Sitting along the banks of the River Lea, Wardown Park occupies a quietly historic stretch of Luton between Old Bedford Road and the A6 New Bedford Road, within easy walking distance of the town centre. The park is Grade II listed on Historic England’s Register of Parks and Gardens, a status that reflects the care taken in its Victorian-era layout – much of which survives intact today.
From Private Estate to Public Park
The land began as a farmhouse and country residence in the 1800s, originally a private estate owned by Richard How. His son Robert built the first house on the grounds, called Bramingham Shott, which still stands. In the early 1870s, local solicitor Frank Chapman-Scargill took over the estate and rebuilt much of the house in 1879 at a cost of £10,000. The estate was later let to a tenant named J. Forder, who gave it the name Wardown. The property then passed to the Stewart family, whose son Sir Malcolm Stewart went on to found the London Brick Company. By 1903 the family placed the house and its 11-acre park on the market at £17,000. When no buyer came forward, local councillors Asher Hucklesby and Edwin Oakley purchased it in 1904 for £16,250 on behalf of Luton Council. Hucklesby later became Mayor of Luton. In the years that followed, new trees, footpaths, and bridges were added, and a bowling green was constructed in 1905 – reputed to be the first in Luton.
The Museum and the Lake
Hucklesby had hoped the house would become a museum of educational value, but the building had fallen into disrepair with dry rot, leaving the council unable to fund immediate renovations. It served as a military hospital during World War I, then housed council employees and a ground-floor café before the Wardown Park Museum finally opened in 1930, having started out at the Carnegie library in 1927. What began with displays in just two rooms has since expanded to fill the entire building. The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm and Sunday from 1pm to 5pm, with free admission. At the centre of the park lies a lake formed by widening the River Lea during the Victorian development of the grounds. The lake holds a small island – not open to the public – where swans, ducks, and geese gather. A large fountain marks the end of the lake nearest the town centre. The park also has formal gardens and a range of sporting facilities.