Tabard Gardens

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Tabard Gardens
Tabard Gardens has a large grassed area and is surrounded by houses and flats
Tabard Gardens is located in London Borough of Southwark
Tabard Gardens
Location within the London Borough of Southwark
LocationLondon
OS gridTQ327795
Coordinates51°29′56″N 0°05′23″W / 51.4989°N 0.0897°W / 51.4989; -0.0897Coordinates: 51°29′56″N 0°05′23″W / 51.4989°N 0.0897°W / 51.4989; -0.0897
Area1.762 hectares (4.354 acres)[1]
Opened1929
EtymologyFrom Tabard Street, itself named after the former Tabard public house
Operated bySouthwark Council
OpenDaily from 7:30am until around sunset[2]
AwardsGreen Flag Award[3]
FacilitiesChildren’s play area, outdoor gym, table tennis tables, artificial grass pitches, multi-use sports pitches
Websitewww.southwark.gov.uk/parks-and-open-spaces/parks/tabard-gardens

Tabard Gardens is a small park in Southwark, London. It is located on and named after Tabard Street (itself named after the former Tabard public house). It was created as part of a slum clearance programme by the London County Council and was opened in 1929. It is owned and managed by Southwark Council.[1]

History[]

The Tabard was an inn on Borough High Street which was established in 1307.[4] It is best known for being the location where pilgrims to the shrine of Thomas à Becket in Canterbury first met to start their pilgrimage, and is referred to as such by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales. The successor inn to the Tabard, the Talbot, was demolished in 1873.[citation needed] Tabard Street, renamed after the inn in 1877,[5] was the northern end of Old Kent Road, which was replaced as the main road into London from Kent by the turnpike development of Great Dover Street in 1750.[citation needed]

By the 20th century Tabard Street was surrounded by notorious slums.[6] Some of these slums were cleared by the London County Council in 1910 and the area was rebuilt as the Tabard Gardens Estate from 1910 to 1933.[7][8] Of the 10½ acres (4.2 hectares) of the development site, 5 acres (2 hectares) were set aside as a park for the development, and named Tabard Gardens.[9][8] The park was opened to the public in 1929.[9]

Tabard Gardens first won a Green Flag Award[3] in 2013,[10][11] which it has retained in each subsequent year of the competition up to and including 2021.[12][13][14]

Facilities and features[]

David Idowu memorial bench

Tabard Gardens has large grassed areas, a wildlife area and a children's play area.[15]

Artificial grass football pitches, which were built in 2000 and refurbished in 2008,[16] are available to book for a fee.[15] There are also multi-use sports pitches,[15] which are free to use and do not require booking,[17] and three table tennis tables.[18] A free outdoor gym[19] was installed in 2013.[20] The park hosts boot camp training.[21]

A mosaic memorial bench created by Arthur de Mowbray and Jay James was installed in 2011 to commemorate David Idowu, who was murdered in the park in 2008.[22] A peace event is held in the park most years to mark the anniversary of Idowu's death.[23][24][25]

The surrounding estate, but not the park itself, has some of the last remaining World War II stretcher fences in London, which were ARP metal stretchers that, after the war, were re-purposed as fences on estates.[26] The Tabard Gardens Community Allotments[27] are on the surrounding Tabard Gardens Estate, rather than within the park itself.[28]

Crime incidents[]

