This week, the Recorder is looking back at the history of Havering Country Park – one of the borough’s largest green spaces with royal links.
The park was formerly part of Havering Park and once home to the Royal Palace of Havering, with a history dating back to 1066.
William the Conqueror decided to keep the manor of Havering for himself, and in the centuries that followed the palace received many royal visits, according to Havering Council.
Postcard view of Havering Park from c. 1905 showing the mansion built after the palace (Image: Havering Libraries-Local Studies)
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This included Henry II – who visited at least 20 times between 1222 and 1272 – Edward III and Richard II.
Henry VIII, who is reported to have hunted and entertained French hostages in Havering, also bestowed the palace to his first three wives while they were queens: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour.
The last monarch to rest at Havering was Charles I in 1638; the palace was abandoned during the Civil War and fell into ruin.
By 1816, there was no trace of where it had stood at all.
Just more than a decade later, the McIntosh family bought the estate from the Crown and built a mansion on the site of the old palace, laying out a park of around 250 acres.
The family also planted an avenue of Wellingtonia trees, many of which remain in the park today and make up the second largest plantation of these trees in England.
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Once the mansion fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1925, the estate was carved up as the “Plotlands” – used by those in the inner city as a place for weekend retreats.
Later in the 20th century, Greater London Council (GLC) used a compulsory purchase order to clear out the Plotlands and create a regional public park.
This sparked “outrage” amongst residents, according to Havering Council, and the area was therefore not opened as Havering Country Park until 1976.
In 1986, Havering Council acquired the site from the GLC and developed it further with areas of natural woodland and meadowland.
