Stunning pictures have been unearthed from archives to mark Finsbury Park’s 150th anniversary.
For more than two centuries, the site of Finsbury Park has attracted Londoners looking for a day out, initially with its teahouse and tavern before officially becoming a park in August 1869.
Since then, the Grade II listed park in north London, which some have since dubbed the “People’s Park”, has offered people in the capital a peaceful retreat from their urban surroundings.
To celebrate the park’s 150th anniversary, pictures have been dug up from the archives showing the renowned park, which is run and operated by Haringey Council, through the years.
One picture taken in June 1922 shows a group of Girl Guides taking part in a laundry competition in Finsbury Park while wearing the traditional uniform including hats and ties.
A man was also pictured next to an aluminium row-boat delivered to Finsbury, which were first tried as an experiment to see if they would stand the wear and tear on boating lakes.
In another, two children can be seen making a snowman complete with hair in winter of 1935.
Nearly 75 years after the first wintry picture was taken, the north London park can be seen blanketed in snow in February 2009, when the UK saw its heaviest snowfall since the 1990s.
During the park’s 150 years, it has been known as a location for pacifist meetings during WW1, and as military training grounds and for holding anti-aircraft guns in WW2.
More recently, the park has hosted a variety of live music performances and festivals, including Wireless Festival which has been held in Finsbury Park annually since 2014.
Famous performances in the park include Jimi Hendrix in 1967, Bob Dylan in 1993, the Sex Pistols in 1996, KISS in 1997, Oasis in 2002, The Stone Roses in 2013 and Queens of the Stone Age last year.
Hugh Hayes, author of A Park for Finsbury and former chair of the Friends of Finsbury Park group, is publishing a revised version of the book to celebrate the park's anniversary.
Speaking to the Standard about the park’s “rich history”, Mr Hayes said: “There’s been a view that it was for the moral standing of the working-class residents, that was the Victorian principle to get rid of common land which had demonstrations and public speaking, bad behaviour – parks were a way of controlling that behaviour, it changed the way people behaved.
“Also the parks provided what the rich had been having before, which is designed gardens. These public parks were providing a taste of that for ordinary people.
“As we go on it became a place for demonstrations, we had all the pacifists during the First World War, then we had Mosley coming along and demonstrating in the park in the 30s.
“Now we’re talking about doctors prescribing walks in the countryside, in a park or beside water for mental health and saying how important open spaces like those are, there was and still is a huge belief that you need spaces between urbanisation.”
He added: “It provides the ideal place for people to sit on the grass, have a kick around - it's something like 70 per cent of households around Finsbury Park don't have gardens.
“Parks are for people to escape from concrete, have a nice walk in a bit of country, stare at the birds and the lake, see the wildflowers – Finsbury Park used to be a horticultural feast.”
For more on A Park for Finsbury, click here.
