Cannizaro Park

Cannizaro Park is a public park in Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton. Located towards the south-western edge of Wimbledon Common, it is known for its ornamental landscaped gardens with ponds and sculpture.

The House across the park lawn

The park is Grade II* listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.[1]

History
Cannizaro House (before recent building)

The park is the remnant of the gardens of the former country house at its centre (now a hotel). The house, originally known as Warren House, was built in the 18th century and was owned by the Grosvenor and Drax families who, for most of its history, let it to a series of wealthy tenants. The adjacent Royal Wimbledon golf course and the western parts of Wimbledon village were also once parts of the estate.

Between 1785 and 1806, Home Secretary and Secretary of State for War, Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, occupied the house. At this time it was a major social centre for royalty and senior politicians (George III and Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger both stayed there regularly). Dundas organised the landscaping of the gardens, the basic structure of which remains today. Lady Jane Wood in the gardens is a memorial to his wife.

In 1817, Sicilian Francis Platamone, Count St. Antonio and his Scottish wife Sophia leased Warren House and held regular parties and concerts, whose attendees included Prime Minister the Duke of Wellington and Mrs Fitzherbert, mistress of King George IV. The Count left his wife and returned to Italy in 1832 when he inherited the title Duke of Cannizzaro. The Duchess remained at Warren House until she died in 1841. After her death the house came to be known by her husband's title (with a variation in the spelling).

Rhododendron dell in Cannizaro Park

A major fire at the beginning of the 20th century destroyed much of the house but it was rebuilt and extended to its current arrangement. In the 1920s Cannizaro House was owned by Admiral Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax. He sold it to the Wilson family, its last private owners. During his exile from Ethiopia, Emperor Haile Selassie stayed in Wimbledon, and is commemorated by a modern bust in the park by Hilda Seligman. The bust was smashed by vandals in 2020.[2]

The Wilsons owned the house until the late 1940s and made a series of improvements in the gardens with the planting of new trees, Rhododendrons, Azaleas and Camellias. In 1947, the house and gardens were sold to Wimbledon Borough Council. The gardens were opened to the public shortly afterwards and the house was for a time used as a nursing home.

The London Borough of Merton sold the house in the 1980s and it was subsequently converted to its current use as a hotel. The surrounding gardens remain in council ownership and are open to the public. Most parts are well maintained, keeping the character of a large private garden, with many distinct areas and small "garden rooms", but the elaborate Italian Gardens are largely unplanted. For a number of years the Italian Gardens saw opera performances in the summer as part of the Cannizaro Festival, but in 2013 the festival was not held.

The place name "Cannizzaro"

Cannizzaro (which was a property belonging to the family Platamone di Sant’Antonio[3][4]) is a touristy locality on the Ionian shelvy coast of Eastern Sicily between Aci Castello and Catania.

One of the main Etnean medical centres bears the name of Ospedale Cannizzaro[5] since it has been built within its territorial bounds. This toponym likely arises from: A) the Low Latin term Canniciarium, "a place that abounds with reeds, a site made of reeds, a grove of reeds"; B) the Arabic expression Ayn An-Nisar, meaning "the Spring water of Sacrifice".

In both cases the primeval scenery that inspired the local naming has been ravaged over the centuries by many changes due to frequent lava streams and blasting eruptions.

Statue of Haile Selassie

Main article: Statue of Haile Selassie (Wimbledon)

Statue of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie

Cannizaro Park was the home to a bust of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie created by Hilda Seligman whilst he stayed at her nearby family home in 1936. It was installed in Cannizaro Park after her home, Lincoln House, was demolished in 1957. It was one of a series of statues toppled by protestors in June 2020.[6]

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References
  1. Historic England, "Cannizaro Park (1000797)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 19 November 2017
  2. Braddick, Imogen (2 July 2020). "Statue of former Ethiopian leader Haile Selassie destroyed 'by group of 100 people' in Wimbledon park". Evening Standard.
  3. url = http://www.regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/bibliotecacentrale/mango/pitrù.htm
  4. url = http://www.regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/bibliotecacentrale/mango/immagini/g/platamone.jpg
  5. url = http://www.ospedale-cannizzaro.it/
  6. "Haile Selassie statue destroyed in London park". BBC News. 2 July 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
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