Central Park East Ham

Central Park, on High Street South in East Ham, is the area's main green space: a Victorian park opened in 1898 with ornamental gardens, a bowling green, tennis courts, water play, a café and the East Ham war memorial, normally open from dawn to dusk.

A Victorian park at the heart of East Ham

The park was created from Manor Farm grazing land and the grounds of Rancliffe House, an early 18th-century house bought by East Ham Urban District Council in 1896 to give the fast-growing town a recreation ground. It opened on 5 July 1898 and covers about 9.9 hectares. The ornamental gardens along its northern edge survive largely as first laid out, and a restoration funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund was completed in 2007.

The park also houses the East Ham war memorial, which honours more than 1,600 East Ham people killed in the First World War and is the focus of Remembrance Sunday in the town. Close by, East Ham Town Hall, completed in 1903 at the corner of Barking Road and High Street South, is a Grade II* listed building and now Newham Town Hall.

The park and its facilities

Central Park offers a variety of amenities for visitors of all ages:

• a play area with water features, and a basketball practice hoop
• a bowling green with its own bowls club, and tennis courts
• flower beds, an ornamental pond and fountain
• a history trail and tree trail, with history boards in the café
• public toilets in the café, and wheelchair access including some play equipment

The park is used for community events, from open-air theatre to large summer concerts organised by the council, and it has its own Friends of Central Park group.

Getting there and other parks nearby

Accessing Central Park is simple. East Ham station, on the District and Hammersmith & City lines, is about half a mile away. The East Ham / Central Park bus stop is served by several routes, including the 58, 101, 115 and 474; check TfL's Journey Planner for current routes.

Other green spaces are worth a walk too. Plashet Park lies to the north of East Ham, and East Ham Nature Reserve, in the churchyard of the Norman church of St Mary Magdalene, is to the south. Beckton District Park and West Ham Park, looked after by the City of London Corporation, are bigger spaces within easy reach by bus.