General Information

Richmond Park is the largest of London’s Royal Parks, and Britain’s second-largest urban park. It is simultaneously a park, a National Nature Reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation. You can find there numerous foot and cycle paths, viewpoints, gardens, memorials, ponds, streams and a variety of wildlife (including 600 red and fallow deer).

Additional Information

Measuring 955 ha (2360 acres), the park is comparable in size to Paris’s Bois de Vincennes (995 ha, or 2458 acres) and Bois de Boulogne. Richmond Park is enclosed by a high wall with several gates. The gates either allow pedestrian and bicycle access only, or allow both motor vehicle and pedestrian access. The gates for motor vehicle access are open only during daylight hours, and the speed limit is 20 mph. No commercial vehicles apart from taxis are allowed.

Interesting Facts

In the 2012 Summer Olympics the men’s and the women’s cycling road races went through the park and for the 1948 Summer Olympics, an Olympic village was built near Dann’s Pond within the park. Many of the deer in Richmond Park are infected with a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi which can be transmitted to humans through a tick bite causing Lyme disease.

Architecture: Highlights

The park contains some notable buildings. Ten of them, and the whole boundary wall of the park, are Grade II listed buildings. There are also gate lodges at Bishops Gate, Chohole Gate, Kingston Gate, Robin Hood Gate, Roehampton Gate and at Sheen Gate, which also has a bungalow. There are six other houses, apart from the gatehouses.

King Henry’s Mound: Highlights

King Henry’s Mound is the highest point in the park. Named after Henry VIII of England, it was traditionally thought to be the spot where King Henry VIII stood on 19 May 1536 to watch a rocket fired from the Tower of London. This was the signal that his wife, Anne Boleyn, had been executed for treason and he would be able to marry Lady Jane Seymour.

King Henry’s Mound: Explained

The whole story is unlikely to be true because Henry spent that evening in Wiltshire. The mound was probably a prehistoric burial chamber, possibly dating from the Bronze Age, and was later used as a viewpoint for hunting and falconry. From the Mound there is a protected view of St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London, over 16 kilometres to the east, which was established in 1710. To the west is a panorama of the Thames Valley. A telescope is installed on the mound, for a better viewing experience.

Holly Lodge: Highlights

In 1735 Cooper’s Lodge was built on the site of Hill Farm. It was later known as Lucas’ Lodge and Bog Lodge. Bog Lodge was renamed Holly Lodge in 1993 and now contains a visitors’ centre (bookings only), the park’s administrative headquarters and a base for the Metropolitan Police’s Royal Parks Operational Command Unit.

Holly Lodge: Explained

Holly Lodge also includes the Holly Lodge Centre, which aims to advance the education and enjoyment of visitors, in particular people with special needs, in the environment and in the Victorian history and heritage of Richmond Park. The Centre was opened in 1994 by Rolf Harris, who is also a patron. Holly Lodge and the game larder in its courtyard are both Grade II listed.

Thatched House Lodge: Highlights

Thatched House Lodge, which is Grade II listed, was the London home of US General Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II. Since 1963 it has been the residence of Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy. The residence was originally built as two houses in 1673 for two Richmond Park Keepers, and named Aldridge Lodge.

Pembroke Lodge: Highlights

Pembroke Lodge and some associated houses stand in their own garden within the park. In 1847 Pembroke Lodge became the home of the then Prime Minister, Lord John Russell, and was later the childhood home of his grandson, Bertrand Russell. It is now a popular restaurant with views across the Thames Valley. Pembroke Lodge is Grade II listed.

Wildlife: Highlights

Herds of red and fallow deer roam freely within much of the park. The park is also an important refuge for other wildlife, including woodpeckers, squirrels, rabbits, snakes, frogs, toads, stag beetles and many other insects, plus numerous ancient trees and varieties of fungi. It is also particularly notable for its rare beetles.

Wildlife: Explained

A deer cull takes place each November and February to ensure numbers can be sustained. Some deer are also killed in road accidents, through the discarding of litter such as small items of plastic, or by dogs. Richmond Park supports a large population of what are believed to be ring-necked (or rose-ringed) parakeets. These bred from birds that escaped or were freed from captivity.

Ponds and Streams: Highlights

There are about 30 ponds in the park. Some – including Barn Wood Pond, Bishop’s Pond, Gallows Pond, Leg of Mutton Pond, Martin’s Pond and White Ash Pond – have been created to drain the land or to provide water for livestock. Beverley Brook and the two Pen Ponds are the most visible areas of water in the park.

Ponds and Streams: Explained

Beverley Brook rises at Cuddington Recreation Park in Worcester Park and enters the park (where it is followed by the Tamsin Trail and Beverley Walk) at Robin Hood Gate, creating a water feature used by deer, smaller animals and water grasses and some water lilies. The Pen Ponds (which in the past were used to rear carp for food) date from 1746. They were formed when a trench was dug in the early 17th century to drain a boggy area; later in that century this was widened and deepened by the extraction of gravel for local building. The Ponds now take in water from streams flowing from the higher ground around them and release it to Beverley Brook. Most of the streams in the park drain into Beverley Brook, but a spring above Dann’s Pond flows to join Sudbrook on the park boundary. Another stream rises north of Sidmouth Wood and goes through Conduit Wood towards the park boundary near Bog Gate. A separate water system for the Isabella Plantation was developed in the 1950s. Water from the upper Pen Pond is pumped to Still Pond, Thomson’s Pond and Peg’s Pond.