4 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 
Hospital, and of other old-world haunts of peace. The 
rarest thing in London are the private gardens, yet they 
too go to make up the aggregate lungs of the city. 
Out of a total of upwards of 75,000 acres there are 
in round numbers some 6000 acres of parks, com¬ 
mons, squares, and open spaces in London : of these 
a little over 4000 acres are in the hands of the London 
County Council. Besides this it administers nearly 
900 acres outside the county. The City of London 
owns large forest tracts, commons, and parks beyond 
the limit of the County of London—Epping, Burnham 
Beeches, Highgate Wood, and parks in West Ham, 
Kilburn, &c.—altogether nearly 6500 acres. 
London is such a wide word, it is difficult to set a 
limit, and to decide what open spaces actually belong 
to London. As the town stretches away into the 
country, it is impossible to see the boundaries of London. 
The line must be drawn near where the chimney-pots 
become incessant, and the stems of the trees become 
black. But the degree of blackness, dirt, and density 
is impossible to decide ; so a prosaic, matter-of-fact, but 
necessary rule has been adhered to in the following pages, 
of keeping as strictly as possible to the actual defined 
limits of the County of London. Therefore all the parks 
owned by the City Corporation or London County 
Council outside this limit have not been dealt with, and 
such places as Chiswick, Kew, Richmond, or Gunners- 
bury have been omitted. 
To get to some of these places involves a consider¬ 
able journey. Many of the outlying parks have to be 
reached by train, or by a very long drive, or tram ride. 
From Hyde Park Corner, for instance, to Bostall Wood 
or Avery Hill is a long expedition. To the fortunate 
