A Brief History Of Hyde Park, London

If you want luxurious lodgings on your visit to London, then you?ll want to pick a Hyde Park hotel. London will be a much more comfortable and enjoyable city to stay in once you decide to do that. But why exactly is Hyde Park so special in the first place?

Hyde Park itself started out as the private lands owned by the monks of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster (or simply Westminster Abbey.) King Henry VIII?s famous separation of the church from the state in the mid 1550?s precipitated events leading to the confiscation of Church property. This was a small price to pay for Westminster Abbey?s elevation of status from simple abbey to cathedral ? preventing it from being demolished like so many other abbeys in Henry VIII?s time.

Hyde Park then served as a deer park and private hunting ground, where only the royalty were allowed to set foot on the grounds. King James I opened up the park to the gentry, but it was King Charles I who opened up the park to the general public in 1637. He laid out the foundations for the green space of today ? a park for anyone and everyone to spend their time in.

Chances are you?ll wind up using the Grand Entrance when you book into a Hyde Park hotel. London has a lot of other high-end accommodations ringing the park, though, and chances are you?ll find one overlooking Rotten Row if you pick out a hotel on the south side of the park.

Despite its current name, Rotten Row was actually known as ?The King?s Private Road.? This gravelled carriage track likely got its name from the French term for King?s Road ? Route de Roi.? King William III wanted a safer route connecting Kensington Palace to the former St. James Palace, so he ended up creating a broad track that was lit with 300 oil lamps in 1690.

This was the first artificially-illuminated highway recorded in Britain?s history, which is fitting considering the high-end accommodations provided by your typical Hyde Park hotel. London hotels with similar high-end accommodations also tend to front Speaker?s Corner ? another historically significant part of the area.

The seeds of democracy had begun slowly growing, and various public movements in the 1800?s forced the government to take a long, hard look at where and how people could freely speak their minds. Key events include the riots over the Sunday Trading Bill of 1855 and then massive demonstrations of 1866 and 1867 clamouring for middle-class reforms.

The Parks Regulation Act of 1872 portioned out a section of Hyde Park where anyone and everyone could meet, speak, debate and say whatever they wished to say. Prominent figures that have spoken in Speaker?s Corner include George Orwell, Ben Tillet, William Morris and even communist fathers Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.

Keep all this in mind the next time you book a Hyde Park hotel. London will prove to be a much richer, rewarding experience when you realize the historical significance of that beautiful plot of land just outside your hotel window.

About the Author:
Looking for a Hyde Park hotel, London? Roberta Stuart is the Travel Manager for Worldhotels, a company offering the best rooms and a selection of unique four and five star hotels around the world.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/A-Brief-History-Of-Hyde-Park--London/4419916

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