Acton Park Articles
The Origins of Acton Park
By 1881 Acton had over 17,000 people. Houses had sprung up all over, following the re-distribution of all the old strips in the Common Fields. Luckily there were a few places still not very developed. The Goldsmiths Company had bought 8 acres of the old Church Field which now forms the West part of the Park. There was a 6 acre area called Pond Field in what is now the NE corner, used by the Manor Farm. What is now the SE corner was a 7.5 acre market garden worked by John Reeves who later lived in Acacia House, Centre Avenue.
The Local Board – Acton’s equivalent of the Local Authority – searched for a site for recreation for the people of Acton and this seemed the best available. The Rector thought it was too far from the centre and the Ratepayers Association complained about the expense but at a special meeting in February 1888, the Board took the plunge. The cost would be £23,300, less a £5000 donation from the Goldsmiths Company towards laying out. The Local Government Board agreed a loan of £22,100 and Cheals, a firm in Crawley, Sussex, was given the job. 3000 people turned up for the opening in July 1889.
The Park was popular for special celebrations – for the 1897 Diamond Jubilee 5000 schoolchildren made a procession to the Park - to be presented with a mug, orange, cake, biscuits and sweets! The Coronations of 1902 and 1911 also saw big events in the Park.
The Lodge and the Chalet
Tenders for the Lodge were discussed by the Council in January 1903. The Council’s Surveyor’s estimate was £415 and they agreed to accept Mr. G. Bollom’s tender for £420. The eventual cost was £446. To give you an idea, a semi-detached house in London in 1913 would have cost about £600. The Lodge was built alongside work on gymnastic apparatus, set up just to the North of the Lodge, and the Council’s loan in March 1903 from the Local Government Board for £600 covered both jobs.
Mr. Bollom had already built the Chalet, now the Park Café, 3 years before. The Council had wanted a refreshment café and public conveniences. The proposal caused much debate with the Ratepayers Association putting an alternative of combining the café with the proposed Lodge and giving the Park Keeper the privilege of selling penny buns! But the Council went ahead and applied to borrow £1060 from the Local Government Board for building the chalet. At the Inquiry, the LGB Inspector heard all points of view. Mr Gibbinson, one of the objectors, queried how many people used the Park – you could take “a company of the best shots in the Army and fire across the Park and not hit anyone!” he said. The Council’s Vice-Chairman disagreed – hundreds of people used the Park in the summer and the conveniences were badly needed. Following the Inquiry, the loan was agreed and the chalet went ahead.
The Park Keeper
Mr Golding was the Park Keeper. He was paid 21s a week to start with; by 1904 this was 27s but out of this he had to pay 10s a week rent for the Lodge. By 1905 the Council had agreed he should be paid £1 a week but have the Lodge rent free. This sort of wage compared with a railway clerk (£1 10s), general foreman (£2 5s) and a coal miner (£1 15s). It was most comparable with a police constable (£1-5s). He wanted to extend his annual holiday to 2 weeks in 1902 – 2 Councillors spoke up for him and this was agreed by 4-2.
His main duties were to keep order and to open and close the gates every day. Agreement for the railings and gates to be built had been given in November 1902. With the job went an impressive outfit. Tenders were submitted in May 1903 for a serge suit and uniform trousers. Mr. W. Lloyd of 176 High Street as awarded the job but it was left to Councillor Poulton to sort out the selection of cloth. The uniform cost £1 4s. So impressive was it that the Acton Philanthropic Society hired Mr. Golding to act as Door Keeper at their Annual Ball.
The job was no sinecure and, as the Acton Gazette reports; there was “trouble with boys”! In June 1900, 2 boys from Myrtle Road were hauled up before the Council for being in the Park after hours. They had hid in the Park and were caught by the policeman’s wife. The boys made their apologies and no further action was taken. Similarly, the parents of 2 boys were written to about picking flowers in the Park. By 1904 an Assistant Park Keeper was needed – tenders were considered for his coat, badge and jacket. By October 1904 an arrangement was made for a police constable to be on duty in the summer months to “assist the Park Keeper in his work” from 9am till 2.30pm.
Activities in the Park
The Chalet had been put up, serving refreshments but George MacDonald who rented it was having trouble with burglaries. At one point he reported £3 10s of goods had been stolen. The Council agreed to put bars on the windows. The Clerk of the Council wrote to the railway company to ask them to put up better fencing on the North West corner but they were “unable to comply”. It was no surprise that a new tenant, Mr G. Nethercott of 8 Churchfield Road, took over the chalet in 1904.
The Bandstand, on what is now the flower bed below the café, was there almost from the start. The Acton Town Band wrote to the Council to play there on Sunday afternoons, 3-5pm and at the North East corner, beyond the cricket pitch from 6 till 8pm on a wooden platform. The Acton Temperance Society was not happy and appealed to the Committee to alter the finish time to 7.45pm so as not to interfere with church services. The Surveyor was instructed to change the times but when it came to the full Council meeting 2 Councillors successfully moved to keep the original times.
The Annual Flower Show, run by the Acton Horticultural Show was a big event in the Park. The 36th Show in 1903 featured the usual exhibition tents of fruit, vegetables, flowers, and cut flowers; with a VIPs lunch for Councillors and exhibition judges. The East London Royal Engineers Band provided the music. Afternoon entertainments were provided by Almar’s troupe of wonderful cats and dogs; J H Leader, the original tramp trick cyclist; Miss Lily Ranietta who charmed the audience with her graceful feats of equipoise on the revolving globe; and the Gartielis, American musical eccentric comedians. There was also an old English Fair held for the second year on one of the gravel spaces. Horticultural prizes were presented by the Duke of Richelieu. The evening was rounded off with dancing on the lawn from 8pm to the music of Mr. F. E. Baker’s Blue Viennese Band. The Show closed at 10pm.
There was at least one cricket pitch in the North East corner and also football pitches. Organisations wrote to the Council to book their slots for the season and the Surveyor was asked to “make arrangements” – perhaps there was a role here for the Park Keeper as well.
The Derwentwater Monument came to prominence. In September 1903, Mr. Kerven, a local builder offered the Council the obelisk which was currently on his building estate in Horn Lane. The Council accepted the offer and after a site visit ordered trial holes to be dug on its present site. Jordans & Co won the tender to move and erect the monument for £25 and the Surveyor was asked to do the foundations for £7 15s. There was no mention at that time of the plaque that records a rather inaccurate history of the obelisk.
What about Park Maintenance?
This was separate from the Park Keeper’s job. Mr. G. Brown had the contract from September 1903- Sept 1904. In June 1904 the Council decided on a scheme to create a Parks Department, headed by a Superintendent to look after all Acton’s Open Spaces and gardening operations – all for a salary of £2 a week. It included seeing that grass was mowed, shrubs pruned, flower beds weeded etc. Charles Brown was offered the job from September 1904 but turned it down. Instead a temporary appointment was given to Mr. Venn of 10 Priory Villas, Avenue Road, so beginning the long involvement of the Venn family with Acton Park.
Floreat Actona
Acton Park Lodge and Acton Park were all part of putting Acton on the map, establishing Acton as an Edwardian town, proud of its achievements. The park was a centrepiece for big events. Now with new regeneration and Acton Action, perhaps its time to recycle the old Acton motto, Floreat Actona – May Acton Flourish!
Sources: Acton Council and Committee Minutes; Acton Gazette; “Acton Park – a Short History” by A&T Harper Smith, 2001
