Off Mereway Road,
Twickenham,
TW2 6PH
Whitton station was opened in 1930 in order to serve the new housing estates in Whitton and West Twickenham. Many other civic projects were developed at this time to serve the growing population of the town, for example, The Great Chertsey Road was built, the West Middlesex sewage works were built on Mogden Lane superseding the Mereway sewage works. As part of this urban development Parks and Open Spaces were planned which included both Crane Park and Kneller Gardens, the first park in the Twickenham to have a children’s playground.
At its opening in June 1931 Kneller Gardens was described as “Another lung for Twickenham”. The land for the park was bought from the Jubilee Farm estate, and was built to serve the new estates around Whitton station and the Meadway. Newspaper reports describe the park in detail. The top corner was set aside for children with a “chute” and roundabouts. “In other parts of the grounds have been laid out tennis courts, miniature golf and other games such as hockey, cricket and football will follow for the adults”.
Kneller Gardens was the first public open space in Twickenham to include a children’s playground and at the opening “An ovation awaited the Mayor when at the invitation of his colleagues he led the way in trying the chute. It made him a hero with the children.” The park included a newly built pavilion with changing rooms and a park keeper’s office.
The River had been the site of the Mereway Bathing Place which opened in 1895, and closed, apparently due to pollution in the river, in 1930. At the time that Kneller Gardens opened in the 1930’s there were still hopes that it would re-open.