Breakspear Estate

 Last week I introduced those who had never been to the prison (while remaining innocent!) to the cut-de-sac road behind the end of Grimston Road at the City Station.  Shirley Road.  Built on land left over from the construction of the county gaol.

The green block was Frederick Sander's private garden although we know nothing of its character.
Camp Road then separates the garden from his orchid nursery. The blue Broken line a section of
the former Sweetbriar Lane path.
COURTESY HALS

Frederick Sander, the "Orchid King", having apparently made a good income from his shop in George Street aspired to acquire a field known as Nine Acres on the east side of Camp Road, on which he laid out his orchid nursery and home – paid for by building the houses on the adjacent Cavendish estate.  He also acquired the former Fete Field (now the recreation section of Clarence Park) and the slopes of Gaol Field on the west side of Camp Road.  It is not clear the reason for the latter two purchases, except that he laid out his own family garden on a small part of the latter field because it was not possible to find sufficient space adjacent to, or even close to his home; the nursery glasshouses and warehouses left no private space.  Today Ss Alban & Stephen Infant School and Nursery occupies the site of the garden, and Ss Alban & Stephen Junior School thrives in place of the orchid nursery.  I have yet to find a photograph which shows the layout of the garden, although the OS map does sketch a generic design.

The former garden, now Ss Alban & Stephen school Infants and Nursery School.

Following the death of Mr Sander the land, including the garden, was sold by the family.  The garden initially become the site of Ss Alban & Stephen Elementary School and is now an expanded Inant and Nursery school. Then the development of the Gaol Field slope was, at least in part, taken forward by C Miskin Ltd.  Broadly a fan of roads diverging from Grimston Road passing in front of the prison, downhill towards Camp Road and the Hatfield & St Albans Railway.  At the centre of the fan linking Grimston Road is Breakspear Avenue.  The road commemorates twelfth century Nicholas Breakspear (Pope Adrian IV) who had spent his formative years at the St Albans Monastery.  The other roads are orchid related: Flora Grove, Vanda Crescent and Edward Close.  The latter recognises Sydenham Edwards who launched the Botanical Register in 1815.  Flora Grove was laid with the possible intention of connecting with a spur from Dellfield via a bridge over the branch railway.  Such a connection did not take place.

Edward Close is short and does not make it all the way downhill to Camp Road, the land having been acquired by Samuel Ryder and donated to Trinity Church for the laying out of tennis courts and then a scout centre, before being sold on in the 1970s for housing. The modern houses are accessed from Camp Road by Ulverston Close.  This part of the field was, however, quite separate from what was known by the "Electric Estate".

This Miskin estate was an advance in house building during the late 1920s.  The majority of earlier homes were supplied only with gas, although electricity was ordered for specific villas and town houses, at the behest of their first owners. 

Announcing the new "Electric estate".  A spelling error has crept into the name of one of the 
estate's main roads!

The show home, on the south-east side of Flora Grove, was equipped with a range of electric lamps, kitchen utensils, cooking and heating appliances.   The advertising let potential purchasers know that space was being left at the side of each house for the future building of a garage if required.

The lower end of Flora Grove.  Beyond the trees was the branch railway.

Crossing Vanda Crescent the route of former Sweetbriar Lane can be traced.

Former Sweetbriar Lane as it approached Camp Lane at Dellfield.

Grimston Road had been laid as a continuation of Victoria Road (before it became Victoria Street).  A track known as Sweetbriar Lane gave a connection from Victoria Road to Camp Road using a line of route which was subsequently built on by the Breakspear estate.  The track, now a footpath, can still be walked with just one deviation between Breakspear Avenue and Vanda Crescent, and another in order to cross the branch railway, now Alban Way. Sweetbriar Lane was the main connection with the farms and hamlets on the east side of St Albans, so arriving and leaving the market was via the Chequer Street/St Peter's Street/Victoria Street junction – although the latter road had other previous names.

