St. James's Park
| St James's Park | |
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Looking east from the Blue Bridge towards Horse Guards
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| Location | Westminster, London |
| Coordinates | 51°30′6″N 0°7′55″W / 51.50167°N 0.13194°WCoordinates: 51°30′6″N 0°7′55″W / 51.50167°N 0.13194°W |
| Area | 23 hectares (57 acres) |
| Established | 1603 |
| Operated by | The Royal Parks |
| Public transit access | St James's Park, Green Park, Victoria, and Westminster tube stations |
St James's Park is a 23-hectare (57-acre) park in the City of Westminster, central London. The park lies at the southernmost tip of the St James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St James the Less. The park is the most easterly of a near-continuous chain of parks that comprises (moving westward) Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens.
The park is bounded by Buckingham Palace to the west, The Mall to the north, Horse Guards to the east, and Birdcage Walk to the south. It meets Green Park at Queen's Gardens with the Victoria Memorial at its centre, opposite the entrance to Buckingham Palace. St James's Palace is on the opposite side of The Mall. The closest London Underground stations are St James's Park, Green Park, Victoria, and Westminster.
The park has a small lake, St James's Park Lake, with two islands, West Island, and Duck Island, named for the lake's collection of waterfowl. A resident colony of pelicans has been a feature of the park since pelicans were donated by a Russian ambassador in 1664. The Blue Bridge across the lake affords a view west towards Buckingham Palace framed by trees. Looking east the view includes the Swire Fountain to the north of Duck Island and, past the lake, the grounds of Horse Guards Parade, with Horse Guards, the Old War Office and Whitehall Court behind. To the south of Duck Island is the Tiffany Fountain on Pelican Rock, and past the lake is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with the London Eye, the Shell Tower, and the Shard behind.
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