Aberdeen Park was first laid out between 1853 and 1854.
It was named after George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (1784-1860), First Lord of the Treasury (Prime Minister) from December 1852 to January 1855.
In 1806 most of the site was simply fields, Ten Acres and Nineteen Acres owned by Francis Masseres and occupied by Samuel Palmer. In 1848 they were called Great Field and Little Field, over fourteen acres, the property of George Morrice.
A smaller part of Aberdeen Park was owned in 1806 by a Mr Mallett and occupied by a Captain Agnew with a ’house, offices and pleasure grounds’, the same portion in 1848 being owned by John Foster.
After 1877, there was agricultural land - the Aberdeen Park Nursery - occupied as a horticultural nursery in 1904 by W. Clinton and then Frederick James Clinton was there as a nurseryman until 1935. Aberdeen Court is now on the site.
In December 1934 the Islington & Holloway Press described Aberdeen Park as being owned by Canon W. D. Morrice who had offered it for sale to builders. It was described as a ’quiet secluded area where are to be found some of the biggest houses in Highbury with its tennis courts ... a refuge for people in Highbury . . . and a joy in summer.’ Its main gate was then to the private park facing Highbury Fields and it was described as one of the few private parks left in London. It was, however, being hedged in gradually by factories and other buildings.
Some of Aberdeen Park’s houses were renumbered in the 1864-5 period and again 1933-4.
An OS map of 1954 shows nos. 9 to 10 as the Ashdown Hotel with a tennis court at its rear, and Aberdeen Lane, which later was on a similar map for 1894/6 as Aberdeen Mews.
The following blocks are located in Aberdeen Park: Aberdeen Court (dating from 1907-8 and extended in both 1924 and 1930), Beaconsfield Lodge (1982), Cynthia House (1953), Escuan Lodge (1963), Faithfull House (1953), Graham Robertson House (1953), Mostyn Lodge (1964), Newcombe House (1953) and The Woodlands (1964).
The Underground Map project is creating street histories for the areas of London and surrounding counties lying within the M25.
The aim of the project is to find the location every street in London, whether past or present, and tell its story. This project aims to be a service to historians, genealogists and those with an interest in urban design.
The website features a series of maps from the 1750s until the 1950s. You can see how London grows over the decades. |
Aberdeen Park was first laid out between 1853 and 1854.
