Park of the week

202. Little Dorrit Park

This small sheltered green space in Southwark, with grass, benches and a playground, is named after Little Dorrit in Charles Dickens’ novel of that name, the daughter of the character who was associated with nearby Marshalsea Debtors’ Prison.  The book was based on Dickens' childhood memories of his father's time in the prison. The prison closed in 1842, after which the site had  been Falcon Court, “a horrible rookery of tumble-down dirty hovels”.

It was created as a children's playground and was opened in 1902 at a ceremony accompanied by music from the North London Prize Band. The Thompson’s Weekly News of 2nd February 1902 said that the site, “if not actually the site of the old Marshalsea Prison,,,adjoins it, and was certainly crossed and recrossed by hundreds of poor debtors and their families.” The journalist also wondered “how many of the juveniles who will junket in the new playground will inform themselves of the origin of the name, and ask at the nearest public library for a copy of the novel?”
Possibly because of this connection to the prison, the park is an Archaeological Priority Zone. 

Improvement works were carried out in 2010 by the Little Dorrit Park Group, set up by group of local mothers. Works included playground improvements and landscaping and the park is supported by Bankside Open Spaces Trust, a charity that maintains and promotes green spaces in Southwark and funded by Borough & Bankside Community Council's Greener Cleaner Safer initiative. BOST director said that “a lot of local children live in flats and don't have access to a garden, in summer there's 100 kids in the park at 3.30pm so it needs to sustain a lot of people."
The great, great, great, great grand-daughter of Charles Dickens, Lucinda Dickens-Hawksley, said: "It is wonderful to see Charles Dickens still being commemorated in Southwark, an area that was so important to him. This garden is a superb addition to the Bankside area, especially as it is so important to ensure that London's children have enough green spaces to play in."

Further design work is planned for later this year.

Judith Field

Little Dorrit Park, Marshalsea Road SE1 1EB