Nonsuch Park

Map showing the location of Nonsuch Park within London.

Nonsuch Park is a public park between Stoneleigh, North Cheam, Cheam, and Ewell and the last surviving part of the Little Park of Nonsuch, a deer hunting park established by Henry VIII of England surrounding the former Nonsuch Palace. The western regions of the larger adjacent Great Park of Nonsuch, became known as Worcester Park after the 4th Earl of Worcester was appointed Keeper of the Great Park in 1606

The north eastern boundary of the park is formed by Stane Street a Roman road.

The park contains Nonsuch Park House, which was built in the mid eighteenth century and extended by Jeffry Wyattville at the beginning of the nineteenth in Tudor Gothic style. It is Grade II listed by English Heritage.^[1]

In 1959 a major archeological exploration of the anticipated site of the palace itself was started. This excavation led to a major set of developments in post medieval archeology.^[2] The site of the palace is marked by three small stone columns which have plaques with the groundplan mounted on them.

Nonsuch Park and the Mansion have been managed by Epsom and Sutton Councils through a joint management committee (JMC) since the land was purchased by four councils in 1937 to save it from development as part of the establishment of the Metropolitan Green Belt. The title deeds to the land are held in trust by Surrey County Council. The JMC has run the park and Epsom and Sutton Councils have paid for the upkeep of the park with no financial support from Surrey County Council. In 2007 Surrey County Council rejected a proposal by the JMC to lease out the Mansion House.^[3]

The park under snow, January 2010

At the southern end of the Park there are the concrete foundations of a road abandoned when the Park became Green Belt. Beyond this is Warren Farm, an open space belonging to the Woodland Trust. The London Loop goes through Warren Farm and Nonsuch Park.^[4]

Notes

1. ^ British Listed Buildings, Nonsuch Park House, Ewell
2. ^ David Gaimster. "Great sites: Nonsuch Palace". British Archeology. http://www.britarch.ac.uk/BA/ba60/feat1.shtml. Retrieved 2006-12-31. "In 1959, the year Martin Biddle first excavated Henry VIII's vanished palace of Nonsuch in Surrey, the concept of post-medieval archaeology was virtually unknown. Within a decade the subject was established with its own academic society, and post-medieval sites were being investigated and rescued in their own right. Today the subject is routinely taught at universities, and archaeologists are increasingly specialising in the period which spans the transition between medieval and industrial society." 
3. ^ Surrey County Council, Call-in of Executive Decision in respect of Nonsuch Park, 2007
4. ^ Transport for London, London Loop section 7

External links

• Borough of Epsom and Ewell - Nonsuch Park
• English Heritage, Nonsuch Little Park