It is at the heart of the south London centre of distribution for stag beetle Lucanus cervus, and is a site of national importance for the conservation of the fauna of invertebrates associated with the decaying timber of ancient trees".

[39] In July 2012 it was reported that police had been given the power to issue £50 on-the-spot fines for littering, cycling outside designated areas and dog fouling offences.

[45][46] Conservative MP Danny Kruger was fined after his puppy, during a family walk, caused a stampede when it chased a 200-strong herd of deer in the park in March 2021.

[57][58][59] The Friends run a visitor centre near Pembroke Lodge, organise a programme of walks and education activities for young people, and produce a quarterly newsletter.

In 1637 he appointed Jerome Weston, 2nd Earl of Portland as keeper of the new park for life, with a fee of 12 (old) pence a day, pasture for four horses, and the use of the brushwood[69] – later holders of that office were known as "Ranger".

[72] In 1719, Caroline of Ansbach and her husband, the future George II of Great Britain, bought Richmond Lodge as a country residence.

The same map shows Pen Ponds, a lake divided in two by a causeway, dug in 1746 and initially referred to as the Canals, which is now a good place to see water birds.

[93] On 7 December 1915 English inventor Harry Grindell Matthews demonstrated, in a secret test on Pen Ponds, how selenium cells would work in a remotely controlled prototype weapon for use against German Zeppelins.

[103] The camp was subsequently used as a military convalescent depot for up to 2,500 persons after which it continued as a base for the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) until after the war.

[112][113] John Boyd-Carpenter, MP for Kingston-upon-Thames, proposed using the Kingston Gate Camp to help alleviate the local post-war housing shortage but the Minister of Works, Charles Key, was opposed, preferring that the site be eventually returned to its former parkland use.

It was originally built as two houses in 1673 for two Richmond Park Keepers, as Aldridge Lodge, and was enlarged in 1727, possibly by William Kent, as a home for Sir Robert Walpole.

[158] Elizabeth, Countess of Dysart, and her husband Sir Lionel Tollemache, took over Petersham Lodge when they became joint keepers of Richmond Park.

After Tollemache's death the Lodge and its surrounding land were leased in 1686 to Lawrence Hyde, Earl of Rochester, whose sister Anne was married to the new king, James II.

[83] Professor Sir Richard Owen, the first Director of the Natural History Museum, lived at Sheen Cottage until his death in 1892.

[164] However, there is no evidence to support the legend that Henry VIII stood on the mound to watch for a sign from St Paul's that Anne Boleyn had been executed at the Tower and that he was then free to marry Jane Seymour.

In 2009 his successor, Boris Johnson, promised to reinstate the wider view, though also approving a development at Victoria Station which, when completed, will obscure its right-hand corner.

[167] New gates − "The Way" − which can be viewed through the King Henry's Mound telescope, were installed in 2012 on the edge of Sidmouth Wood to mark the 300th anniversary of St Paul's.

[177][178] A wooden memorial plaque with an ode to Thomson by the writer and historian John Heneage Jesse was formerly located near Pembroke Lodge stables, where it was installed in 1851.

[178] In 2014 Poet's Corner was re-sited to the other side of the main path and the ode, on a re-gilded board, was installed in a completely new oak frame.

The new Poet's Corner, funded by the Friends of Richmond Park and the Visitor Centre at Pembroke Lodge, and by a donation in memory of Wendy Vachell, also includes three curved benches made from reclaimed teak.

[179] Benches, also sculpted by Richard Farrrington,[177] at King Henry's Mound are inscribed with a few lines from Thomson's poem "The Seasons".

[178] Poet's Corner is linked to King Henry's Mound by the John Beer Laburnum Arch, named after one of Pembroke Lodge Gardens' former charge-hands.

[180] In 2002 a "musical bench", designed by Mil Stricevic,[181] was placed in a favoured viewing spot of rock singer and lyricist Ian Dury (1942–2000) near Poet's Corner.

The park is an important refuge for other wildlife, including woodpeckers, squirrels, rabbits, snakes, frogs, toads, stag beetles and many other insects plus numerous ancient trees and varieties of fungi.

[195] Sudbrook drains the western escarpment of the hill that, to the east, forms part of the catchment of Beverley Brook and, to the south, the Hogsmill River.

It has a collection, which was started by Daniel Hearsum (1958-2021) in 1997,[201] of heritage material covering the last four centuries, with over 5000 items including antique prints, paintings,[202] maps, postcards, photographs, documents, books and press cuttings.

[214][215] Anthony Horowitz's 2014 novel Moriarty, about Arthur Conan Doyle's character in his Sherlock Holmes stories, includes a scene set in Richmond Park.

[220] Joseph Allen's Sir Robert Walpole (1676–1745), 1st Earl of Orford, KG, as Ranger of Richmond Park (after Jonathan Richardson the Elder) is in the collection of the National Trust, and is held at Erddig, Wrexham.

[221] The painting is based on a portrait with a similar title, by Jonathan Richardson the Elder and John Wootton, which is held at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery.

She was married to the Duke of Brunswick and was feeling homesick, so an English-style park was designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown and a palace built for her, both with the name "Richmond".