FINSBURY PARK Finsbury is second in size, and second in date of construction, of the Parks of North London. It is far from Finsbury, being really in Hornsey, but as the idea, first expressed about 1850, was to make a Park for the borough of Finsbury, the name was retained although the land acquired some years later was somewhat remote.
The movement was first set on foot when building began to destroy all the open spaces near Finsbury Fields. Some of these, like Spa Fields, had been popular places of resort as Tea Gardens, but were being rapidly covered with houses, and separating Finsbury altogether from the country. Many delays, owing to changes of Government, occurred before the necessary legislation was accomplished. When the Metropolitan Board of Works came into being, it took up the scheme, and it was finally under its auspices that the land was purchased, and the Park, 115 acres in extent, was opened in 1869.
