RAVENSCOURT PARK Ravenscourt is another of those parks the nucleus of which was an old Manor House, hence the existence of fine old trees, which at once lift from it the crudeness which is invariably associated with a brand-new Municipal Park. A bird's-eye view of the ground is familiar to many who pass over the viaduct in the London and South-Western trains. These arches intersect one end of the Park, and cut across the beginning of the fine old elm avenue, one of its most beautiful features. A bright piece of garden, typical of every London Park, with raised borders in bays and promontories, jutting into grass and backed by bushes, lies to the south of the viaduct. Where two paths diverge there is a pleasing variation to the usual type-a sun-dial-erected by Sir William Bull to "a sunny memory." The arches have been utilised so as to compensate for the intrusion of the railway. Asphalted underneath, they form shelters in wet weather -one is given over to an aviary, two to bars for the elder children to climb on, and one is fitted with swings for the babies. This arch is by far the most popular, and it requires all the vigilance of the park-keeper to see that only the really small children use the swings, or the bigger girls would monopolise them. Perhaps the indulgent and fatherly London County Council will provide swings for the elders, too, some day, and so remove the small jealousies.
To the west of the long avenue lies the orchard. A stretch of grass, devoted to tennis-courts and bowling-greens, separates the pear trees from the walk. These pears and the solitary apple tree are delightful in spring, and a temptation in autumn. Round the house, which is not by any means as picturesque as the date of its building (about 1649) would lead one to expect, are some good trees-planes that are really old, with massive stems, horse-chestnuts and limes, acacias that have seen their best days, cedars suffering from age and smoke, and a good catalpa. The Manor House which preceded the present building was of ancient origin. In early times it was known as the Manor House of Paddenswick, or Pallenswick, under the Manor of Fulham, and was the residence of Alice Perrers, the favourite of Edward III. It was seized in 1378, when she was banished by Richard II.; but after the reversion of her sentence, she returned to England as the wife of Lord Windsor, and the King, in 1380, granted the manor to him. It is not heard of again till Elizabeth's time, when it belonged to the Payne family, and was sold by them in 1631 to Sir Richard Gurney, the Royalist Lord Mayor, who perished in the Tower. After his death it was bought by Maximilian Bard, who probably pulled down the old house and built the present one, which is now used as the Hammersmith Public Library. In the eighteenth century the name was changed from Paddenswick (a title preserved by a road of that name running near the Park) to Ravenscourt, an enduring recollection of the device of a black raven, the arms of Thomas Corbett, Secretary to the Admiralty, who owned the place for a few short years. Nearly every vestige of the surroundings of the old manor was obliterated and improved away by Humphrey Repton, the celebrated landscape gardener. He filled up most of the old moat, except a small piece, which was transformed into a lake, more in harmony with the landscape school to which he belonged. This piece of water is a pretty feature in the Park, and an attempt has been made to recall the older style, by introducing a little formal garden in an angle of the enclosing wall of the Park. The square has been completed with two hedges, one of them of holly, and good iron gates afford an entrance. The "old English garden," from which dogs and young children, unless under proper supervision, are excluded, is laid out in good taste-a simple, suitable design, with appropriate masses of roses and herbaceous plants, arches with climbers, and an abundance of seats. It has the same misleading notice with regard to Shakespearian plants, as in Golder's Hill and Brockwell, one of the South London Parks, which must now be looked at.
