The inner London borough of Wandsworth contains some 670 hectares (1,700 acres) of green space in the form of parks, commons, allotments and cemeteries, which is the largest proportion for any London borough.
At 92 hectares (230 acres), the continuous green swathe of the Tooting Commons in the south of the borough, between Balham and Streatham, is Wandsworth's largest public open space. It is followed by the more central 83-hectare (210-acre) Battersea Park, on the River Thames in the north of the borough. Wandsworth Common, to the south of Clapham Junction, is the third largest park, at 73 hectares (180 acres).
Wimbledon and Putney Commons are very large open spaces, 479 hectares (1,180 acres) in total, partly within the borough, to the south of Putney and Roehampton, and are managed by a board of Conservators rather than any individual borough.
King George's Park is a 23-hectare (57-acre) stretch of green space along the western side of the River Wandle, just south of Wandsworth town centre. It is one of a string of green spaces along the Wandle Valley, along with Garratt Park in Earlsfield and Lambeth Cemetery in Tooting.
Remaining green spaces in the borough include Falcon Park in Battersea (a green space enclosed within a railway junction), Wandsworth Park (a Grade II listed park on the River Thames between Wandsworth and Putney), Roehampton Golf Course, Central London Golf Centre, the western half of Clapham Common, Wandsworth Cemetery, Streatham Cemetery and York Gardens, along with a whole host of smaller spaces.
Famous quotes containing the words parks, open and/or spaces:
“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 (18831955)
“But when with moving accents thou
Shalt constant faith and service vow,
Thy Celia shall receive those charms
With open ears, and with unfolded arms.”
—Thomas Carew (15891639)
“Surely, we are provided with senses as well fitted to penetrate the spaces of the real, the substantial, the eternal, as these outward are to penetrate the material universe. Veias, Menu, Zoroaster, Socrates, Christ, Shakespeare, Swedenborg,these are some of our astronomers.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)