Belair Park

Belair Park is a park located in the West Dulwich part of the London Borough of Southwark, southeast London, England. The park grounds once belonged to Belair House, a country villa built in Adam style that is now a Grade II listed building. There are also two other Grade II listed structures within the park: the lodge and entrance gate, and an old stable building.

The park, which is 10.6 hectares (26 acres) in area, is bordered by the South Circular Road and Gallery Road. It has recently been refurbished with upgraded tennis courts and the addition of a skate board facility. The London Borough of Southwark has plans to make the park more widely accessible.

The circuit around the park using its paved paths is approximately 750 m (2,460 ft).

The lake is the only substantial stretch of the ancient River Effra remaining above ground.

The estate consisted of two farms until it was leased to John Willes in 1785. Willes, a maize farmer of Whitechapel, erected a house, possibly with help from Robert Adam. This house was named College Place and the lake, as mentioned by Willes when he first leased the land from Dulwich College, was beyond the original boundary of the estate.

After John Willes' death in 1818, solicitor Charles Ranken acquired the property and renamed the house Belair.

Charles Hutton, a wool merchant and sheriff of London and Middlesex, purchased the remainder of the lease. It would seem that the majority of structural changes occurred during his ownership. North and south wings, together with conservatories and numerous outbuildings were constructed. Eventually, Belair grew to 47 rooms. Hutton lived there with his wife, their eleven children, and ten live-in servants. However, the house fell into disrepair when Hutton's Berlin wool business started to lose money.

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