Entrance lodge to Gunnersbury Park

Image: © Marathon Taken: 26 Jun 2013

In 1760, the house and estate of Gunnersbury were purchased for Princess Amelia, favourite daughter of George II. Plans for her to marry Frederic (who later became Frederic the Great of Prussia) came to nothing, and when her father died, Amelia lost her apartments at St James's Palace. She took a house in Hanover Square and bought Gunnersbury House and estate as a country summer retreat. Amelia made Gunnersbury famous with her parties and political intrigues. It was she who landscaped the park in the 18th-century landscape style. The estate was eventually purchased for the nation from the Rothschild family who then owned it, and it was opened to the public by Neville Chamberlain on 21st May 1926, who at the time was Minister of Health. This is one of the entrance lodges to the park. This one is next to Pope's Lane and follows the classical theme seen in other buildings such as the Doric Temple - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3537463 Much more information about Gunnersbury Park, together with a suggested walk, is given at http://repository.excellencegateway.org.uk/fedora/objects/eg:4150/datastreams/DOC/content

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