Transcribed from the 1873 Shaw and Sons edition by DavidPrice,
PRIVATE CIRCULATION.
PRIMROSE HILL PARK,
REGENT’S PARK,
AND
HAMPSTEAD HEATH.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY SHAW AND SONS, FETTER LANE, E.C.
1873.
p.3PREFACE.
The main object sought to beattained in this correspondence was to induce the Government topurchase two plots of land adjoining Primrose Hill Park, togetherabout eighteen acres, that space may be given to a great andrapidly-increasing population for football and cricket. Itis probable most persons who know the wants of the district willbe of opinion that it is very desirable this should bedone. Every summer’s evening there is, in the smallspace of ground now available in the Regent’s Park,over-crowding and a badly made game. Many who wish to playcannot for want of room, and two fine boys, about fourteen yearsof age, complained that they were frequently hit, and the ballscrossed each other so closely that they did not know their ownball. But another proposal was incidentally mentioned, uponwhich there cannot be the same unanimity. It is suggestedthat a road should be made from the top of Portland Place forequestrians, carriages, and cabs through the Regent’s Park,and then to some part of Hampstead Heath. If any oneconsidering this question will stand at the top of Portland Placeand imagine the same carried on straight through the park, andthen, as far as now can be done, a park-like road made to theHeath, and reflect how charming and healthy such a drive and ridemust be, with the bracing air and beautiful views on all sides,easy and pleasant of access, he, perhaps, may think the schemeworthy of very careful investigation.
p. 4Those whoare acquainted with Paris know the extraordinary change for thebetter effected when a new and direct road was carried from theArc de L’Etoile to the Bois de Boulogne, and it is to bepresumed that improvements will, without loss of time, be made inHampstead Heath, and, as in the Bois de Boulogne, suitable ridesand drives created. The natural advantages of the situationare in favour of London as compared with Paris, and it is not toomuch to say, if proper use is made of them, that, as a whole,Regent’s Park, Primrose Hill Park, and Hampstead Heathwill, for all the purposes that parks are formed, be unsurpassedin Europe.
But to open the park at Portland Place may require an Act ofParliament, and many may think the Regent’s Park is best asit is; nevertheless, the extreme beauty of a road through thecentre of the Regent’s Park, in addition to being so muchnearer, ought to be a consideration. It will shorten thedrive to Primrose Hill going and returning, over the presentroute, nearly a mile; but should this not be deemed sufficientreason for the change, then it may be desirable to make acarriage bridge over the canal instead of the present foot bridgeat the end of the Broad Walk, opening into the Albert Road at St.Mark’s Church and close by Primrose Hill.
Should public opinion approve this scheme there is no reasonto suppose the Government will offer any opp