Oldchurch Park, Romford

Image: © Marathon Taken: 4 May 2016

Oldchurch Park is next to the new Queen's Hospital,which was built in 2006 on part of the land. The area was the site of the original parish church of 1177. In 1410 a new church was built on the site, which itself was replaced in 1850 by the current parish church, St Edward the Confessor, located in Market Place. The remaining land eventually became gravel pits that were worked out and then used for landfill. It was purchased by the Council in 1951 and once it had settled, part of the area was made into a park in 1959. The park was mainly used for sports with pitches, tennis courts and a pavilion constructed between 1963 and 1965. Following the loss of a large part of the park to the new Queen's Hospital in 2006, the new and smaller park consists of a number of raised mounds and a wandering path; there are a few trees especially in the southern part. At the entrances are large round spaces surrounded by concrete benches. There is another concrete circle near the hospital, which is the heliport. The sports fields covered by the hospital have been replaced by equivalent facilities within the London Borough of Havering and the lost open space will be replaced in the new development on the Oldchurch Hospital site to the north of the new hospital. This sliver of park is just to the north of the hospital, close to the entrance from Oldchurch Rise.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0