Danson Park
16mm film Black & White Silent c.1935 3:42
Summary: Amateur film recording Bexley's Danson Park.
Title number: 37
LSA ID: LSA/42
Description: A short journey around Danson Park in Bexley revealing some of its attractions. The film begins at the Gates of the park at the junction of Danson Road and Park View Road at Crook Log. Some pedestrians enter the park, while cars move by outside on Danson Road. Inside the gates a sign from Bexley Urban District Council gives the park's opening and closing times. There are views across the park including the tennis courts, the main tree lined avenue, and the mown open spaces being used by walkers. The camera lingers over the exterior of the park's manor house of Danson Mansion and moves about its formal garden beds and grounds. Much of the action takes place about the lake, which is seen being used for range of activities. The lake's swans are seen being fed by children while elsewhere boys in bathing costumes enter the water to swim. Adults take to the water too, with some people rowing small boats on the lake using oars and others using boats propelled by hand driven pedals. A few older men sit sedately beside the lake angling for fish with their rods resting hopefully over the shallows.
Further information: This film was originally dated as c.1942, but the fashions look like those of the 1930s, rather than those of World War II. The film was uploaded to the LSA YouTube channel and a member of the public responded to this war-time dating: 'I was evacuated from time to time depending on how heavy the bombing raids became. I remember the 'lake' as always being empty and just a stream running through middle. I believe that during early part of war wood and logs were floated to cover water. Sometime later it was drained. The lake if visible from air made a good marker for the enemy bombers. The lake pictures showing people suggest to me this is peacetime.'
Keywords: Parks
In galleries: Green Spaces
Locations: United Kingdom; England; London; Bexley; Bexleyheath
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