Lee Valley Regional Park Essay, Research Paper

`Abercrombie’s

1944 Greater London Plan proposed a regional park in the Lee Valley and in 1968

an Authority was formed to make a 37km long park. It reaches from hackney in

the East End of London to Ware in Hertfordshire. Progress has been slow but it

is worth visiting Broxbourne Lido, Waltham Abbey Gardens, the Eastway Cycle

Track and Springfield Marina. Abercrombie wrote that ‘here is a magnificent

opportunity for landscape treatment and tree planting’ but few landscape architects

have worked on the Park. One notable exception is the Markfield Action

Playground designed by Mary Mitchell. A disused sewage works was transformed

into an adventure playground by making the site a free tip until sufficient

subsoil accumulated to create grassed hills, mounds and ridges. The filter beds

provide spaces for roller skating, archery etc. Access from Crowland Road N15,

or from many other places – the park has a length of 23 miles.