The estate roads offered a mix of freehold and rental properties and the agent was William Young of St Peter's Street, opposite to the cattle market located in front of the Town Hall.

The upper section of Camp Road reveals the former Yokohoma Nursery until developed post 
World War Two.

We can track the development of the estate from the surviving residential directories, and it is quite evident the pace of construction was fairly swift, with most plots having been sold by 1930.  The earliest homes in Flora Grove were in the lowest section adjacent to the branch railway.  The properties at the very foot of Camp Road, too, were prompt to be built.  The only portion left until after the Second World War was up to up to and including number 10.  Until the mid fifties was Yokohama Nursery which occupied much of the ground.  The short access drive for the later development was named Ninedells Place, previously the name given to the nursery on the opposite site of Camp Road which had been purchased by Sander for housing on the Cavendish estate.

There has been more, much more, to reveal about the land next to the prison and on either side of the the Sweetbriar path than might have been expected.

 

Shirley Road

 Shirley Road, a cut-de-sac, was recently included in my blog about pocket spaces in the public realm, for the grassed area between its two rows of homes.  Today I am taking a more detailed look at how Shirley Road came about, which includes an area of land considerably beyond the road itself, and is connected with the acquisition of land for the Midland Railway and the purchase of nearby land for the County Gaol. It is not surprising most residents have little idea of the road and its location, although more of us sweep past it, probably without realising, as we take a short cut from Victoria Street bridge onto Grimston Road, en route to Camp Road via Breakspear Avenue or Flora Grove.

And, as you will notice, no map shows the structure of the prison within the boundary walls.  It was a security issue!

The site of the former prison hugs the Midland Railway at St Albans City Station.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

The acquisition of land for the prison by the authority prompted the eventual development of a much large area, a neat line having been separated for a second railway line.  The 1878 map illustrates the issue; the sloping boundary extends to Camp Road and the land holding had already been intersected on its eastern boundary for the laying of the Hatfield & St Albans Railway.  Post-sale the remaining acreage, which, by then may have been a single field, was known as Gaol Field, the north-east (Camp Road) section acquired first of all by orchid king Frederick Sander and then sold on for housing – the Breakspear estate – in the 1930s.  The field section adjacent to the then-new Midland Railway soon became the property of the Corporation, although the prison may have retained ownership initially, possibly until the closure of the gaol c1915.

The same location in 1898
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

The same location in 1924
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

Thew same location in 1937
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

By 1922 when an updated edition of the OS map was surveyed the new owner, presumed to be the corporation,  divided its apportionment into two blocks; the south-west block became a nursery, preparing plants for transfer to public spaces including Clarence Park.  The north-east block helped to expand the city's estate of allotments.   A separate block of allotments was developed adjacent to the Midland railway and possibly the residual land belonging to it.  Today this is part of the Charington Place multi-storey car park and flats.

With private enterprise housebuilding came the development the Breakspear estate; the city council created a small number of semi-detached homes of its own in the 1930s, using the former nursery and allotments.  Remains of the former layout was carefully preserved as a narrow strip of allotment gardens, today called the Shirley Road allotments which lies between Shirley Road and Flora Grove.

If we compare the 1937 OS map and today's aerial photo it appears clear that the Shirley Road estate was not quite completed; left vacant is a space on the south-west side where up to ten homes were never built; possibly a shortage of council funds or termination of building at the beginning of World War 2.

The Shirley Road Civic Restaurant after closure c1955.  I have discover no further image of
this building.
COURTESY THE HERTS ADVERTISER

Shirley Road car park.  In the background are the modern buildings which have replaced the
prison cell blocks not shown on the OS maps.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

Today a car park and a re-alignment of Shirley Road occupies the unused space.  For a few years at the end of World War 2 a temporary building was placed here and used as a civic restaurant, augmenting the service offered at the former Civic Hall (formerly called Market Hall) behind St Peter's Street at the former Cattle Market.  A lot of buildings no longer extant!

