"A Concise History of our Great British Parks" - a Lecture by Paul Rabbitts

Dive into the stories and secrets behind Britain’s most iconic parks and see them in a whole new light. This talk looks into the history of the great British park. Paul Rabbitts will cover their origins, their Victorian heyday, their decline in the sixties and seventies and the more recent revival of parks arising from a renewed appreciation of their value. What makes a great park will be discussed and examples will be provided of key park features, including lodges, lakes, bandstands, fountains and floral displays. This is a highly illustrative talk accompanied by slides with examples of parks from across the UK and their designs and architecture. Paul Rabbitts is a landscape architect and parks manager who has designed, managed and restored urban parks for over twenty-five years. He has a specific interest in bandstands and has assisted in restoration projects nationwide as well as writing a book on bandstands in 2011. That book was followed by a range of books on other landscape and architecture topics including Royal Parks, Great British Parks and ‘Parkitecture’, Grinling Gibbons, Sir Christopher Wren and Decimus Burton. His most recent book is called 'People's Parks - The Design and Development of Public Parks in Britain', published in 2023. Directions by car: From the A12, take the B1002 exit at junction 15 to Harlow/Chelmsford/A414/Margaretting. Follow the B1002 for 2.2 miles to the Community Centre on the south side of the road. Parking: The centre has a 70 space Pay and Display Car Park which charges £1.50 for 2 hours and £2.25 for 4 hours (card payments only). What3words?: large.heave.chose Accessibility: The community centre has a dedicated disabled toilet, automatic doors and disabled parking spaces.