152 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



way, but left as it might be in Herefordshire, with grass 

 and wild flowers under the trees, which bear bushels of 

 ruddy apples every year. 



Part of the Park is actually outside London, but it is 

 all kept up by the London County Council. The parish 

 boundary of Hampstead and Hendon, which is also the 

 limit of the County of London, is seen in the middle 

 among the oak trees. 



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 



