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8
In all our towns, there are here and there, derelict plots of land—used only
too often as convenient dumps for shooting rubbish surreptitiously. Sometimes
the owner cannot be found ; often he is only too willing to sell a piece of land he
cannot develop. Such areas in this Borough have been acquired by the Council
as opportunity offered and have been changed from eyesores to small beauty spots
at very little cost.
In recent years considerable thought has been given by the Borough Council
to beautifying its open spaces and to developing them in a manner most suitable
for encouraging the young, the adolescent, the middle-aged and the aged, to spend
more time in the open air. Such spaces when properly developed, can be used for
play by those sufficiently active to enjoy it, and for providing a restful and pleasing
atmosphere for those of maturer years.
The Council's open spaces ma3T be divided into five classes:—
(a) Large Formal Gardens.
There are two of these—Well Hall Pleasaunce, opened in 1933, and one other
in process of development—Rockcliff Gardens, Plumstead. In each of these the
land has been laid out according to its possibilities and full advantage has been
taken of the natural features in the development. To these have been added by
carefully designed layouts, that beauty of ever-changing pictures of form, colour
and shade, which nature gives us by trees, shrubs, flowers, and pools, and the restful
atmosphere which is to be found in such pleasing surroundings. Space has been
reserved in each of them for active physical recreation.
St. Mary's Churchyard, Woolwich, should be included in this series. Over
three acres in extent, its walks, lawns, flower beds and rock gardens in the midst
of Old Woolwich provide a welcome and refreshing change of great charm from
the mat'ter-of-fact atmosphere of work-a-day Woolwich in the adjoining factories
and wharves.
(b) Shrubberies and Greens.
There are many examples of these throughout the Borough, varying in size
from a few square yards to an acre and a half. In their design no routine plan has
been followed, but each has been developed as the site permitted. Often special
features such as rock gardens, or rose gardens, or ornamental flower beds, have
been introduced. There are over a hundred such sites, and they form pleasing
and attractive interludes in our network of streets and roads, providing in a simple
way glimpses of natural beauty and charm.