-Engagingly written by local, passionate experts -Based on years of
original historical research, encompassing local archives, objects held
by the Museum, archaeological findings, oral history sources, and more
-Richly illustrated, including maps and a fold-out cover Exploring this
much-loved public park reveals its story. In the Middle Ages,
Gunnersbury belonged to the powerful mistress of a medieval king.
Prosperous Tudor merchants and City aldermen followed; its first
transformation saw the building of a huge Palladian mansion with formal
gardens around 1660. After years of neglect it was reborn as a center of
Georgian society; a merchant politician and art collector and then a
Hanoverian princess each softened the landscape and built follies. In
1800 the mansion was demolished and development plots sold off; two
neighboring villas emerged which still survive. From 1835 one was home
to the banking family who eventually reunited the estate, and this
building is now the Gunnersbury Park Museum. Gunnersbury was opened as a
public park in 1926. This book marks the completion of the recent and
extensive conservation programme - its 21st century transformation - in
the lead-up to the Park centenary. Published to coincide with the
Gunnersbury Park Museum's reopening in spring/summer 2018. Gunnersbury
Park receives 30,000-40,000 visitors per year, and this is expected to
rise to as many as 1 million visitors per year after the renovation and
conservation programme is completed.