The Shirley Road Civic Restaurant continued as a useful community building and was rented by the County Council for the preparation of school meals until 1955. The restaurant undoubtedly served parts of the Camp and Fleetville district well, with its subsidised meals for factory employees.

Midland Railway skirts the left edge.  The empty Shirley Road car park sits diagonally in the
lower left of the view and Shirley Road is to its right, with a loop at the south-eastern end, looking much like a needle.
Victoria Street bridge and the rail station are in the top left corner.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

So, who was Shirley, to be commemorated or recognised in the name of one of the city's roads?  James Shirley was a 17th century playwright and poet, and was a Master of St Albans School. 

Next time I'll explore what came to be known as the Electric Estate.

Park That Never Was

 Continuing the series on public open spaces – or parks by any other name – we need to include those spaces which were proposed but not created, as well as open space which already existed but failed to become enlarged, although that increase had been proposed.  An example of each lies in Marshalswick.

The expectations laid at the door of local authorities from the 1930s onwards required the provision of public open space for use as parks, recreation grounds, sports grounds and informal open spaces in all new and growing development areas.  The council worked on planning the distribution of spaces across the city for different kinds of public use so that, as far as possible, no parts of the urban sphere were unfairly deprived, and that in each residential district there was sufficient public open space to satisfy the needs of a healthy population.

In the late 1940s the council investigated two locations on the early Marshalls Wick, but because all of the land was in the hands of developers by that time, plots could only change hands at full land prices; the proposals were therefore heavily constrained by cost.

The horseshoe-shaped road was designed to replace an earlier series of parallel roads.  Gurney Court Road and Charmouth Road are to the left in a photograph taken by the RAF in 1946.

The first location was The Park near Faircross Way, specifically the inner circle.  Housing had already begun on the outer circle or was still being managed as wartime allotments.  If intended as a general open space it would have served rather nicely as a small park, given that there were already a small number of healthy mature trees.  However, the council had an under-supply of certain types of sporting spaces, one of which was cricket.  Yes, you've guessed, St Albans Council intended to purchase the inner circle for the playing of cricket.

Now, it is true no house building had begun on the inner circle and even outer circle building was in its early stages.  So there were few individual objectors, but developer/land owner Christopher Miskin – who also built a substantial house at one end of the outer circle – certainly exerted some pressure.  With a cricket field in the middle the value of the outer circle homes would have been considerably lower. And of course the council would have to expend the land costs of around thirty detached homes on the first stage of acquiring the sporting space. Thereafter the authority would have denied itself the annual income of valuable rates (now council tax) due – and presumably the additional ongoing cost of occasional broken windows from across the road; every one a six!

Homes along the inner circle of The Park, which did not develop into "a park" in the 1950s.

So today there are thirty homes and mature trees, but no cricket field.

Due east from The Park (which did not materialise into a park) is the public open space known as The Wick, which we have all enjoyed since the 1930s.  The Wick began in much the same way as The Park; a development opportunity which appeared on planning maps of the early 1930s; yet more roads-worth of homes spreading eastwards towards Marshalswick Lane, including one to be called Hazel Grove.  But the owner of a large house in Sandpit Lane, Sir Arthur Peake put a stop to the housing development opposite him just in time.  He used his wealth, effectively became the developer, and then gifted the land to the Council for the benefit of the people of St Albans.  Thank you, Sir Arthur.

A summer scene within the wooded section of The Wick, a local nature reserve.

Post-war it appears that one of the Council's criteria for allocating public open space was the acreage of land it needed to acquire.  So you might have added twenty small pockets of land and determined between them you had enough to create a couple of football pitches; just not all contiguous pockets of land!  The council was short of a few acres in the Marshalswick area, but realised purchasing the plots required would be prohibitively expensive, it pulled out of negotiations.  The plots it was proposing to add to The Wick were undoubtedly the fifteen along Marshalls Drive: five on the east side of the Wick gate path, and eleven north-west to Homewood Drive.  None had been built on in 1949.  Today all five of the east side homes exist, but only five of the north-west plots were developed.  

