London’s Pocket Parks: The Closes, West Drayton, UB7

This seemingly unremarkable looking public park has unexpected links with Roman England.This part of what is now London was originally part of the Manor of West Drayton, which King Athelstan gifted to the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in 925. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII granted the Manor to William Paget – 1st Lord Paget, and in 1714, the 7th Lord Paget was created Earl of Uxbridge.
Although West Drayton developed as a small village, it wasn’t much mo