A brief history

Numbers 6 to 21 Camden Crescent are designated as Grade I Listed buildings, the remainder are Grade II.

Jane Austen fans will know that in Persuasion the Elliot family rented lodgings at ‘Camden Place’, as the Crescent was by then known.  It may have been an uphill “toilsome walk” to get there, but the reward was “a lofty, dignified situation, such as becomes a man of consequence”.

Nineteenth century property deeds refer to Camden Lawn below the Crescent as a well-kept sloping lawn with unhindered views up to the Crescent and down to Hedgemead Park and the city beyond.

The Council steps in; local people mobilise to help out

The land is steep and difficult to utilise and maintain so, in 1964, the Camden Crescent residents sold it to the Council (for £1) in order to safeguard its upkeep.  The terms of the sale prohibited allowing anything to grow over 3 ft tall.

Sadly, with constrained funds, the Council too has struggled to properly maintain the land, leaving it essentially unmanaged.

Recognising the Council's struggles, local people have at times over the last 10 years or so mobilised, rolled up their sleeves and volunteered on the land - with some success.  Long term locals might have fond memories of the family of pigs (see image below) that were drafted in to help tame the wilderness it had become.  And a small wildflower meadow planted by local volunteers remains.

More recently, that wildflower meadow has been expanded by volunteers from Friends of Camden Meadow, who now manage the land for Council and the local community.

You can read more about the work and vision of Friends of Camden Meadow here, see Vision.