Mr Monkey scurried up onto the bridge over the Serpentine, and looked at the lake in both directions. On one side of the bridge it's the Serpentine and it's in Hyde Park, and on the other it's called the Long Water and it's in Kensington Gardens. The lake was constructed in 1728 for Queen Caroline by damming the Westbourne Stream and was the first artificial lake in England that was designed to look as if it wasn't an artificial lake. She had a chunk of Hyde Park renamed Kensington Gardens at the same time, but the lake wasn't physically divided until the bridge was built in the 1820s.
Return to Mr Monkey in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens
Copyright Rik Shepherd and Mr Monkey. This page last modified 2 December 2007