"[3][4] The Park includes the 49 acres of land south of the Common that surrounded Homestall Farm, which was purchased by the Vestry and London County Council in 1868, for £51,000.

A few other small parcels of land were later incorporated into the Park when the leases of Homestall Farm and other properties expired.

The land for Peckham Rye Park was purchased by the London County Council for £51,000 (equivalent to £7,300,000 in 2023) and declared open on 14 May 1894.

It was later renamed the 'Sexby Garden' after Lt-Col JJ Sexby the London County Council's first Chief Officer of Parks.

Muriel Spark's 1960 novel The Ballad of Peckham Rye tells the story of a Scotsman moving to the area.