Municipal Parks Gardens and Open Spaces of London

This survey and fascinating history of the public green spaces of London was published in 1898. Its author John J. Sexby the Chief Officer of Parks of the London County Council is described as a lieutenant-colonel and a professional associate of the Surveyors'' Institution from which it can be deduced that he probably worked as a surveyor in the army. His skills as a horticulturalist and garden designer cannot be doubted and he left his mark on many of the municipal parks and gardens about which he writes with such enthusiasm. Sexby focuses on the municipal parks (those maintained by local authorities) rather than the nationally managed parks in central London. He describes large open spaces such as Hampstead Heath as well as small disused churchyards like that of St Dunstan''s in Stepney providing details of their former owners and use as well as their present condition.