Part of the open space, originally called a recreation ground, at The Wick.

The Council did not proceeded with its plan to expand The Wick, or if it did it was limited to the areas of six properties which are today woodland.  It is not clear what uses it had in mind had it proceeded to add to the park.  Presumably it would have end up as a game of numbers rather than the addition of a genuine facility. Indeed, perhaps that is what happened.

However, during the 1950s it did recognise a genuine shortage of open space between Fleetville and Oaklands and took the opportunity of acquiring the Jescott Dahlia Nurseries smallholding from the retiring Ernie Cooper, which became the new site of Longacres Park.

The Pocket Spaces

 We have already established that the Open Spaces Study created to assist the St Albans District Plan consultation is limited in its data range and granularity.  For example, that a park or recreation ground has signage or not, will us little about visitors' engagement with the space other than a sign pointing to a feature exists.

This week I want to explore open spaces at the other end of the range; we might call them pocket spaces, but might even be micro in size.   This time the question to be asked is how useful are they within the community; what do they contribute to our individual or community lives?  We may also need to consider who these spaces belong to, how they came into existence, and do we have legal access to them? So, in no particular order ...

An orchard-style pocket space at Queen's Court, Hatfield Road, for the private use of its residents but having shared views with others using the street scene.

Queen's Court is a square of grass enclosing the three blocks of flats in Hatfield Road, with that road on the fourth side.  When young in the 1950s the grass was bordered with lavender,  adding a sensory element to the scene.  Today this has been removed but there are a few young trees. No doubt the facility still belongs to St Albans Council but the undoubted beneficiaries are the residents of the apartments; the green is a visual stimulant to the senses, but is also a incidental benefit to those passing by the main road and living in the homes opposite.

The lozenge-shaped space which widens the road frontages in Shirley Road.

Shirley Road is another shared green space overlooked by two parallel lines of homes.  It is doubtful if many residents not living in Shirley Road know of it; perhaps not even know the whereabouts of Shirley Road. The green lozenge has a small tree at one end, a telegraph pole at the other, and is punctuated by a couple of drainage covers.  As with many pocket spaces it is not large enough for children to play although residents may occasionally meet there, though their back gardens are undoubtedly more useful – something which cannot be said for any block of flats, sans gardens altogether.  What might it add to the street scene of Shirley Road?  Well, it pushes apart the frontages of the homes to enable a more open vista, and this is now further enabled by restrictions on parking along a section of road which is, effectively, a vehicle turnaround.  

An informal public open space at Burnside, occupying an especially varied vista formerly occupied
by allotments.

Burnside is an example of a planning feature which is a requirement for more modern developments, known as Public Open Space (POS).  Minimum areas of each development are kept free from homes, their garages,  gardens, parking bays and access roads. There are many examples in Jersey Farm, but this one is close to Windermere Avenue.  Burnside open space is large enough to allow for some informality and variety, in the form of hedging and a tree or two.  In this instance it recognises the history of the wider site which was previously a small corner of extensive allotments.  It also benefits, at least in this view, from the complete absence of hard materials with the exception of paths.

Triangles such as these open out the end of a residential street as in merges into a more
established country road:  Gurney Court Road at Sandpit Lane.

Gurney Court Road Triangle is an early, and largely successful, attempt to merge the hard development of a long straight street of semi-detached houses into the tree-lined wastes of Sandpit Lane, as the roadline splays to introduce a grass "field".  The trees are much younger, of course, and the bus stop is a bi-product of Sandpit Lane rather than the residential street. But as with Shirley Road the triangle opens up a welcome space which today is even more important than when it was added to the Lane in the slower paced 1930s.

Here at Camp View Road we may be offered glimpses of green.  At one time this green space was
entirely hidden, the advertising hoardings were mounted at the Camp Road frontage, with the unused ground behind.

Recently the triangular space has disappeared once more as a house now occupies the corner.

