The Lake, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire - a historic postcard
The Lake, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire © Historic England
The Lake, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire © Historic England

Public Parks, Cemeteries and Urban Green Spaces

Our public parks, green spaces and street trees are important features in towns and cities. Many are of historic interest. They offer places to relax, exercise and meet others. They also have an increasingly important role in reducing the heat in built up areas and helping manage run-off from heavy storms.

Contents
  1. Public parks and green spaces
  2. Cemeteries and burial grounds
  3. War memorial parks and gardens
  4. Street trees
  5. Green infrastructure

Public parks and green spaces

There are over 300 registered historic public parks on The National Heritage List for England. There are also hundreds of listed buildings like park lodges and bandstands, structures such as gates, railings and statues, and even some scheduled monuments. The List also includes historic public walks, squares, country parks, and other special urban green spaces like detached town gardens and designated allotments. Further information on the types of public spaces that are registered and our selection criteria is set out in our Urban Landscapes publication.

Historic postcards are a great resource for research on public parks. We have pinned Historic England's Nigel Temple collection postcards to public parks on History Pin; you can help us fill in the Missing Pieces in the National Heritage List by adding images or additional information  on registered public parks and listed buildings and structures.

Many more public parks are of local historic interest; and all green spaces have a history!

NLHF funding and guidance

The National Lottery Heritage Fund offers a range of funding for public parks and green spaces, and publishes guidance on management and maintenance planning for public parks.

Public parks crisis

Recognising issues emerging about the care and upkeep of historic public parks we published a review of research priorities in 2014. The report includes a useful reference list of publications and reports on green space and also a summary of our own work since 1999. 

The National Lottery Heritage Fund's State of the UK Public Parks 2016 (and an earlier 2014 report) provides an overview of the funding issues facing public parks. They found that the proportion of public parks declining in condition is expected to rise over the next three years. We published a study on the History of Public Park Funding as a contribution to the debate about future funding models and to learn from the past.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund (with the Big Lottery and the innovation charity Nesta) launched a Rethinking Parks programme which explored new ways to use, manage and make the most of the UK's public parks.

In autumn 2016, Parliament's Communities and Local Government Select Committee held an inquiry on the future of public parks. Historic England submitted evidence. The Committee's report and interactive summary warned that 'parks are at a tipping point and face a period of decline with potentially severe consequences unless their vital contribution to areas such as public health, community integration and climate change mitigation is recognised'. The Government's response to this report was published in September 2017.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has set up an Action Group comprising of:

As part of Rethinking Parks, the National Trust developed a Future Parks Toolkit. It includes advice on setting up a People's Park Trust and a library of resources including their work with Newcastle City Council.

In June 2018, a coalition of 12 national organisations launched The Charter for Parks (June 2018) calling for the halt and reverse of the decline of parks and local public green spaces across the UK. The six points in the charter were:

  • Celebrate the central role well-run parks play in our neighbourhoods for all sections of our communities
  • Recognise the right of every citizen to have access within walking distance to a good quality public green space
  • Endorse a legal duty for all public green space to be managed to a good standard
  • Embed effective protection from inappropriate development or use, or loss of any part of our parks
  • Ensure adequate long-term resources for on-going maintenance, management and improvements
  • Encourage and enable community involvement and empowerment of local people and park users

In 2019, through the Future Parks Accelerator, the National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the National Trust, supported eight local authorities to develop 'ambitious and sustainable solutions to protect, enhance and put public parks and green urban spaces to greater use'. The website offers a resources hub.

The Green Infrastructure Framework – Principles and Standards for England was launched in February 2023.

Selected additional resources:

