Park of the week

116. Harrington Square Gardens

If I remember right, “Harrington Squares” were a brand of towelling nappy – at least when my elder daughter was a baby and I used them. However, this Harrington Square is a garden square in Camden Town, next to Mornington Crescent Underground station.

It’s actually a triangle, with grade 2 listed building along one side. in the middle is Harrington Square Gardens which is a public green space. The garden is mostly filled with a large rough lawn, with a circular path running through the centre. There are a lot of tall London Plane trees, and in the centre of the lawn, a young oak tree planted in 2000, and a plaque notes that it’s the 2000th tree of the Millennium Tree Planting Project. There are benches, but no café or toilets.
Harrington Square was originally part of the Duke of Bedford's estate. Under a Special Act of Parliament of 1800, the garden enclosure was to be kept as open space. It was laid out in 1843, when the neighbouring Southampton Estate was turned from fields into houses. It was originally part of a pair of squares, with Mornington Crescent Gardens on the other side of Hampstead Road.

The crescent is no longer a park, as in 1926, the Carreras cigarette factory, with its Egyptian frontage was built on it. It’s said to have been inspired by the Egyptian temple of the cat-goddess Bast. In 1998 the factory was converted to offices and is now named Greater London House. My daughter Laura worked there for a year. Other famous inhabitants of Harrington square include Alexander Graham Bell, and Oliver Lodge, a physicist who was involved in the development of radio.

It was the loss of Mornington Crescent park next to Harrington Square that led to the creation of the 1931 London Squares Preservation Act, which is why Harrington Square survives as a park for the local residents.
I imagine it’s difficult to park in the area, but it’s only about a 5-minute walk from Mornington Crescent station.

Judith Field

Harrington Square, London NW1 2JJ