Finally, is a reminder of many micro spaces which have become part of the streetscape, and have been so for over one hundred years.  One day they are gone.  We sometimes forget that all land belongs to someone and in the case of Camp View Road Triangle it was the owner of 155 Camp Road, originally Mr Thomas Gear in the early years of the 20th century.  He acquired this little plot next to his home; and he and subsequent owners have taken the rents from advertising hoardings, but there has always been a maintained green strip with various attempts at planting, even ornamental fencing; probably the smallest and narrowest of street-side open spaces. Well, now it is no more; instead a large house has been permitted on the corner of Camp Road and Camp View Road, fully twice the size of any other of the terraced homes in the vicinity.  It became possible because the plot was privately owned.  While we were fortunate in being able to take advantage of the little green space on the corner, we had, in fact, "borrowed" this little corner patch every time we passed.

Our district's many pocket spaces (even micro spaces) are varied in how they benefit us and our little communities.  Without them our streetscapes are the poorer for us and our well being.  We don't have to grab a chair and sit in the space reading a book (although I suppose we could).  The fact the space is open, green and soft is sufficient to be joyfully good for us all!

The Little Books 5

 Recently, a brief collection of small format books containing collections of photographs, mainly of St Albans views and street scenes, featured on this blog.  

Many of the four titles are now out of print, although copies can be found in the secondhand book market, including Abe Books.  One bi-product of each blog was to assess the usefulness of each little volume for lauding the East End of St Albans.

The title page of the first, 1949 edition.

The second edition was the first ring bound and with a coloured card
combined cover and title page.

The final edition introduced more design into the now-yellow cover.

One book omitted earlier is a title many residents of the post Second World War period will have recalled; it was titled St Albans: the story of the city and its people.  First published in 1949 by St Albans City Council there have been subsequent reprints in 1956, 1963 and 1974, each with a different cover design.  What set this title apart from almost every other book was its spiral binding.  It is thought that only the 1949 printing was hardbound.  Several copies of at least three of the editions is currently available on Abe Books, but certainly not at the 2/6d price of the original!

Edited by Lord Forrester in 1949, of the family Earl of Verulam – probably the same individual in subsequent reprintings. The printing was undertaken by Gibbs & Bamforth, printers and publishers of the Herts Advertiser at the time. Other printing processes were undertaken in this town of printing, including scraper board panels to introduce most of the sections.

This photograph, included only in the first edition , shows an employee at work
in the St Albans Brush Company building then on the corner of Ashley Road
and Hedley Road.

It should be confirmed that St Albans: the story of the city and its people differs from the earlier series of books in not being entirely a book of photographs.  It is essentially a guide to places, a history by none other than Elsie Toms, and chapters explaining the importance of Verulamium, St Albans at Work, St Albans Teaches St Albans at Leisure, the Abbey, Local Government and guided walks to and around the parishes of St Peter, St Michael and St Stephen. The book also includes three maps.

A rare image from the workbench inside Service Headwear, as it was then
named, in Hatfield Road.

But the stories are embellished with 29 full page photographs, most of which are unique to this publication.  The East End benefits from the inclusion of study images from some of the factories extant at the time: ELEC (Engineering & Lighting Equipment) of Campfield Road, Sander's in Camp Road, The Herts Advertiser Printing Company which moved to Camp Road from Spencer Street, Heath & Heather, on the edge of the East End at the City Station, Nicholson & Co, headquartered in Sutton Road, Marconi Instruments Ltd, and Ballito Hosiery Mill.

Two of the advertisements originate from the East End: this one
from Nicholson's Coats in Sutton Road; the other in the
first edition was a double page advertised Rodex Coats from
W O Peake in Hatfield Road.

Today we would describe the publication as "Sponsored" or "Supported by Advertising", On the cusp of the post-war world a classic collection of full page advertisements completes the book; regrettably the majority of businesses are no longer trading.

For its time the concept of the mini guide by the Council was commendable, and while most towns and cities have introduced their own versions since, it is disappointing that the St Albans title has not been updated further (as far as I know) or a more modern presentation introduced.

