St James's Park | |
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Location | London, SW1 United Kingdom |
Coordinates | 51°30′09″N 00°08′06″W / 51.50250°N 0.13500°W |
Area | 23 hectares (57 acres) |
Established | 1603 |
Operated by | The Royal Parks |
Public transit access | St James's Park, Green Park, Victoria, and Westminster tube stations |
St James's Park is a 23-hectare (57-acre) urban park in the City of Westminster, central London. A Royal Park, it is at the southernmost end of the St James's area, which was named after a once isolated medieval hospital dedicated to St James the Less, now the site of St James's Palace. The area was initially enclosed for a deer park near the Palace of Whitehall for King Henry VIII in the 1530s. It is the most easterly of a near-continuous chain of public parks that includes (moving westward) Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens.[1][2][3]
The park is bounded by Buckingham Palace to the west, The Mall to the north, Horse Guards to the east, and Birdcage Walk to the south. It meets Green Park at Queen's Gardens with the Victoria Memorial at its centre, opposite the entrance to Buckingham Palace. St James's Palace is on the opposite side of The Mall. The closest London Underground stations are St James's Park, Green Park, Victoria, and Westminster.[2]
The park is Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.[4]