Edgwarebury Park is a large park in Edgware

Edgware

Edgware is an area in London, situated north-northwest of Charing Cross. It forms part of both the London Borough of Barnet and the London Borough of Harrow. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....

 in the London Borough of Barnet

London Borough of Barnet

The London Borough of Barnet is a London borough in North London and forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 331,500 and covers . It borders Hertfordshire to the north and five other London boroughs: Harrow and Brent to the west, Camden and Haringey to the south-east and Enfield to the...

. It was once part of the manor of Earlsbury, and the earliest reference to it is in a Royal Writ of 1216. There is still evidence of the older landscape of fields and woodland. Hendon Rural District

Hendon Rural District

Hendon was a rural district in Middlesex, England from 1894 to 1934.The rural district was established in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894, consisting of the following parishes:...

 and Middlesex County Council

Middlesex County Council

Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965.The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the county to constitute the County of London...

 bought the land around 1930, and the park opened in 1932. It is now owned and managed by Barnet Council

Barnet London Borough Council

Barnet London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Barnet in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Barnet is divided into 21 wards, each electing three councillors...

.

The park has extensive sports facilities, a playground and ornamental gardens. During the 1990s, Watling Chase Community Forest

Watling Chase

Watling Chase is a community forest of 72 square miles.. It is located to the north of London, England around the towns of Potters Bar, St. Albans, Bushey, Borehamwood and Barnet...

 planted a new block of woodland in the north east corner. Edgwarebury Brook runs down the western side, with Edgware Way Grassland

Edgware Way Grassland

Edgware Way Grassland is a Local Nature Reserve, a Site of Metropolitan Importance, in Edgware in the London Borough of Barnet. It is traversed by a stream and includes an unused railway embankment, and the Environment Agency's Edgwarebury Park Flood Storage Area.The reserve is typical unimproved...

 adjacent.

Edgwarebury Park is a Local Nature Reserve

Local Nature Reserve

Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...

, its most distinctive feature being its magnificent old hedgerows. Fine old oak

Oak

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

 and ash trees tower over the bushes, and the wild service-tree is an indicator of the hedgerows' antiquity. The park is an excellent site for birdwatching. Species include song thrush

Song Thrush

The Song Thrush is a thrush that breeds across much of Eurasia. It is also known in English dialects as throstle or mavis. It has brown upperparts and black-spotted cream or buff underparts and has three recognised subspecies...

, mistle thrush

Mistle Thrush

The Mistle Thrush is a member of the thrush family Turdidae.It is found in open woods and cultivated land over all of Europe and much of Asia...

, great spotted woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

The Great Spotted Woodpecker , Dendrocopos major, is a bird species of the woodpecker family . It is distributed throughout Europe and northern Asia, and usually resident year-round except in the colder parts of its range...

 and whitethroat

Whitethroat

The Common Whitethroat, Sylvia communis, is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds throughout Europe and across much of temperate western Asia. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, and winters in tropical Africa, Arabia and Pakistan.This is one of several Sylvia species...

.

There is access from Edgware Way and Edgwarebury Lane.

External links

• Edgwarebury Community Woodland on the VisitWoods website