Hyde Park is one of four Royal parks in London and is the largest in size. The plans for the park came from King Henry the 8th in July 1536, when he acquired the land from Reverend William Boston and the Convent of Westminster(1). The land consisted of the Manor of Hyde that the monks had controlled for over nearly five centuries. King Henry demanded these lands would extend his hunting grounds from the north to the south of London, connecting his palace of Westminster down to Hampstead Heath. "As a result, it was probably around this time that the manor of Hyde was made into a park and enclosed with a fence or paling, becoming even more suitable for the rearing and preserving of game"(2). The fencing prevented any normal citizen from entering the park, as well as any poachers who wanted to hunt in the lands as well. The park would stay as private grounds for the royal family until the early 1600s, when "James I opened certain areas to "well dressed persons." In 1637 his son, Charles I, officially opened Hyde Park to the public"(3). The park being large and wild, contained one attraction that the people enjoyed and that was the Ring. The Ring, "was a circular carriage drive, built near a marsh that would one day become the Serpentine lake"(4), one of two lakes present in the park, the other being the Long Water lake.

(1). Rabbitts, The Peoples Park. Pg, 9.

(2). Rabbitts, The Peoples Park. Pg, 10.

(3). Foreman, Park of Ages. Pg, 3.

(4). Foreman, Park of Ages. Pg, 3.

During the 1960s and the counterculture movement, hippies and the youth in London required the use of drugs as a means of release from society, and these hippies looked up to popular bands at the time that were spreading this theme. Hyde park encompasses a large area and therefore has a large space these bands to play and have a large audience to watch. Bands such as Pink Floyd, Queen and the Rolling stones were just some of the prominent bands that played in Hyde park. "McCartney was the first major pop figure to admit to taking LSD. "The fundamental unifying thing was drugs," says Boyd. "The more tabs of acid there were circulating, the more freaks you saw, the more boutiques, macrobiotic restaurants, the more tie-dye sold — and the music evolved"(5). Music players were the forefront for the counterculture movement with hippies and the youth in London, and any that followed their music at locations like Hyde park, would want to do the same things the band members were doing. Hyde park, being one of the parks that connect to Kensington palace, home to many of the royal family, makes it a prime location for protests of change. Many hippies strived for a world of peace and one of the things they protested were the construction and testing of nuclear weapons. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) was a product of the nuclear age and fought against the rise in nuclear testing between the global powers, Britain included. In 1983, the CND gathered a large force of people, upwards of three hundred thousand people, to march in protest the nuclear testing(6). Hyde park being a large open area, in the center of London and known as an area of free speech and demonstration became one of the prominent areas for the protest to spread its thoughts and ideals. Hyde park acts as a key location for cultural change to spread and be listened to.

(5). Light, Alan. 2007. "LONDON." Rolling Stone, no. 1030/1031 (July): 64–137.

(6). 永井清陽, and Kiyoharu NAGAI. 1989. "英国の一方的核廃棄論議と世論-決断の八三年をめぐって-." 国際政治 1989 (90): 152–168

Foreman, Amanda. "Park of Ages: Far More than Just an Urban Retreat, Hyde Park Is a Living Archive of British Culture and History." American Scholar 82, no. 3 (Summer 2013): 44–53.

Light, Alan. "LONDON." Rolling Stone, no. 1030/1031 (July 12, 2007): 64–137.

永井清陽, and Kiyoharu NAGAI. "英国の一方的核廃棄論議と世論-決断の八三年をめぐって-." 国際政治 1989, no. 90 (1989): 152–168

BURKETT, JODI and JODI BURKETT. 2012. "The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Changing Attitudes Towards the Earth in the Nuclear Age." The British Journal for the History of Science 45 (4): 625-639. doi:10.1017/S0007087412001094. http://resolver.scholarsportal.info/resolve/00070874/v45i0004/625_tcfndateitna.

Rabbitts, Paul A. Hyde Park: The Peoples Park. Stroud: Amberley Publishing, 2015.