Crawter’s Brook Peoples Park
2014
Crawter’s Brook People’s Park was the first major public realm improvement delivered by the Manor Royal BID and its partners.
Originally it was a poorly regarded 3-hectare site at a prominent location in the heart of the Manor Royal Business District and had been neglected over many years. It was overgrown and impassable in places and had become a site for fly tipping and rubbish. The Manor Royal BID reclaimed the area to create an outdoor space that would be an asset to the attractiveness of the Business District.
Crawter’s Brook People’s Park was officially opened by HRH The Duke of Gloucester in November 2014. The park, which links Fleming Way with Manor Royal road and Gatwick Road, boasts two boardwalks, decking area, cycle paths, seating and picnic benches and public art (The Lost Woodland Gallery) providing plenty of space to think and rest.
Crawter’s Brook People’s Park is a wooded area that runs north-south between Manor Royal road to the south and Fleming Way to the north. It is from either end with the main point of entry towards the eastern end of Manor Royal road.
Zone 4 (Green Zone)
The corten steel arches towards the front of Crawter’s Brook People’s Park serve to frame the entrance from the picnic area off of Manor Royal road and into the southern wood where the flood alleviation basin can be found.
The sculptural sign to the front incorporates a small solar panel in the top that powers small up lights and for the arches and the sign itself, while the “voids” in the base are filled with sticks to create a bug hotel. The blend of the brown corten material and natural elements combines the role of Crawter’s Brook as an area of biodiversity and nature within the commercial area of Manor Royal Business District.
Artist: Allen Scott Landscape Architecture
The area serves as flood alleviation pond for the River Mole and is a haven for wildlife. Hidden in the upper middle of the park is a small path running east-west with old lamp posts retained along the path that used to connect sites that Thales had on either side. The lights have been retained but no longer work to create Manor Royal’s very own ‘Narnia’.