  • Bandstands (2018) Historic England's book on the story of these pavilions made for music, and their history, decline and revival. It includes a 36-page gazetteer on bandstands, dates, and manufacturers
  • Urban Landscapes (2018) Historic England's selection guide sets out the selection criteria for the inclusion of urban landscapes on the Register of Parks and Gardens
  • Arts and Humanities Research Council project 2015-2017 The future prospects of urban parks: the life, times and social order of Victorian public parks as places of social mixing and the Future of Public Parks conference (2017) which was supported by Historic England
  • Places of Health and Amusement: Liverpool's historic parks and gardens (2008) This Historic England online book explores the origins of the parks and their role in the development of the city, and the international reputation of this landscape heritage
  • An Archaeology of Town Commons (2009) The Historic England book looks at the role of town commons and their historic character
  • London's Commons, Heaths and Greens This study, published as a Historic England research report in 2014,  identifies conservation issues, and priorities for future study and funding for these historic green spaces
  • 'People's Parks. The Design and Development of Victorian Parks in Britain' (1991) by Hazel Conway identifies the main national and international influences on the development of municipal and other parks in 19th century Britain
  • 'Public Parks' (Shire Garden History) (1996) by Hazel Conway
  • Historic England's Heritage Debate Online Number 7: Public Parks (2018)
  • 'The Regeneration of Public Parks' (2000) by Ken Fieldhouse and Jan Woudstra (editors) includes chapters by experts on paths, shrubbery planting 1830-1900, lakes and water features, play and sport in public parks
  • The former government agency CABESpace's guidance publications on public parks and green spaces are available through the National Archives
  • 'The People's Garden? A History of Crime & Policing in Birkenhead Park' (Birkenhead Park History and Heritage) (2013) by Professor Robert Lee
  • 'Great British Parks – A celebration' (2016) by Paul Rabbitts looks at the achievements of the Heritage Lottery Fund's Parks for People programme
  • Taking account of heritage values of urban parks and gardens (2016) Natural Environment Research Council's Living with Environmental Change Policy and Practice Note 36
  • 'A Walk in the Park: The Life and Times of a People's Institution' (2016) by Travis Elborough
  • The Gardens Trust's Uncertain Prospects: Public Parks in the New Age of Austerity (2017)
  • The international ICOMOS and IFLA document on historic urban public parks (adopted December 2017) sets out the principles and recommendations which apply to all historic urban public parks anywhere in the world
  • Public Health England's Improving access to greenspace (2020) sets out the evidence showing that living in a greener environment can promote and protect good health, aid in recovery from illness and help with managing poor health
  • The National Lottery Heritage Fund's Space to Thrive (2020) is a rapid evidence review of the benefits parks and green spaces have for people and communities
  • Public Parks and Green Spaces Matter Article on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and evaluation of the health and wellbeing benefits of public parks in Historic England's Research Magazine Issue 24 (February 2021)
  • National Lottery Heritage Fund Parks for People: why should we invest in parks? (2021) draws out evidence from the Parks for People programme and six case studies to make the case about the importance of parks and how to support them in future
  • The Association for Public Service Excellence has followed up the National Lottery Heritage Fund 2016 research with its own State of UK Public Parks 2021 report
  • The Safer Parks Project has published research-informed guidance on designing and managing parks to make them safer and more welcoming for women and girls

Cemeteries and burial grounds

Our cemeteries and crematoria are designed landscapes. There are over 100 included on the National Heritage List for their special historic interest. Our Landscapes of Remembrance guidance explains the historic importance of these landscapes and how we select which ones should be added to The List.

Our page on Cemeteries and Burial Grounds provides more guidance and links.

War memorial parks and gardens

Many communities sought to create 'living and useful' memorials to commemorate those killed in the First World War. These parks, gardens, recreation grounds and playing fields are now part of our green space inheritance.

With the War Memorials Trust and The Gardens Trust, we have published guidance on The Conservation and Management of War Memorial Landscapes. It covers:

  • historical development
  • original landscape design and planting
  • advice on carrying out war memorial landscape projects

Can you help add other war memorial parks, gardens and recreational sites to War Memorials Online?

For more information on war memorials, the First World War and Remembrance go to our page on war memorials.

Further reading on war memorials:

Street trees

Trees are often defining features of our streets. Many are historic features. Sometimes they are living relics from a past landscape. Others are part of a historic town planning scheme. Trees contribute to the environment and quality of our towns and cities and need to be looked after.

The government's Urban Tree Manual provides advice on selecting the right tree for the right place in towns and cities, and ensuring that the views of local communities are at the heart of decision-making and residents are properly consulted before street trees are felled.

Historic England is a partner in the Trees and Design Action Group which also offers useful resources.

Our Streets for All guidance provides advice about trees and tree planting in historic locations.

Also see our web pages on tree care (including tree planting) and veteran trees.

Street trees image gallery

Please click on the gallery images to enlarge.

A wide road with a red brick building to the left. There are tall trees planted on both sides of the road Road with a row of red brick buildings to the right. The pavement is lined by tall trees. A man wearing white is standing by the traffic lights. A road lined with trees on both sides. The tees on the right hand side are planted in a grass verge lined by a hedge. There is a row of houses in the background

Green infrastructure

The network of existing parks, green spaces and features like street trees, lakes, rivers, and canals make up a green infrastructure which is vital to the liveability and resilience of towns and cities as climate change intensifies, and to the nation's Nature Recovery Network. Historic public parks, cemeteries, commons and heaths are often the largest assets in a local green infrastructure network and their upkeep and maintenance is essential to realising the benefits of that network.

New urban greening is also important. Schemes need to be thoughtfully worked in with their historic environment and help expand the green infrastructure.

The planning and delivery of green infrastructure is at the heart of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF - paragraphs 20, 92, 186). The NPPF defines green infrastructure as 'a network of multi-functional green and blue spaces and other natural features, urban and rural, which is capable of delivering a wide range of environmental, economic, health and wellbeing benefits for nature, climate, local and wider communities and prosperity'.

As part of the government's 25 Year Environment Plan, a Green Infrastructure Framework has been published which includes:

Also of interest

Looking After War Memorials
Cemeteries and Burial Grounds
Other Garden Features
Improve Your Street
Heritage at Risk
Local Government Resources