General Information

Camley Street Natural Park, an urban nature reserve in King’s Cross in central London and within the London borough of Camden, is a sanctuary for wildlife and an education centre, forming a type of “oasis”. The park covers 0.8 hectares (2 acres), and is run by the London Wildlife Trust, which caters for casual visitors and school parties, though tours must be booked.

Additional Information

In shape, the park is a narrow strip of land bounded by the canal, Camley Street and Goods Way. The entrance is through an ornate gate on Camley Street. Admission to the park is free. Its opening hours and days change with the funding it is able to win. The park is immediately opposite the high-level lines of High Speed 1 (high speed railway), running into St Pancras Station.

Ecology and Wildlife: Highlights

A variety of habitats coexist in the park’s small environs (including wetlands, meadow and woodland), which attract insects, amphibians, birds, and at least six species of mammals. Over 300 higher plants have been found at the site; these include common broomrape (Orobanche minor), hairy buttercup (Ranunculus sardous) and common spotted orchid.

Ecology and Wildlife: Explained

The site is divided into the following habitats: a summer-flowering meadow, a pond with varying water level, dependent on the canal water level, marshland with reed bed, coppiced woodland, deciduous woodland, mixed woodland with scrub, mixed woodland with hedgerow, dipping pond (with boardwalk), and rainwater ponds. Meadow herbs include white clover and poppy. Woodland trees include hazel, rowan, hawthorn and silver birch. Hazel and willow are coppiced regularly. Woodland herbs include lesser celandine and wild violet. Marshland herbs include marsh marigold, greater pond sedge, pendulous sedge, reed, bogbean, mallow and yellow iris. Marsh-nesting birds include reed bunting, moorhen, coot and reed warbler.

History: Highlights

Until the 17th century the area of the park was part of the Middlesex woodlands. In the 18th century it came under industrial use, and the Regent’s Canal was built along the eastern edge of the former country estate. In the 19th century the area was used as a coal siding, first for the canal boats and then for the Midland Railway.

History: Explained

The site became derelict by the 1970s. In 1984, Camden Borough Council assigned the nascent London Wildlife Trust to manage the site. The park opened in 1985. In 2008, King’s Cross Central started to plan a major development to the east and south of the park, with a footbridge across the Regent’s Canal into the park.

Challenges and Threats: Highlights

Much of the old industrial surroundings of the park are being redeveloped as part of the plans for King’s Cross Central, following the completion of the High Speed 1 railway construction work in 2007. This should increase the park’s popularity, but whether such a small space is able to cope with a large increase in visitors remains to be seen.