Running London (7): Burgess Park

I ran for my second time in Burgess Park parkrun yesterday, joining 128 runners on a 5k around the London Borough of Southwark park. The park, which is bordered by Camberwell, Walworth, north Peckham and the Old Kent Road, is one of the largest in inner London.

The course is flat and fast (I got a PB), on tarmac throughout, starting off with a long stretch that follows the line of the now vanished Grand Surrey Canal under the 'bridge to nowhere' (a relic of the canal period, it looks good but you can't actually get on it as the stairways are blocked).

The parkrun route then features two circuits of the picturesque lake, with its swans, geese and ducks. before heading back to the finish.

Unlike many London parks, Burgess Park is not a surviving patch of former country-side but a post-World War Two creation on land that was previously covered in dense housing and industrial sites - some of the rubble remains on site under the park's landscaped features. Laid out incrementally between the 1950s and 1980s, in the past few years it has undergone major renovation, with features including an expanded lake, a new children's play area and a BMX track. 

I worked on a project on the neighbouring Aylesbury Estate in the early noughties and at the time a major concern was that the park was under-used by local people. There was even a proposal to drain the lake and build a secondary school there. Today the park is very busy, especially in the summer, with big groups of friends and families having barbeques and lots of informal football games. Oh and a 100+ people running round it every Saturday morning. As well as parkrun, Burgess Park sometimes hosts other running events - earlier this month for instance Southwark Schools Team Road Running Championships took place there. 

Burgess parkrun starts at 9 am every Saturday morning at the Camberwell Road end of the park, not far from the tennis centre. Lots of buses stop next to the park on Camberwell Road or Albany Road, including the 12, 35, 40, 42, 45, 68, 148, 171, 176 & 468.  

(photos of finish at Burgess parkrun taken February 22 2014, other photos of park taken in November 2013)

View Burgess parkrun in a larger map

Previously in the Running London series:

Nunhead Cemetery

Hilly Fields

Southwark Park

Richmond Park

Hackney Marshes

Dulwich Park

Running History (3): a London 'Foot-Match' in 1736

I came across this fragment in Southwark local history library, a press cutting from the Universal Spectator and Weekly Journal, 21 August 1736:

'a Foot-Match was run in White-Conduit Fields, between the Son of one White, a Smithfield Drover, and the famous Boy belonging to Glass-house in Southwark, both about 14 years of Age: They started a little before Twelve, the Ground was mark'd out for one Mile, which they run round four times, and perform'd in 22 Minutes; the Stakes were 20 Guineas on a Side, which was won with great Difficulty by White's Son. The Odds at starting were six to four on White, but the other leading him for three Miles, brought it to even Betts'.

It's interesting how much historical information can be packed into a short piece like this. Among other things it tells us:

- there was organised running in London in the 1730s, and it was big enough news to be reported in the press;
- races were sometimes known as 'Foot matches';
- races like this were run for a cash prize, with people betting on the outcome;
- even at this early stage of timekeeping, the time of the race, as well as who won, was seen as significant;
- in this case, the race was over four miles - four laps of a one mile course.

Interesting too to see the concept of personal identity at this time - neither of the runners is named, as young people what is seen as more significant is that one is the 'Son of one White' and the other 'belongs' to the Glass-house. Glasshouses were glass-making factories, and there were several in Southwark in that period

The venue, White Conduit Fields, was in Islington (north London) and was also used for early cricket matches at this time. The White Conduit House was originally a 17th century tavern, with adjoining gardens. An advertisement from 1754 promises:  'Hot loaves and butter every day; milk directly from the cows; coffee and tea and all manner of liquors in the greatest perfection...  Bats and balls for cricket, and a convenient field to play in'.

White Conduit House in 1731
(illustration by C.Lempriere sourced from London Gardens)