Imperial London sketches from the history of a great city
St James' Park

London's Square and Parks in 1900: St James' Park

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London's Royal Parks have been described as the lungs of the city. This is what Arthur H. Beavan had to say about St James' Park in Imperial London, first published in 1901:

St. James' is probably the oldest, and by reason of its historical associations, the most interesting of London parks.

It formerly stood somewhat in the same relation to the Palace at Whitehall, as the chase at Windsor to the great Castle, and but for the Revolution of 1688, the removal of the Court elsewhere, and the rapid growth of London, it might long have continued to be a Royal preserve.

It has been identified with sport ever since Henry VIII appropriated the coverts belonging to the Hospital for Lepers at St. James', and established a hunting-lodge there, which he found convenient when in the mood for hawking or coursing, but did not want the trouble of going to Enfield or to the breezy downs of Hampstead.

In succeeding reigns it became a deer park, an adjunct to the cockpit and tilt-yard at Whitehall.

With Charles II was initiated a new order of things, continued in our own day, when, as regards the wild-fowl, it has reverted to its original use.

King Charles carried on a work begun by his martyred father, and a sort of menagerie sprung up in the park, which was considerably extended.

Paths and drives were made, trees systematically planted under the direction of the celebrated Frenchman, Le Notre, and a Physic, or, as we should call it, a Botanical garden, was formed, "great and very noble alterations" according to Pepys.

A broad canal of running water, developed out of a stream that trickled through the demesne, was made after the Dutch fashion, and at the eastern end was the Decoy, a triangular-shaped series of channels or "pipes."

On the canal was practised a good deal of skating and sliding, the former a novel amusement, and Pepys mentions the fact that the Duke of York, though the ice was broken and dangerous, persisted in trying his skates upon it.

The show of animals in the park was neither large nor varied, and consisted merely of some antelopes, elks, roe-bucks, red-deer, goats from the Guinea coast, sheep from Arabia, and pelicans, cranes and storks.

In Birdcage Walk, aviaries were dispersed between the trees, but what their occupants were is a matter of conjecture, probably hawks.

With all these attractions of "fur and feather," St. James' Park became the favourite haunt of Charles II.

Indeed, it is as difficult for a historian to disassociate the place from the Merry Monarch, as it is to keep Dr. Johnson out of Fleet Street.

James II, unlike his brother, does not appear to have walked much in public.

He was of a more indolent disposition, and the park, as a promenade, was deserted by him, as also by succeeding Sovereigns, though until early in the twentieth century it was a favourite resort of the aristocracy, the happiest of company taking their long after-dinner "constitutional" in the Mall.

Hither, like other literati, came Swift, for exercise and gossip.

Writing to Stella, he remarks that "Mr. Prior walks to make himself fat, and I to keep myself down."

Poor Oliver Goldsmith, harassed by duns, used to take refuge in the park, where he was secure from arrest, it being a serious offence to draw swords or to attempt to serve a warrant within the Royal precincts.

Goldsmith used to meet others similarly circumstanced as himself, "companions on the seats with whose groans he might mix his own and pathetically talk of the weather."

At night, the aspect of the park was quite different.

Unlighted, and frequented by bands of ruffians who roamed about assaulting everybody they came across, regardless of age or sex, it was a particularly nasty place to pass through.

The increasing lateness of the fashionable dinner-hour gradually put an end to the promenading in the park, and it became merely a thoroughfare, or a strolling-place for idlers.

It thus began to degenerate, and until 1827 presented a rather forlorn and neglected appearance.

Then came a renaissance.

The formal canals were abolished, and in their place was created an ornamental lake with islands bordered by evergreens.

Beautiful flower-beds were laid out, and the inner park was completely transformed, and is now one of the most charming spots in the Metropolis.

Upon the eastern island was built, in 1841, a Swiss cottage, the headquarters of the Ornithological Society, whose object was to encourage the breeding and rearing of aquatic fowl.

The lake became so muddy, and deaths by drowning so frequent, that its depth had to be considerably reduced, and a concrete bottom laid down.

Even this does not prevent the accumulation of debris, which has to be periodically taken away, when a marvellous quantity of odds and ends, old boots, hats, etc, is revealed.

Time has wrought many changes in the park; but the ornithological purpose to which King Charles devoted it, has been revived to an extent he could not have dreamt of, and its water-birds are unrivalled in beauty and number.

Green Park - about 60 acres in extent - is a kind of continuation of St. James' Park, and is very pleasant to stroll about in, its sward not belying the park's distinctive name, while two of its sides are bordered by some of the stateliest mansions in town.

Next: London's Square and Parks in 1900: Hyde Park

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