[9] ...under the low red roofs of Croydon, and by the cress-set rivulets in which the sand danced and minnows darted above the Springs of WandelOne of the oldest public open spaces in Croydon,[11] Wandle Park was built to meet the leisure and recreation needs of the population of a growing industrial town.

Part of the railway's course survives as a section of Factory Lane, while the isolated land became home to an iron works and an electricity generating station.

[27][28][29] By 1852 the Local Board of Health had built a sewage filter house at Pitlake on the edge of today's Wandle Park, near the south end of Cuthbert Road.

[34] The health board also used Mr. Waterman's 17 acre Brimstone Farm field adjacent to Stubbs Mead for sewage irrigation, which became a cesspool.

[35][36][19] Both of these works were heavily criticised[31] and by 1859 a new sewage plant was subsequently opened at Brimstone Barn, at today's recycling centre in Factory lane.

[53] From 1888 part of Stubbs Mead was rented by the council for allotments,[54] and where Alice Whye was murdered on 24 May 1936[55] Her assailant, Wallace Jenden, was hung at Wandsworth prison by Thomas Pierrepoint.

[57] The council budgeted £25,000 for the remaining wards, which with the expenditure on the existing recreation grounds represented a rate rise of 1d in the £ (a 0.4% increase, although this would be absorbed by the town's growth).

[61][62] In 1885 the sanitary committee had attempted to purchase Frog Mead for an infectious hospital,[63] but the owners (Briton Medical & General Life Association Limited) went into liquidation before the sale could be completed.

[69] The deed of sale records that Croydon Corporation bought Frog Mead in 1888 from the Briton Medical & General Life Association Limited for £1,518.

The indenture states that "The land shall be forever dedicated and used as an ornamental pleasure ground and place of recreation for the inhabitants of the Borough of Croydon and for no other purpose whatsoever.

[1] Minutes of the Committee available in Croydon's Local Studies Library record that a Mr W. Powell, the Roads Surveyor was instructed to draw up plans and obtain prices for the works.

[71] John Hubert Schmitz, the Mayor of Croydon, opened Wandle Park on 14 May 1890, which was attended in the evening by approximately 50,000 - 60,000 people.

[72] Being a Wednesday, shops closed early and a procession of various bands, school children and friendly societies marched from Katharine Street, followed by dignitaries in carriages.

After the opening ceremony there were activities to entertain the children, while the park was illuminated by electricity in the evening and finished with fireworks.

A rose garden was created in the 1970s next to the sports pavilion and more recently a skatepark was provided on the site of the old tennis courts.

The park has received funding from the adjoining British Gas Site (Barratt Homes providing a Section 106 contribution as part of their planning consent), the Environment Agency, Croydon Council, Heritage Lottery Fund and the Mayor of London's Help a London Park Scheme.