However, the book deserves its place on the shelves of St Albans people, and not just its historians.

Land for Sale?

 Regular readers of this blog always recognise when daily life becomes extra busy for its author.  And here we are within six days of the end of the month and no new blogs have appeared.  However, hopefully time will be made up with two before the end of day 30.

First up, a thought or two about a key section of the draft District Plan.  It's the question of additional housing, of course; such is the perennial issue which has been much discussed at least as far back as the end of World War Two!  For the first three decades the City Council used its collective magnifying glass in the earth for suitable blocks of land, large or small, which lay inside its boundary.  During the same period the Rural District Council found itself in a similar position, with a dire need for new rural housing.  The city's major constraint was the joint boundary between the two authorities; the principle constraint of the Rural District was the dominant straight-jacket of the Metropolitan Green Belt.

With the re-allocation of boundaries and the absorption of rural authorities into their neighbouring urban, town and city counterparts, the City Council bore the brunt of land searches for building on its own.  Since when the focus as been on re-use of previously developed land rather than prime green space.

The end for Butterwick farm came with demolition of the homestead, as the gravel which lay below was far more valuable.

It is probably not surprising that a sizeable chunk of previously used land (for gravel workings) remains dormant: the previously ancient manorial farm of Butterwick, which was first "interfered with" when the Hatfield & St Albans Railway Company first drove its path between the two towns in the 19th century and thus split the farm into two, leaving a rump between the railway and the Hatfield road;  the main acreage being swallowed for post-war rebuilding.  But it wasn't only Butterwick which was affected; its neighbour was Smallford Farm, adjacent to Colney Heath Lane.  

The delightful Smallford farm homestead.

At intervals came applications to extend the gravel workings nearer to existing homes in the vicinity of Colney Heath Lane; or applications to develop land for housing which would front onto the lane.  Which brings us to a recent push onto land "north of Boissy Close".  Now, if you walk along the short Close you will discover a gated end, so why would you not extend the housing?  Except, of course it is the gateway to an expansive open landscape which people frequently enjoy, and equally accept the greater landscape had been proposed for a small football stadium with parking, and more recently for a solar farm. No doubt other proposals too.

A small collection of homes off Colney Heath Lane at Bossy Close.  There was nothing to prevent the building of more homes beyond this gate, it appeared.  But that is not the same as the current planning potential for the land beyond.  Discussions continue.

Of course, there is plenty of finger-wagging because no-one appears to fully understand just what material had been dumped when the gravel pits were filled in.  Suffice it to say, the land is large enough to attract attention "because it is there".

Another much smaller block of land on the northern side of the former railway and accessed from Hatfield Road currently belongs to Glinwell Salads.  The main site at Smallford roundabout was first developed by Nielsons, a market gardening enterprise which moved from the upper Lea Valley, driven out by Victorian and Edward North London housing; this is the block now occupied by Glinwell Salads.  Whereas Nielson occupied the land sensibly and with a good margin all round, Glinwell's rebuilt glasshouses and have maxed out the site fairly effectively.  And as it still required more growing space a few years ago it acquired the land next door which had lain dormant since being vacated by Ballito Hosiery Mill's Sports Ground.

Behind the former fence at the old Ballito sports ground remained the  sign board until recent years.  
The sign board is believed to remain in the custody of St Albans Museums.

Quite who placed the concrete blocks in front of the turn in is unknown.  But possibly the council
felt the new green fencing was too temporary and may even have been to prevent unauthorised
work from taking place.

Aha, more glasshouses perhaps.  Through a part of the newly acquired site flows Smallford Brook, the southern extension of Boggy Mead Spring on the north side of Hatfield Road.  Early work soon after acquisition began on adjusting the stream course to maximise the ground available for growing. But if you are a regular traveller along Hatfield Road you will have observed its boundary fence has remained temporary and visibility from beyond the site is limited by a green screen mesh, quite unlike the permanent fencing further east.  More to the point, no further work appears to have taken place.  Is this the land which the company may wish to relinquish?  Twenty hectares are mentioned in the District Plan.  We wonder what will happen next.

