St James's Park

St James’s Park is one of the oldest of the 8 Royal Parks in London with millions of visitors each year. The park is open every day between the hours of 05:00 to 00:00.

 

The park has three surrounding palaces all being the Buckingham Palace, Westminster (known now as the Houses of Parliament) and St James’s Palace. In the 13th Century, a leper hospital was founded to which is where the park’s name had come from. In 1532, Henry VIII had acquired the park to change it into a deer park near St James’s Palace for hunting.

The next monarch to take over was Elizabeth I who held many forms of artistry that was to her like such as pageantry and fetes. A road was constructed in front of St James’s Palace, which is now known to be called as the Mall.

King James became king in 1603 and he begun to make changes from the deer park. He improved the drainage and control of water supply. He held a collection of animals which included camels and crocodiles. On Birdcage Walk, James I had all sorts of exotic birds in this area.

Charles II redesigned and changed the layout of the park with lines of trees being planted and lawns laid down, having been exiled from and France and returned after the English Civil War. During the Hanoverian period in the 18th century, a canal was filled in to create the ground for Horse Guards Parade.

John Nash took over and completed his plans for the park in 1827 and coming into fruition a year later when the park was transformed from his designs. Nash gave the park a Romantic style with naturalness coming more into play. The canal became a natural-looking lake and shrubs replaced most of the flowers.

The pelicans have become a permanent fixture of a bird (asides from - ahem - pigeons) to the park since 1664, when a Russian ambassador gave a pair of pelicans to Charles II. You’ll also find online videos of pelicans munching down on - ahem - pigeons. To this day, pelicans are still offered by foreign ambassadors. There are over 16 species of birds and plants which include the Reedbed.

In 1837, the Ornithological Society of London set up a cottage for the birdkeeper, which is now still there now near Duck Island. They also had a club room for the society who helped look after the ducks and geese. Another landmark nearby is the Tiffany Fountain which you can catch it spurting up to 20 feet of water. The other fountain is called the Swire Fountain which pumps up water of 4.5 metres and supports the lake by cleaning the water.

The Blue Bridge, originally designed by John Nash, resides almost centrally in the Park, offering views of the London Eye and Horse Guards Parade.

There are two memorials in the park: Guard’s Memorial and South African Royal Artillery Memorial. The Guard’s Memorial, designed by H. Charlton, features 5 bronze figures of the Foot Guards Regiments: Grenadiers, Coldstreams, Scots, Welsh and Irish. It was to commerate the Guardsmen who died in World War I. The South African Royal Artillery Memorial, designed by Sir Aston Webb, was built in memory of people killed in the Boer War (1899 - 1902) in South Africa. The memorial had a winged figure representing Peace riding atop a horse stood on a pedestal of Portland stone. The names of the dead are inscribed on the bronze plate. The inscription of the memorial reads:

"Erected by the officers and men of the Royal Artillery in memory of their honoured dead. South Africa. 1899-1902."

The Boy Statue, designed by Charles Henry Mabey, is a Grade II sculpture featuring a marble figure of a boy sitting on a plinth. It seemed to be in working order as water was coming out of the fishes around him and drained away into the seashell-shaped basins.

Walking around the park, you’ll see plaques on the ground for the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk, which follows a 9 mile trail around the Royal parks, seeing sites associated with the Princess.

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