ACTON TOWN Piccadilly/District Line
Gunnersbury Park
This is full of interest. Originally it was the garden of an 18th century Palladian house. Princess Amelia, daughter of George II, purchased the estate in 1761 as a summer residence and added a number of buildings to the pleasure gardens. In the early 19th century the estate was divided up, the old house demolished and two new ones built. These are known (rather anonymously) as the Small Mansion and the Large Mansion. The whole estate was later bought by the Rothschild family who sold the property to the boroughs of Ealing and Acton in 1925.
At the Lionel Road end of the park, on the edge of the Potomac Lake, stands a mysterious Victorian Gothick tower. The lake itself was once a clay pit, and the tower was built as a boathouse on the foundations of a tile kiln.
In addition to the delights and oddities of the rambling gardens (190 acres), in the Large Mansion there is an excellent local museum which includes mock-ups of shop windows showing the development of retail trading. (Waitrose supermarkets began in Acton Hill in 1904 trading as Waite, Rose and Taylor).
While this is a lovely park, it is undeniable that it is in urgent need of restoration. Those with a particular interest in its future might care to read The Gunnersbury Park Conservation Statement (Dec 2005).
Directions: Turn left out of Acton Town Tube Station along Gunnersbury Road, go straight over the North Circular Road into Pope's Lane. Entrance to Gunnersbury Park is on left, opposite Gunnersbury Drive (less than half a mile walk)
* Currently (2009) the Potomac lake is not open to the public, but I am told it is hoped that a tenant will soon be found to manage it).
Map
This is just one walk from the many to be found at London Tube Rambles. There are architectural gems, beautiful country views, historic places and whacky buildings to be found, even in the most unpromising areas covered by the Greater London Underground stations. Usually the places listed are within a mile of the Tube - often only five minutes walk away. If you reached this as an individual page via a search engine, you might like to go to www.londontuberambles.co.uk to see the other destinations explored . You'll be amazed at what's out there!
This is full of interest. Originally it was the garden of an 18th century Palladian house. Princess Amelia, daughter of George II, purchased the estate in 1761 as a summer residence and added a number of buildings to the pleasure gardens. In the early 19th century the estate was divided up, the old house demolished and two new ones built. These are known (rather anonymously) as the Small Mansion and the Large Mansion. The whole estate was later bought by the Rothschild family who sold the property to the boroughs of Ealing and Acton in 1925.At the Lionel Road end of the park, on the edge of the Potomac Lake, stands a mysterious Victorian Gothick tower. The lake itself was once a clay pit, and the tower was built as a boathouse on the foundations of a tile kiln.
In addition to the delights and oddities of the rambling gardens (190 acres), in the Large Mansion there is an excellent local museum which includes mock-ups of shop windows showing the development of retail trading. (Waitrose supermarkets began in Acton Hill in 1904 trading as Waite, Rose and Taylor).While this is a lovely park, it is undeniable that it is in urgent need of restoration. Those with a particular interest in its future might care to read The Gunnersbury Park Conservation Statement (Dec 2005).
Directions: Turn left out of Acton Town Tube Station along Gunnersbury Road, go straight over the North Circular Road into Pope's Lane. Entrance to Gunnersbury Park is on left, opposite Gunnersbury Drive (less than half a mile walk)
* Currently (2009) the Potomac lake is not open to the public, but I am told it is hoped that a tenant will soon be found to manage it).
Map
This is just one walk from the many to be found at London Tube Rambles. There are architectural gems, beautiful country views, historic places and whacky buildings to be found, even in the most unpromising areas covered by the Greater London Underground stations. Usually the places listed are within a mile of the Tube - often only five minutes walk away. If you reached this as an individual page via a search engine, you might like to go to www.londontuberambles.co.uk to see the other destinations explored . You'll be amazed at what's out there!
©DR2009