Green District Plan

 If you have downloaded the file elements which comprise St Albans District Plan Consultation you will have discovered the wide range of component parts.  It is not possible to include a summary for all  these within a single post – and in any case no-one would make use of it to assist them in the consultation process, particularly the afternoon/evening sessions which are being held in various locations during September.

Treat this post instead as a series of observations if perusing the Open Space Study which is part of the package.  Remember, the Study includes comparisons in all of the districts of the city, although  this blog is mainly interested in content forming part of the city's own east end (generally – though not exclusively – the historic parish of St Peter).

We are tempted to focus on the most well-known named open spaces such as Clarence Park. So let's begin there. The Study throughout quantifies the ranges of facilities in each space; if you like, the reason we might give for making a visit; and a limited range of support services, such as signage, bench seats and bins which form the basis of  an open space's percentage score compared with other local spaces.  Where it is deemed necessary (not only necessarily desirable) toilets are included, as are interpretation and other information panels.  But part of the assessment should probably have included the quality of the space's features.  Simply listing "toilets" does not help if they do not function to a good standard, are only open part-time or are not welcoming to use.  Yes, there maybe useful pathways, but they are less useful if sections are considered trip hazards.  A key feature of a park such as Clarence is its ability to foster relaxation, which might include a cafe or snack zone; and while there is certainly a restaurant eatery on the Crown boundary (a facility incidentally considered to be outside of the park even though it makes much use of the grassed space inside, a cafe more at the heart of family activity would place the venue much higher on visitors' satisfaction list, including a location where children can be supervised nearby by their parents.  There used to be such a refreshment kiosk many decades ago, but we are now left with a grassed triangle instead, presumably because that was cheaper.

But Clarence Park's quality and quantity provision is much enhanced in other ways – the courts zone is popular and busy, as is the popular Clarence Play children's zone.  Even above those the attractiveness of  tree cover which the park provides is a welcoming presence whenever visitors are drawn to the Park.

The same or similar criteria appear to be applied to smaller open spaces too.  Fleetville Rec these days is referred to as Fleetville Park, even on some maps, while Longacres is called an Open Space, Cunningham has Green Space in its title, while The Wick is just called The Wick, although maps name it Local Nature Reserve, even though a significant area serves the same function as other recreation grounds. William Bell is a Playground, while nearby is Sherwood Recreation Ground.  Why do many green spaces have such different descriptions in their titles?

Maybe there is some confusion about their functions, the expectations of their users and therefore the responsibilities of the authorities and any trusts who look after them.  Essentially, recreation grounds were created as open spaces for children or adults to breathe fresh air and engage in informal activity.  Historically they tended to be equipped only with a set of swings and the occasional cone (witch's hat)!  In more recent decades an area of hardstanding with a basketball/netball post and maybe a pair of goalposts may have appeared, or even a full multi-lined court.  A soft surfaced playdeck for young children may have been added, or sponsored, while the antithesis of activity space has occasionally arrived in the form of a youth shelter.  A store or changing room, and sometimes toilets my be provided but are far from universal.  In this feature level of open space the main maintenance issues are related to "unusual wear and tear", or vandalism.  

In the Study 'recs', as they are affectionally known, are graded on the same scale as other open spaces, so popularity, facilities and signage are often key to where they appear on the scale, even if that is not appropriate.

What is missing from the Study is the opportunity for any kind of open space, whether park, rough open space, pocket park, lane, footpath or even a forgotten piece of spare land between buildings, to appeal for what it offers towards our well being: calm, contemplation, reading,  conversation with a friend or other relaxing use of our time.  There are reasons why they are on a list but they  should not be graded uniformly with other open spaces for the provision or not of bins, benches and signage.

Next time we'll locate a number of more contemplative green spaces of value to us in our everyday lives.  In the meantime look out for them in your wanderings.