Park of the week

106. Paradise Park

This park in Holloway has just received a Community Green Flag Award, for the twelfth time. The Friends of Paradise Park say that when their organisation was first set up over ten years ago, a green flag would be almost black after flying for a year in the Islington air but now, a flag is hardly grey. Cutting down on pollution is making a difference.

The park includes a large open grassed area, wildflower and sparrow meadows, outdoor gym, and a table tennis table. There’s also a children’s playground with a water play feature. It’s also home to the Paradise Park Children’s Centre. 

On Boxing Day 1944 at 9.30pm, one of the worst civilian disasters of the Second World War happened in the road where the park is now. People were crowding into the Prince of Wales pub opposite, when the pub received a direct hit from a V2 rocket. These rockets travelled at supersonic speed and, unlike the V1 flying bomb, there was no audible warning. According to records, this one had been launched in Belgium and took just twenty minutes to arrive.  The final death toll was calculated at 68 although some bodies were never recovered. For many years the area now occupied by the park was filled with prefab houses providing shelter for some of the many local families who had lost their homes during the War.
 
The park includes the Mary Tealby garden. This quiet space is maintained by the Friends, who hold weekly gardening sessions. It commemorates Mary Tealby (1801-1865), who set up The Temporary Home for Lost and Starving Dogs where the park now stands. Later, the Home moved to south London and became Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. The garden has a chess table with seats, a recreated traditional hedgerow and wooden sculpture of a dog.

Next to Paradise Park is Freightliners City Farm. This has a café and toilets but there aren’t any in the park itself.  We found space to park on the road. 

Judith Field

Paradise Park, Mackenzie Road London N7 8RB