Ruskin Park
A large popular Edwardian park between Camberwell, Brixton and Herne Hill. Ruskin Park contains many heritage features as well as facilities for play, sport, and relaxation.
Ruskin Park is one of Lambeth's six Green Flag Award-winning parks, having secured this prestigious title for the first time in 2009. The Green Flag Award recognises the considerable achievements made together by residents and council to provide the local community with a quality green space we can all be proud of.
There are excellent rail and bus transport connections to the rest of Lambeth and London. Facilities include tennis and games courts, a popular children's play area, paddling pool and one o'clock club, a pond, formal gardens and a charming historic wooden bandstand.
Address: Denmark Hill, London SE5 8EL
Tube: Brixton (Victoria Line), 1.3 miles (1.6 km)
Rail: Denmark Hill, 0.1 miles (0.2 km), Loughborough Junction, 0.5 miles (0.8 km), Herne Hill, 1.0 miles (1.3 km)
Buses: 35, 42, 45, 68, 345, 468 and P4 (all to/from Brixton, Camberwell, Elephant and Castle, Herne Hill, and Croydon)
See a location map for Ruskin Park
Facilities
- Bandstand
- Children's play area (dog free)
- One O'clock club
- Paddling pool
- Ornamental and wildlife ponds with wetland habitats
- Flower gardens
- Formal bedding and heritage features
- Sports facilities:
- All Weather Pitch - Redgra type surface: - free / no booking required
- Basketball court
- Cricket wicket pitch: free / booking required.
- Tennis courts - charges apply during the following hours only:
Monday-Friday: 4pm-9pm
Sat, Sun, Bank Holidays: 9am-7pm
Adults £4/hr; Under 16s free.
Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) manages sports bookings in our parks. Please call them on 0845 130 8998 to make a booking.
- Toilets
- Friends of Ruskin Park - Tel 020 7733 5018 or Email friendsofruskinpark@googlemail.com
Opening times
The park opens by 7am each morning and is closed approximately 15 minutes before sunset. See opening and closing times
About Ruskin Park
Ruskin Park is a large historic park located between Camberwell, Brixton and Herne Hill in South London. The park gets its name from John Ruskin, the famous artist, writer and social campaigner, who lived nearby from 1823 to 1871. At the start of the 20th Century local residents campaigned for a new park on 24 acres of land in Denmark Hill, and the famous parks designer J.J. Sexby laid out the site. Ruskin Park was officially opened to the public on 2 February 1907, but was enlarged in 1910 by adding a further 12 acres of land to the south, which is now used for football and informal exercise.
Ruskin Park offers residents of Lambeth and Southwark, as well as visitors to both boroughs, a safe, welcoming and well-maintained place with opportunities for play, sports and relaxation. Along with a popular paddling pool, playground, one o'clock club, tennis courts and football pitch, the park contains a pond, wildlife habitats and formal bedding along with heritage features like the Portico and a splendid collection of ornamental and native trees. Pride of place goes to a delightful wooden bandstand in the centre of the park, which was restored in 2006 and continues to provide a striking focus for all who visit and enjoy this popular place.
Immediately adjacent to Ruskin Park are both King's College Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital, two of London's busiest hospitals and centres of excellence in medical teaching and research. The park is used by staff, patients and families travelling to and from both hospitals, as well as for exercise, taking breaks and escaping the pressures of ward life. This, combined with the many commuters who walk through Ruskin Park on their way to and from nearby Denmark Hill railway station, means it is well used throughout the day, helping make it a safe place to be with eyes and ears to report problems and prevent crime.
Help us look after Ruskin Park
Ruskin Park is managed by Lambeth Parks and Green spaces and patrolled by the Lambeth Park Rangers. The park also comes under the area patrolled by the Herne Hill Safer Neighbourhoods Team of the Lambeth Borough Police, who work in close partnership with Lambeth Council, Park Rangers, the Friends of Ruskin Park and King's College Hospital to make sure Ruskin Park and its surroundings are safe and welcoming for everybody.
Please remember that while Ruskin Park welcomes responsible dog walkers, some areas are dog free such as the children's playground, paddling pool, bandstand and formal gardens. This is for the comfort and safety of children and their carers, and also helps to protect wildlife. The rest of the park is open to dogs to be exercised off the lead without disturbing others.
For more information on Ruskin Park and how to help us keep it clean, green and safe please contact us on 020 7926 9000 or email us at parks@lambeth.gov.uk
'Lambeth Living Waters' - New Wildlife Ponds
During early 2010 an area along the northern side of the park is being developed in partnership between the Friends of Ruskin Park, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC or www.arc-trust.org) and Lambeth Parks & Greenspaces to create a new wildlife area containing two small ponds and associated wetland habitats.
This project, which is being delivered by ARC through the Inner London Nature Conservation Fund, a landfill tax grant managed by Grantscape (www.grantscape.org.uk), will also improve the existing ornamental pond in the centre of the park near the bandstand. The banks of this pond will be landscaped and new marginal plantings added to improve it for biodiversity.
Work to lay out and profile the existing and new ponds, as well as install safety fencing, will take place during February and March 2010, and these will then be planted up in late Spring. A series of volunteering events will conicide with these plantings to enable park users to get involved; the new ponds will provide adults and children alike with a safe and existing place to learn, study and enjoy nature, as well as help improve the biodiversity of Ruskin Park.
For more information contact Lambeth Parks on 0207 926 9000 or email parks@lambeth.gov.uk.
Friends of Ruskin Park
The Friends of Ruskin Park represent those living around and using the park, and play a vital role in its management and development for present and future generations. The Friends have been instrumental in helping secure a Green Flag Award for the park for the first time in 2009.
The Friends run monthly weekend volunteer activities, as well as a popular annual summer fair centred on the bandstand plus a wide range of other musical and community events. They also produce a regular newsletter for members with news about the park and the latest events.
To join the Friends of Ruskin Park or to find out more about their work, you can contact them via Lambeth Parks or email them at friendsofruskinpark@googlemail.com
Further information