Crystal Palace Park

Crystal Palace Park is a large Victorian park in south-east London, Grade II* listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. It was laid out in the 1850s as a pleasure ground, centred around the re-location of The Crystal Palace – the largest glass building of the time – from central London to this area on the border of Kent and Surrey; the suburb that grew around the park is known by the same name. The Palace had been relocated from Hyde Park after the 1851 Great Exhibition and rebuilt with some modifications and enlargements to form the centrepiece of the park, before being destroyed by fire in 1936. The park features full-scale models of dinosaurs in a landscape, a maze, lakes, and a concert bowl. After the relocation of the Palace, sports facilities were built in the park, including a cricket ground which became the home of the Crystal Palace Cricket Club in 1857. Kent County Cricket Club played a county match at the ground against Nottinghamshire in 1864. The London County Cricket Club also played matches at the cricket ground from 1900 to 1908, when they folded, but the ground continued to stage a number of other first-class cricket matches. The site contains the National Sports Centre, previously a football stadium that hosted the FA Cup Final from 1895 to 1914, as well as Crystal Palace F.C.'s home matches from 1905, until the club was forced to relocate during the First World War. The park is situated halfway along the Norwood Ridge at one of its highest points. This ridge offers views northward to central London, eastward to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge and Greenwich, and southward to Croydon and the North Downs. The park remains a major London public park; originally maintained by the LCC and then the GLC, but with the abolition of the GLC in 1986 the park and its management were moved into the London Borough of Bromley. Since 2023, much of the park has been managed by Crystal Palace Park Trust, with the GLA continuing responsibility for the…