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 parks, open and/or spaces:
“Perhaps our own woods and fields,—in the best wooded towns, where we need not quarrel about the huckleberries,—with the primitive swamps scattered here and there in their midst, but not prevailing over them, are the perfection of parks and groves, gardens, arbors, paths, vistas, and landscapes. They are the natural consequence of what art and refinement we as a people have.... Or, I would rather say, such were our groves twenty years ago.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Let a man learn to look for the permanent in the mutable and fleeting; let him learn to bear the disappearance of things he was wont to reverence; without losing his reverence; let him learn that he is here, not to work, but to be worked upon; and that, though abyss open under abyss, and opinion displace opinion, all are at last contained in the Eternal Cause.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In any case, raw aggression is thought to be the peculiar province of men, as nurturing is the peculiar province of women.... The psychologist Erik Erikson discovered that, while little girls playing with blocks generally create pleasant interior spaces and attractive entrances, little boys are inclined to pile up the blocks as high as they can and then watch them fall down: “the contemplation of ruins,” Erikson observes, “is a masculine specialty.””
—Joyce Carol Oates (b. 1938)