Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
If you would like to write a summary for this topic, email phil [at] gyford [dot] com
Wikipedia
St. James's Park is a 23 hectare (58 acre) park in Westminster, central London, the oldest of the Royal Parks of London.[1] The park lies at the Southernmost tip of the St. James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St. James the Less.
St. James's Park is bounded by Buckingham Palace to the West, The Mall and St. James's Palace to the North, Horse Guards to the East, and Birdcage Walk to the South. The park has a small lake, St. James's Park Lake, with two islands, Duck Island (named for the lake's collection of waterfowl), and West Island. A bridge across the lake affords a Westward view of Buckingham Palace framed by trees and fountains, and a view of the main building of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, similarly framed, to the East.
The park is the most easterly of a near-continuous chain of parks that also comprise (moving Westward) Green Park, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. The closest London Underground stations are St. James's Park, Victoria, and Westminster.
[edit] History
In 1532, Henry VIII purchased the area of swampy marshland, often flooded by the Tyburn, from Eton College. This land lay to the West of York Palace, recently acquired by Henry from Cardinal Wolsey; it was purchased in order to turn York Palace into a dwelling fit for a King. On James I's accession to the throne in 1603, he ordered the park drained and landscaped, and kept various exotic animals in the park, including camels, crocodiles, and an elephant, as well as aviaries of exotic birds along the south.
During Charles II's exile in France under the Commonwealth of England, the young king was impressed by the elaborate gardens at French royal palaces, and on his ascension had the park redesigned in a more formal style, probably by the French landscaper André Mollet. This included the creation of the 775 by 38 metre (850 by 42 yard) canal visible in the old plan shown to the right. Charles II opened the park to the public, as well as using the area to entertain guests and mistresses, such as Nell Gwyn. The park was notorious at the time as a meeting place for acts of degeneracy, of which John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester wrote in his poem A Ramble in St. James's Park.
The 18th century saw further changes, including the reclamation of part of the canal for Horse Guards Parade and the 1761 purchase of Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace) by the Royal Family.
Further remodelling in 1826–7, commissioned by the Prince Regent (later George IV) and overseen by the architect and landscaper John Nash, saw the straight canal's conversion to a more naturally-shaped lake, and formal avenues be rerouted to more romantic winding pathways. At the same time, Buckingham House was expanded to create the current palace and Marble Arch was built at its entrance, whilst The Mall was turned into a grand processional route, opened to public traffic 60 years later in 1887, the Marble Arch having been moved to its current location at the junction of Oxford Street and Park Lane in 1851 and replaced with the Victoria Memorial between 1906 and 1924.
[edit] Gallery
 St. James's Park Lake, looking East from the bridge. The Shell Tower and the London Eye can be seen behind the main building of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. |
 St. James's Park Lake, looking North-West. Buckingham Palace can be seen in the background. |
 The park has a variety of bird life, including a small group of pelicans. |
[edit] External links and references
- St. James's Park, official website
- A History of St. James's
Annotations
-
From the Companion:
St. James’s Park. Formed and walled in by Henry VIII, transformed by Charles II and much modified by George IV. The diary has many references to its use by the King and his circle, to the degree of semi-privacy preserved there, and to the great alterations in its lay-out made in the ’60s, but no set of plans of those alterations has yet appeared. It contained at this time a lake and canal, a physic garden and several deer-houses.
-
St James Park was next to St James Palace (now long-gone) and very near to Pepys’ office.
Although there were still open fields nearby, parks were less common. This map shows buildings were beginning to grow around it:
http://instruct.uwo.ca/english/234e/site/lndnmpstjmsprk.html
And this map from about 80 years later, show the Park after its alterations by King Charles 2nd:
http://www.motco.com/Map/81002/SeriesSearchPlatesFullb.asp?mode=query&artist=384&other=359&x=11&y=11
You will find these and other maps at “BACKGROUND INFORMATION / GENERAL REFERENCE / MAPS / MAPS OF LONDON”
-
St James Park and rest of city 173?
“….St. James’s Park is something more than a mile in circumference, and
the form pretty near oval; about the middle of it runs a canal 2,800
feet in length and 100 in breadth, and near it are several other
waters, which form an island that has good cover for the breeding
and harbouring wild ducks and other water-fowl; on the island also
is a pretty house and garden, scarce visible to the company in the
park….. the shining equipage of the soldiery, will find their eyes and ears agreeably entertained by the
horse …”
london 1731 written 17xx Don Manoel Gonzaleshttp://www.flora-source.com/library/610-1.html
Also pages of description of London town . A regular tour guide for “Toute de mondo popoli including the commutors rushing from black fryers ste” It may be 70 years later. London of the 1940’s is closer to SP than changes that have come to be ‘til now (the 21st c), since first I went prancing down the mall to Buck. Pal.
-
St. James’s Palace (now long-gone)
Glyn is somewhat precipitate to describe St. James’s Palace thus, since it still stands, close to St. James’s Park, sandwiched between The Mall and Pall Mall - where it can be seen on the second map referenced by Glyn.
The Palace remains a Royal Residence as well as housing some of the offices of the Royal Household. Further information about the Palace can be found at http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page562.asp
-
Two links about Birdcage Walk and the Decoy during the reign of Charles II
-
the official site of the Park with some history of the birds and a passport picture of a Pelican.
see: http://www.angelfire.com/in/uktravelinfo/stjames.html -
A contemporary anecdote…
“It was […] in St. James’s Park the Duke of York, meeting John Milton one day, asked him if his blindness was not to be regarded as a just punishment from heaven, due to his having written against the martyred king. “If so, sir,” replied the great poet and staunch republican, “what must we think of his majesty’s execution upon a scaffold?” To which question his royal highness vouchsafed no reply.”
From:
“Royalty Restored or London under Charles II”, ch.XIX
References in the diary
- 1660
-
Feb: 3
Mar: 7
Jun: 6, 9
Jul: 22
Sep: 16
Oct: 11
- 1661
-
Mar: 9
Apr: 2
Aug: 17, 18
Sep: 4
- 1662
-
Apr: 6
May: 11
Jul: 27
Sep: 21, 29
Dec: 1, 8, 15, 22
- 1663
-
Jan: 25
Feb: 2, 8
Mar: 9, 13
Apr: 10
May: 10, 15
Jun: 19, 21, 22, 24, 29, 30
Jul: 27
Aug: 13
- 1664
-
Jan: 4
Feb: 22, 24
Mar: 28
Apr: 19, 22, 25, 26
May: 2, 3, 29, 31
Jun: 2, 10, 21, 24
Jul: 7, 18, 20
Aug: 11, 26
- 1665
-
Jan: 3
Feb: 27
Apr: 18, 24