50 years.

After the English Civil War in 1949, the Commonwealth Government ordered over 16,000 trees to be felled to pay the debts from the war, and the land was sold off in the form of leases to pay wage arrears to the New Model Army.

The park was returned to the Crown when Charles II came to power in 1660. Charles II sold off the leases to the farmers, and for the next century the park was released from enclosure and was used for dairy farming and hay making. In 1973, John Fordyce was made the first Surveyor General of Land Revenue for the management of Crown properties. He recognised the potential of the park and convinced the Treasury to approve £1000 for setting up a competition for the development and mapping of the park. However, none of the submitted plans were materialised. The Office of Land Revenue was amalgamated with architects and surveyors of the Office of Woods and Forests in 1810, and the competition was abandoned.

John Nash who had a close proximity to Prince Regent (George IV - Prince of Wales) was instructed by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests in 1811 to create a plan for the development of the park. John Nash's grand plan included the construction of forty villas, a summer palace, elegant terraces and an elegant street to connect it to St. James's Palace. Thus the name Regent's Park came into being.

However, considering the commercial viability of the plan, it was decided to build only eight villas and the Prince had to forego his aspirations for building a summer palace. He instead got more involved with the upgrading of the Buckingham Palace. The work finally commenced in 1812, and many of the elements of Nash's plan did take shape, such as the stately route linking to James's Palace was built and became known as Regent's street. The villas were built in such a way that the visitors could enjoy the splendor of a real private estate, since each detached villa was surrounded by trees and its terrace opened up to a countryside environment. As per John Nash's design, a canal was constructed in 1816, which ran through the northern end of the park and connected the Grand Union Canal to the former London Docks. This canal became the Regent's Canal. Only two of the villas planned by Nash remain now, St John's Lodge and The Holme. St. John's Lodge is currently owned by Prince Jefri, brother of Sultan of Brunei. The Home is owned by Prince Khaled Al-Waleed, nephew of the King of Saudi Arabia.

Space left over by the un-built villas was leased by local societies, and the first to move in between 1826 and 1828 was the Zoological Society of London. Decimus Burton was appointed by the society. He laid a plan to house a collection of endangered animal species in the north end of The Regent's Park. King George IV granted a Royal Charter to the Zoological Society of London in 1829, and the zoo was opened to visitors at one shilling (present day, five pence) on weekdays, in order to aid funding. One of the more prominent of the zoo regulars was Charles Darwin, who was also a fellow of the society. It was here that he first encountered a primate, an orang-utan named Jenny, and was fascinated by the similarities between an ape and a human. This led to his ground breaking theory of human evolution.

Demicus Burton laid out the Broad Walk in 1827. The lower part of Broad Walk was later redesigned in 1867 by William Nesfield in French-Italian style and was named the Avenue Gardens. William Nesfield's son, Markham during 1863 and 1874, laid the design for English Gardens which is situated between the Avenue Gardens and the boundary of the park.

The Royal Botanic Society after its founding in 1839 leased an eighteen acre area of the park and laid the Inner Circle. Robert Marnock, a prominent horticulturist, laid out the gardens in the area, and Decimus Burton was appointed to design the layout and buildings, which included a large conservatory, built in 1845. Queen Mary's Gardens, which lie inside the Inner Circle, were created in 1930 and named after the wife of George V. The Rose Garden within the Queen Mary's Gardens is the most carefully tended area with 330 different varieties of roses. The Queen Mary's Gardens also houses the Open-Air-Theatre which was founded in 1932 under the inaugural directorship of Robert Atkins, a prolific actor, director and a producer, most famous for his role as The Vicar in the film A Matter of Life and Death.

The Boating Lake is located near the Inner Circle and is home to 90 species of ornamental waterfowl. Herons can also be regularly sighted standing in rows along the edge of the lake in the mornings. Besides boating, feeding the birds is a favourite activity of the visitors

Another notable landmark of The Regent's Park is a multi-facility sports pavilion, The Hub. The sustainable design of the circular glass and steel structure provides a 360 degree panoramic view of the park. It has been designed in a way that a part of it is submerged beneath a grass mound and accommodates changing rooms for athletes. The Regent's Park also has a 12 court tennis centre which is located near the York Bridge open to members and non-members. The park sports 4 cricket pitches and offers training courses organised by a charity group called the Capital Kids Cricket. There are 10 football pitches and 2 full sized rugby pitches, too, all located near The Hub.

Community Wildlife Garden lies next to the tennis centre. The highlight of the garden is a sculpture of a salamander, which has been created from earth, turf and wild flower plugs. The central theme of the garden is to demonstrate the importance of wildlife in the ecosystem.

The park has been a hit amongst film producers. The all-time favourite child wizard, Harry Potter, accidentally unravels his powers as he frees a hissing boa constrictor at London Zoo in the film. It has also provided a romantic backdrop for a shot in the Bridget Jones - The Edge of Reason (2004), wherein Renee Zellweger philosophically inquires, "What happens after they live happily ever after?"