St. James's Park
St. James's Park is a 23 hectare park that is one of the Royal Parks in London .
Geographical location
It is located in the central London borough of the City of Westminster , near Buckingham Palace and Downing Street . It is bounded to the north by The Mall , to the east by Horse Guards Road and to the south by Birdcage Walk . In the park is the elongated St. James's Park Lake with the islands of Duck Island and West Island .
The park forms the eastern end of a four-kilometer-long strip of greenery in the city center, only interrupted by a few streets: Green Park is to the west , followed by Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens .
South of the park is St. James's Park station on the London Underground , where Circle Line and District Line trains stop.
Picture gallery
Detail from a city map from 1833
Panoramic view to the west
Panoramic view in springtime with Buckingham Palace in the background
Duck Island Cottage
One of the park's many gray squirrels
history
In the area of today's park there was once a swampy meadow. In 1532 King Henry VIII acquired the site, had it converted into a hunting ground for deer and built St James's Palace on the northern edge . The park was opened to the public under King Charles II . In 1837 John Nash redesigned the park from scratch; this is how today's lake emerged from the former canal.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 9 ″ N , 0 ° 8 ′ 0 ″ W.