Short History of Waterlow

The original grounds of the Tudor mansion, later called Lauderdale House,together with Pond field,bought by William Bond in 1611,comprise the major part of the present Waterlow Park. The oldest plan which has so far come to light is that made in 1763 for Matthew Knapp of Little Linford ,Buckinghamshire,whose wife had inherited the estate three years earlier from the Unthwatt family,heirs of Sir William Pritchard,the last qwner-occupier of Lauderdale House. The original terraced garden to the south of the House had been created from the soil excavated when the cellars were built,but we can only guess what the gardens consisted of in all the years before 1763. At an early stage the owners had in time-honoured fashion,encroached on the public highway to make a small garden next to the house To the west,stretching to Swain's Lane were four fields which included two large ponds and two smaller ones. The northern boundary of the estate more or less followed the line of the original lead pipes bringing water to Lauderdale House from the "conduit head".This stretch of water,then some 150 yds long,appears on all the plans well into the nineteenth century. It is interesting to note that two iron manhole covers,presumably dating from the nineteenth century,can still be seen not far from Waterlow's statue.

In 1865 Sir Sydney Waterlow, head of the well-known firm of printers,bought the whole estate from the Knapp family.He also bought Hertford House,sited at the present northenmost entrance to the Park,and the grounds behind.By this time the grounds of Lauderdale House itself had been considerably altered,possibly by James Yates.The kitchen gardens,melon ground and fishpond had been replaced by evergreen hedges and shrubs. Marvell's cottage,Elm Court and (later) Hertford House were all demolished.In 1871,on the death of Yates,Lauderdale House had become vacant and in the following years all the grounds were united to form what Waterlow presumably intended to be his own private park. However he decided in 1889 to give the whole estate to the London County Council "as a garden for the gardenless" The grounds were exenstively landscaped and the paths widened.The site of Hertford House,with its splendid cedar tree, provided a new entrance. The "moat" was filled in leaving only the present upper pond. The main pond was given an island and the lower pond brought into use again. The park,one of the most attractive in London,was opened in 1891. Save for the growing up (and blowing down) of many fine trees the Park has changed very little in the hundred odd years.But the Victorian bandstand no longer exsist,the much loved aviary is now used as a wildlife rescue centre, and there is today a sad air of neglet,which it is hoped may only be temporary.