Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
named after the young Queen Victoria, was developed in the early 1840s to redress the lack
of green space in the districts east of the city centre.
The idea of public parks held a special place in the minds of Victorian social reformers.
Recognising that working-class city dwellers had few, if any, opportunities to enjoy fresh air,
exercise and respectable entertainment, proponents of urban parks hoped to improve the well-
being of the 'deserving poor'. As spaces shared by people from different social classes, parks
were thought to encourage the less-well-off to learn from the example of their 'betters'. The
eastern side of London - traditionally poorer than its western districts - was seen as particu-
larly likely to benefit from new parks.
The designer of this map, J J Maslem, believed that Victoria Park alone could not meet the
area's leisure needs. He envisaged the creation of a second park in the districts of Stepney
and Bromley-by-Bow, to the south of Victoria Park. This would be called Albert Park after
Queen Victoria's husband, the juxtaposition of the two parks being intended as a tribute to
the young royal couple and their happy, respectable family life. Maslem imagined the layout
of Albert Park in considerable detail, including proposing new roads to connect it with the
City of London and Regent's Park. Determined that no buildings should interrupt the park's
interior, he designed rows of new houses (shown in pink on the map) around its edges.
Maslem paid for just twelve copies of this map to be printed. He enclosed two of them
with letters to the government's Works Department. In these letters, he explained his vision
for the park and urged the government to purchase the land required to create it, which he
feared would otherwise soon be swallowed up by housing and industry. Officials did not ac-
cept Maslem's suggestion and the vividly-imagined paper landscape of Albert Park was nev-
er brought to life.
Two later attempts to create a London park named after Prince Albert, the first between
1850 and 1852 in Islington and the second on Hampstead Heath in 1853, were also unsuc-
cessful. Although none of London's parks bears Albert's name today, Maslem's idea of a fit-
ting companion for Victoria Park has finally come true. The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
in nearby Stratford - named after Victoria's descendant Elizabeth II and originally developed
as a venue for the 2012 Olympic Games - has become London's newest recreational open
space.
