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Vallance Road Recreation Ground

Memorials	:	28
Location	:	Whitechapel, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England
Coordinate	:	51.5200860, -0.0629160
Description	:	Vallance Road Recreation Ground includes the former Society of Friends Burial Ground. The site was formerly a Quaker Burial Ground established in 1687, the last burial taking place in 1857. The recreation ground was laid out as a public garden and opened in 1880. Baker's Row was renamed Vallance Road In 1896 in honour of Mr W. Vallance, the Clerk to the Metropolitan Board of Guardians. The park then became Vallance Road Recreation Ground. The garden had a granite drinking fountain, grass, serpentine paths, mature plane trees, some rose beds and a children's playground, but by the late C20th was... Read More	Vallance Road Recreation Ground includes the former Society of Friends Burial Ground. The site was formerly a Quaker Burial Ground established in 1687, the last burial taking place in 1857. The recreation ground was laid out as a public garden and opened in 1880. Baker's Row was renamed Vallance Road In 1896 in honour of Mr W. Vallance, the Clerk to the Metropolitan Board of Guardians. The park then became Vallance Road Recreation Ground. The garden had a granite drinking fountain, grass, serpentine paths, mature plane trees, some rose beds and a children's playground, but by the late C20th was in a poor state. In 2002 new housing was built on 3 sides, much improving the setting of the garden, which was also re-landscaped. It re-opened in 2003 with new paths, seats, railings and children's playground. Tree planting included a conifer to mark the opening of the housing and gardens. Further History: Henrietta Barnett and her husband, Samuel, moved to Whitechapel in 1872 when Samuel became the vicar of St Jude's Church. Henrietta was a protégé of Octavia Hill, having worked with her in Marylebone as one of her "District Visitors". This work entailed housing poor families and advising them on managing their expenditure and family welfare. Octavia recognised how important it was for poor families living in crowded and polluted urban areas to have open spaces and parks to relax and play in. She worked with the Open Spaces Committee of the Kyrle Society to provide these by converting disused burial grounds and churchyards into parks for the poor. Henrietta followed this idea and sought to provide parks for children living in cramped Whitechapel tenements, hoping to remove them from the area's overcrowded streets where crime and violence were endemic. To achieve this, she opened a playground in Wentworth Street, but when vandalism forced its closure, she transformed a disused Quaker's Burial Ground, established in 1687, into Baker's Row Park for the children. The design of the new park, which was opened in 1880, may well have been created by Fanny Wilkinson, who is regarded as the first women landscape designer in the country. A photograph of it in Mrs Basil Holmes' book, the London Burial Grounds, 1896, closely resembles Fanny's designs elsewhere in London, for the conversion of burial grounds, although Baker's Row is on a smaller scale. The park had curved paths which surrounded lawns interspersed with trees and rose beds. Mrs Holmes described the park as "well laid out and kept and chiefly used by children", illustrated by the photograph in her book. Providing this park not only gave local children a safe place in which to play, but also a rudimentary knowledge of gardening - something Henrietta regarded as crucial to their education and well being. She later recalled that by 1886, children in Whitechapel, "romped in the playing fields, dug and delivered little gardens" whilst "flowers grew in windows".

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Where is Vallance Road Recreation Ground?
Vallance Road Recreation Ground is located at Whitechapel, London Borough of Tower Hamlets ,Greater London ,England.
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28 memorials
Where are the coordinates of the Vallance Road Recreation Ground?
Latitude: 51.5200860
Longitude: -0.0629160

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Nearby Cemetories:

1. Brady Street Cemetery
Whitechapel, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England
Coordinate: 51.5218390, -0.0604950

2. Wycliffe Congregational Church
Tower Hamlets, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England
Coordinate: 51.5164124, -0.0582821

3. St. Mary Matfelon Church
Whitechapel, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England
Coordinate: 51.5162030, -0.0684970

4. St. Matthew's Churchyard
Bethnal Green, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England
Coordinate: 51.5251190, -0.0672250

5. St. George-in-the-East Churchyard
Stepney, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England
Coordinate: 51.5099610, -0.0599100

6. St Botolph without Aldgate Churchyard
Aldgate, City of London, England
Coordinate: 51.5140120, -0.0763420

7. Holywell Priory
Shoreditch, London Borough of Hackney, England
Coordinate: 51.5238050, -0.0785300

8. Abbey of the Minoresses of St. Clare without Aldgate Churchyard
Aldgate, City of London, England
Coordinate: 51.5125370, -0.0749860

9. Holy Trinity Minories Churchyard
Aldgate, City of London, England
Coordinate: 51.5115140, -0.0745780

10. St. Leonard Churchyard
Shoreditch, London Borough of Hackney, England
Coordinate: 51.5268230, -0.0773640

11. Priory of Holy Trinity
Aldgate, City of London, England
Coordinate: 51.5138190, -0.0780890

12. Liverpool Street Station
London, City of London, England
Coordinate: 51.5187870, -0.0814920

13. Alderney Road Jewish Cemetery
Bethnal Green, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England
Coordinate: 51.5232120, -0.0448120

14. Priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem Cemetery
Bishopsgate, City of London, England
Coordinate: 51.5183640, -0.0818180

15. St. Botholph without Bishopsgate
Finsbury, London Borough of Islington, England
Coordinate: 51.5166840, -0.0815590

16. St Katherine Cree Churchyard
London, City of London, England
Coordinate: 51.5134315, -0.0791360

17. St Botolph Church
Bishopsgate, City of London, England
Coordinate: 51.5167080, -0.0816560

18. Abbey of St Mary Graces
London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England
Coordinate: 51.5094000, -0.0723000

19. Old Velho Cemetery Sephardi Velho
Mile End, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England
Coordinate: 51.5229030, -0.0437630

20. St. James Duke's Place Churchyard
Aldgate, City of London, England
Coordinate: 51.5128970, -0.0790280

21. St. Paul's with St. James Churchyard
Shadwell, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England
Coordinate: 51.5093840, -0.0520990

22. St. Ethelburga the Virgin Churchyard
Bishopsgate, City of London, England
Coordinate: 51.5155450, -0.0820020

23. St Helen’s Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate, City of London, England
Coordinate: 51.5148000, -0.0818000

24. Church of the Crutched Friars
London, City of London, England
Coordinate: 51.5108000, -0.0785000

Vallance Road Recreation Ground

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