London's Parks and Green Spaces

Richmond Park

Royal park Viewpoint

Description

Richmond Park is the largest of London's Royal Parks. It is the second-largest park in London (after the 10,000 acre Lee Valley Park, whose area extends beyond the M25 into Hertfordshire and Essex ) and is Britain's second-largest urban walled park after Sutton Park, Birmingham. Measuring 3.69 square miles (955 hectares or 2,360 acres ), it is comparable in size to Paris 's Bois de Vincennes (995 ha or 2,458 ac) and Bois de Boulogne (846 ha or 2,090 ac). It is almost half the size of Casa de Campo ( Madrid ) (1750 ha or 4324.34 ac) and around three times the size of Central Park in New York (341 ha or 843 ac). Status [ edit ] Of national and international importance for wildlife conservation, Richmond Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a National Nature Reserve (NNR) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The largest Site of Special Scientific Interest in London, it was designated as an SSSI in 1992, excluding the area of the golf course, Pembroke Lodge Gardens and the Gate Gardens. In its citation, Natural England said: "Richmond Park has been managed as a royal deer park since the seventeenth century, producing a range of habitats of value to wildlife. In particular, Richmond Park is of importance for its diverse deadwood beetle fauna associated with the ancient trees found throughout the parkland. In addition the Park supports the most extensive area of dry acid grassland in Greater London." The park was designated as an SAC in April 2005 on account of its having "a large number of ancient trees with decaying timber. It is at the heart of the south London centre of distribution for stag beetle Lucanus cervus, and is a site of national importance for the conservation of the fauna of invertebrates associated with the decaying timber of ancient trees". Since October 1987 the park has also been included, at Grade I, on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England, being described in Historic England 's listing as "A royal deer park with pre C15 origins, imparked by Charles I and improved by subsequent monarchs. A public open space since the mid C19". Geography [ edit ] Richmond Park is located in the London Borough of Richmond. It is close to Richmond, Ham, Kingston upon Thames, Wimbledon, Roehampton and East Sheen. Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames Coombe, Kingston Vale

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royalparks.org.uk/parks/richmond-park/visitor-information

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