Kneller Gardens ⁸⁷⁹⁰

Brief Description

The park was officially opened in 1931 providing sports pitches and pavilions, a children's play area, and riverside walk with new trees and shrubs planted.

History

Kneller Gardens are named after German-born portrait painter Sir Godfrey Kneller, who was appointed Court Painter in 1680, knighted in 1691, later made a baronet in 1715. By then he had built his villa, Whitton House, on a site to the north-west of Kneller Gardens. The house was replaced by Kneller Hall in 1848, which is now the Royal Military School of Music. Maps of 1915 show the site of Kneller Gardens as a bathing place surrounded by farmland; in 1930 Twickenham Borough Council developed 12 acres here as a new recreation ground for Whitton's growing population.

Visitor Facilities