COMMONS & OPEN SPACES 215 



Mrs. Siddons, by Chevaliand, was erected in 1897, as 

 she lived in the neighbourhood when Paddington was 

 still rural. There is nothing beautiful about the asphalt 

 paths between high iron railings surrounding the small 

 space of grass and trees. Some of the other greens are 

 more of the ordinary public garden type. Islington Green 

 has been planted with trees, and outside the railings 

 stands a statue of Sir Hugh Myddelton, who died in 

 1 63 1, representing him holding a plan of the New River. 

 Stepney was once a very large green, and has still 

 3j- acres of garden cut up into four sections. Some 

 quaint old houses, wood with tiled roofs, and good 

 seventeenth - century brick ones, still overlook the 

 gardens. The gardens have been made exactly like 

 every other, with a slightly serpentine path, a border 

 running parallel in irregular curves not following the 

 line of the path, and trees dotted about. One really 

 fine, thick-stemmed laburnum shows how well that tree 

 will do in smoke, and some curious old wooden water- 

 pipes dug up in 1890, dating from 1570, are placed at 

 intervals in the grass. 



Camberwell has one of the large village greens of 

 South London, and has been made into a satisfactory 

 garden. All the trams seem to meet there, but in 

 spite of the din it is a pleasant garden in which to 

 rest. The 2^ acres are well laid out, and the clipped 

 lime-trees round the railings are a protection from the 

 street which other places would do well to copy. When 

 the trees are in leaf the garden is partially hidden even 

 from those on the tops of omnibuses. 



These greens scattered round London help to con- 

 nect the larger areas, thus forming links in the chain 

 of open spaces which encircles London. These natural 



