SPORT AND HERITAGE
Past meets
Gunnersbury Park is
entering a new era as a
project to painstakingly
restore its heritage
nears fruition and work
begins soon to create
a large ‘hub’ for sport,
Dan Stephens reports.
W
ork is due to start
in February on the
new sports facilities;
and local people will
eventually be able to take their pick
from a huge range of activities.
It will boast a multi-use sports centre
with a gym; two outdoor floodlit artificial
grass pitches; new tennis courts; and
natural grass cricket and football pitches.
When it opens to the public in spring
2019, it will be one of the largest
outdoor sporting facilities in London.
THAT IS NOT ALL
Joint owners Ealing and
Hounslow councils have
been working to bring
the park’s grounds and
future
historical buildings to life over the last
year, with funding from the Heritage
Lottery Fund, the Big Lottery Fund and
Historic England.
This spring, the park’s museum is due
to reopen in the Grade II listed large
mansion house; a new café will also
open, in which you will be able to view
the Rothschild’s horse-drawn carriages.
Restoration of the other heritage
structures dotted across the parkland
has also taken place, including the
Orangery; the temple; Princess
Amelia’s Bathhouse; the
gothic ruins; the Round
Pond; and the Horseshoe Pond.
Council leader Julian Bell said:
“This ambitious project is bringing
Gunnersbury Park’s past and future
together with state-of-the-art sports
facilities alongside renovation of
the park’s beautiful and historically
significant buildings and landscape.”
Read the full story at
ealingnewsextra.co.uk/
features/gunnersbury-park
Artists' impression of the new sports centre
around ealing February 2018
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