Bedfords Park – a 215-acre green space between Collier Row and Harold Hill – has a rich history dating back to the 1400s.
The name Bedfords is thought to come from a John Bedford or Bedforde who owned land in the area in 1362, according to Havering Council.
Bedfords was originally part of the Gidea Hall estate, owned by various wealthy families throughout the centuries, before being sold as a separate estate in 1659.
Bedfords mansion house in 1922 (Image: Havering Libraries-Local Studies)
From then on, it was owned by a succession of London merchants – none of whom are thought to have actually lived on the estate.
In 1771, the land was sold to John Heaton, a lawyer and legal advisor to the Duke of Devonshire.
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Heaton made Bedfords his main residence and transformed the 350 acre estate: planting trees in an enclosed garden, rebuilding the house into a two-storey mansion, building a brick farmhouse at Upper Bedfords.
In diary entries made in the 1780s, one of Heaton’s agents, John Gould, even described the estate as having “much the appearance of a park and all the uses of a farm”.
After Heaton’s death in 1818, the estate was passed on to his grandson, Charles Heaton Ellis, who continued to improve the property.
However, in 1853, the estate was divided and sold by public auction.
Bedfords was eventually bought by Romford Urban District Council for £9,000 in 1933, before opening to the public the following year, with the mansion house used as a museum and art gallery.
During the Second World War, the house was occupied by military forces and the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) as a base for the Home Guard.
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Following serious deterioration of the building and damage by vandals, the mansion house was demolished in 1958 and replaced by a cafeteria in 1964 – now replaced by the Essex Wildlife Trust visitor centre, which opened in 2003.
Only the tall red-bricked walls of the walled garden survive.
Today, Bedfords Park is a designated local nature reserve and has achieved Green Flag status since 2007.
The park is home to a herd of captive red deer, which were introduced to the park in 1930s.
