Kennington Park is a public park in Kennington, south London and lies between Kennington Park Road and St. Agnes Place. It was opened in 1854 on the site of what had been Kennington Common, where the Chartists gathered for their biggest "monster rally" on 10 April 1848.

Soon after this demonstration the common was enclosed and, sponsored by the royal family, made into a public park.

Kennington Common was a site of public executions until 1800 as well as being an area for public speaking.

Some of the most illustrious orators to speak here were Methodist founders George Whitefield and John Wesley who is reputed to have attracted a crowd of 30,000.

The common was one of the earliest London cricket venues and is known to have been used for top-class matches in 1724.

Kennington Park hosts the first inner London community cricket ground, sponsored by Surrey County Cricket Club whose home, The Oval, is close to the park.

Casual games of both cricket and football are regularly held in the park.

In the 1970s, the old tradition of mass gatherings returned to the park which was host to the start of many significant marches to Parliament.

Today, a number of commercial and community events are held in the park each year and recently the Flower Garden was restored with a Heritage Lottery grant.

The Friends of Kennington Park, was founded in 2002 and provides a local forum for park issues as well as fundraising for improvements.

1854 Kennington Park opened and maintained by the Crown's Office of Works.

1859 Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens opened for the last time on the night of Monday, 25 July 1859.

1861 Two panelled gardens laid out by John Gibson on the west side to either side the lodge.

1861 A gymnasium erected (which became tennis courts before the children's playground moved there in 2006).

1861 Meeting of the Juvenile Temperance Society allowed in the summer. (PRO work 1/71)

1862 Felix Slade drinking water fountain designed by Charles Henry Driver.

Slade donated this after feeling sorry for the local children who, after playing in the gymnasium, had been taking their refreshment from the cab horse trough.

1869 Sir Henry Doulton donates local artist George Tinworth's 'Fountain of Life'.

1874 Parish of St Agnes, Kennington Park founded.

1877 Church of St. Agnes, Kennington Park consecrated by the Lord Bishop of London.

1887 Kennington Park maintenance passed over to London's Metropolitan Board of Works.

1889 Kennington Park passed to London County Council that later became the Greater London Council, GLC, in 1965.

1896 A 7-year old Charlie Chaplin spent a day playing in the park after his mother discharged the family from the Lambeth Workhouse in desperation to see her children.

After a day in the park and at a coffee-shop they returned to the workhouse to undergo the shameful admissions process again.

1897 An Arts & Crafts style refreshment house erected which is now a rare survival.

1898 Princess of Wales Theatre, designed by W. G. R. Sprague, opens at the height of the music hall era. (closed c. 1934 and site 'Compulsorily Purchased' for flats in 1949) The theatre had one of earliest air conditioning systems.

1899 The first all-night illuminated footpath through a public park.