Crystal Palace Park is a Victorian pleasure ground, used for cultural and sporting events. It is located in the south-east London suburb of Crystal Palace, which was in turn named after the Crystal Palace Exhibition building, which had been moved from Hyde Park, London after the 1851 Great Exhibition and rebuilt with some modifications and enlargements to form the centrepiece of the pleasure ground, before being destroyed by fire in 1936. The park features full-scale models of dinosaurs in a landscape, a maze, lakes, and a concert bowl.
This site contains the?National Sports Centre, previously a football stadium that hosted the?FA Cup Final?from 1895 to 1914 as well as?Crystal Palace F.C.’s matches from?their formation in 1905?until?the club was forced to relocate?during the?First World War. The?London County Cricket Club?also played matches at?Crystal Palace Park Cricket Ground?from 1900 to 1908, when they folded, and the cricket ground staged a number of other?first-class cricket?matches and had first been used by?Kent County Cricket Club?as a first-class venue in 1864.
The park is situated halfway along the?Norwood Ridge?at one of its highest points. This ridge offers views northward to central London, eastward to the?Queen Elizabeth II Bridge?and?Greenwich, and southward to?Croydon?and the?North Downs. The park remains a major London public park. The park was maintained by the?LCC?and later the?GLC, but with the abolition of the GLC in 1986, control of the park was given to the London Borough of Bromley, so the park is now entirely within the London Borough of Bromley.