The London Borough of Camden is arguably the greenest of the Inner London boroughs. This is largely because it contains most of the extensive swathe of land that is Hampstead Heath. But there are also many smaller green spaces, like Primrose Hill. The Central London part of the borough, south of the Euston Road, is characterised by its elegant and historic squares, like Tavistock Square and Bedford Square, and the Regent's Canal (a 'Green Route') runs through the borough, around the top edge of Regent's Park, part of which is also in Camden. (Confusingly, while Highgate Cemetery is in Camden, Highgate Wood is in the neighbouring borough of Haringey.)
Apart from Camden Council, a variety of agencies are responsible for the upkeep of open space in the borough. For example, Hampstead Heath is mostly owned by the City of London Corporation, though the Kenwood House area of the Heath is maintained by English Heritage. Highgate Cemetery is managed by its own trust, Highgate Cemetery Ltd. The Phoenix Garden is managed by an independent charity.
Some open spaces of note:
- Bloomsbury Square
- Brunswick Square
- Camley Street Natural Park (small—0.8 hectares /2 acres) —but interesting nature reserve by the canal at King's Cross)
- Coram's Fields
- Gordon Square
- Hampstead Heath (681 acres (2.8 km²) in Camden, 110 acres (0.4 km²) in next-door Barnet)
- Highgate Cemetery
- Kilburn Grange Park
- Lincoln's Inn Fields (the largest public square in London)
- Phoenix Garden (the only community garden in Soho and Covent Garden)
- Primrose Hill
- Regent's Park (part of)
- Russell Square
- Talacre Gardens ( Home to the biggest gymnastics club in Britain)
- Tavistock Square
- St James' Gardens
- St Martin's Gardens
- St Pancras Old Church Gardens
- Waterlow Park
Famous quotes containing the words spaces, open and/or parks:
“Though there were numerous vessels at this great distance in the horizon on every side, yet the vast spaces between them, like the spaces between the stars,—far as they were distant from us, so were they from one another,—nay, some were twice as far from each other as from us,—impressed us with a sense of the immensity of the ocean, the “unfruitful ocean,” as it has been called, and we could see what proportion man and his works bear to the globe.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I open with a clock striking, to beget an awful attention in the audience—it also marks the time, which is four o’clock in the morning, and saves a description of the rising sun, and a great deal about gilding the eastern hemisphere.”
—Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816)
“Towns are full of people, houses full of tenants, hotels full of guests, trains full of travelers, cafés full of customers, parks full of promenaders, consulting-rooms of famous doctors full of patients, theatres full of spectators, and beaches full of bathers. What previously was, in general, no problem, now begins to be an everyday one, namely, to find room.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)