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London’s Pocket Parks: Greatfields Park, Barking, IG11
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ianVisits
This is Greatfields Park, which is undeniably a great field in an area lacking much in the way of open spaces, but the name is not a reference to the park, but to a former farm, and arguably, the wrong one.
Just 30 years later, the nearby Greatfields farm had also sold off their land for development for the Alfreds Way Estate, and the whole area was filled with regimented rows of terraced houses.
The park was created in the early 1920s after the Barking Urban District Council bought the land from Movers Farm for £330, and it was originally called the Movers Lane Playing Field.
It was also renamed after the nearby Greatfields farm, which seems a bit rude as the Movers family was still living in their house, which was still standing at the time.
The house had been demolished by the late 1930s, although the outline of the plot still exists in the park today, as a small patch of rectangular paths.