  • In 1968, a 5-year-old boy, David Lawrence, was murdered in the toilets in the park. The killer was never found.[29]
  • In 2008, a 14-year-old boy, David Idowu, was stabbed in the park while playing football.[30] He died in hospital three weeks later.[31][32] In 2009, 16-year-old Elijah Dayoni was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 12 years for Idowu's murder.[30][33][34]
  • In 2014, an 18-year-old man was stabbed to death outside a nearby off-licence and died in Pilgrimage Street; the air ambulance landed in Tabard Gardens.[35]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Tabard Gardens". London Gardens Trust. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  2. ^ "Opening times". Southwark Council. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Tabard Gardens". Green Flag Award. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  4. ^ "Borough Guide". The South London Guide. Archived from the original on 11 November 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2021. 1307 Tabard House built for Abbot of Hyde (later became Tabard Inn).CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ Darlington, Ida (1955). "Tabard Street and the Old Kent Road, Formerly Kent Street". Survey of London, Volume 25: St George's Fields (The Parishes of St. George the Martyr Southwark and St. Mary Newington). Survey of London. London County Council. p. 121. It was re-named Tabard Street in 1877.
  6. ^ Besant, Walter (1912). "Bermondsey". London South of the Thames. London: Adam & Charles Black. pp. 68–69.
  7. ^ Hannikainen, Matti O. (2016). The Greening of London, 1920–2000. Routledge. p. 39. doi:10.4324/9781315563145. ISBN 978-1138307186. In 1910 the LCC had begun to construct the Tabard Garden estate (Southwark), one of the first and largest slum clearances in the city. The first house was completed in 1917 and the last in 1933.
  8. ^ a b Darlington 1955, p. 121: "Most of the east side of the street was cleared in 1910 under a London County Council housing scheme; large blocks of dwellings were built and a small open space, Tabard Garden, was formed to give them breathing space."
  9. ^ a b Hannikainen 2016, p. 39: "5 acres of the 10.5-acre area were developed as a new park, named Tabard Gardens that was opened in 1929"
  10. ^ "Tabard Gardens gains Green Flag award for first time". London SE1. 6 August 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  11. ^ "Green flag raised at Tabard Gardens". London SE1. 17 September 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  12. ^ "Green Flag Awards". Southwark Council. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  13. ^ "Green Flag Award Winners 2020" (PDF). Green Flag Award. p. 24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  14. ^ "Green Flag Award Winners 2021" (PDF). Green Flag Award. p. 21. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 November 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  15. ^ a b c "Tabard Gardens". Southwark Council. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  16. ^ "Tabard Gardens". Sports Facilities. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  17. ^ "Tabard Gardens". Everyone Active. Retrieved 10 October 2021. Multi Use Games Area – Free of charge and no booking required
  18. ^ "Tabard Gardens". Ping! England. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  19. ^ "Outdoor sport facilities". Southwark Council. Retrieved 10 October 2021. Tabard Gardens gym is located near the playground and astro pitch off Tabard Street
  20. ^ "Outdoor gym installed in Tabard Gardens". London SE1. 8 June 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  21. ^ "Tabard Gardens Boot Camp". Train Dirty London. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  22. ^ "David Idowu mosaic bench unveiled in Tabard Gardens". London SE1. 9 July 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  23. ^ "One year on: Tabard Gardens community remembers David Idowu". London SE1. 12 July 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  24. ^ "Peace Day in Tabard Gardens five years on from David Idowu murder". London SE1. 13 July 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  25. ^ "Peace event to remember teenager David Idowu ten years after fatal stabbing". Southwark News. London. 6 July 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  26. ^ Powell, Tom (13 August 2017). "Campaign launched to save South London's 'stretcher fences' once used to carry wounded civilians in the Blitz". Evening Standard. London. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  27. ^ "Tabard Gardens Community Allotments". Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  28. ^ "About". Tabard Growers. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  29. ^ "Unsolved murder of David Francis Lawrence". The National Archives. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  30. ^ a b "Life sentence for 16-year-old who killed Tabard Gardens boy David Idowu". London SE1. 16 January 2009. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  31. ^ "Tabard Gardens stabbing victim dies in hospital". London SE1. 7 July 2008. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  32. ^ "Youth dies weeks after stabbing". BBC News. London. 7 July 2008. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  33. ^ "Youth detained for boy's murder". BBC News. London. 16 January 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  34. ^ Pallister, David (16 January 2009). "Teenager gets life sentence for murder of David Idowu". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  35. ^ Blundy, Rachel (1 November 2014). "Teenager stabbed 'in front of aunt' outside south London off licence". Evening Standard. London. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
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