At times I wonder if London parks have any surprises left for me then you get the lovely Crane park, Twickenham with its unusual military history background!
It is hard to believe that this beautiful park with the River Crane running though the middle, but from 1760-1927 was Hounslow Gunpowder Works making explosives with today only the Shot Tower laying testament to the areas explosive past!
Then from 1935 Twickenham council as it was then turned this gunpowder works into Crane park, with a nature reserve in the middle of the park around its Island!
The transformation is quite amazing in the creation of a tranquil oasis in this busy bustling part of South West London!
Today it was great to meet and chat to Richard Gurd who has kindly promoted my parkrun adventure on their newsletter! Good luck Richard on your quest to reach run 100 parkruns, only 24 to go now sir!
Course
This course starts at the children’s playground and is one and two-thirds clockwise laps around the perimeter of Crane park, which is run on a mixture of gravel and tarmac paths!
The are a few points to raise about this course
- The start side of the course is entirely gravel and the other side is a tarmac path that makes up part of the river Crane walk!
- At the start there is a bit of a bottleneck, so if you are going for a fast time make sure you are at the front at the beginning.
- To cross over the river for a very short distance you run on public footpaths at either end of the course, but this is well marshalled though.
- If run in the autumn I have been told as this course is heavily tree lined to be careful for fallen slippery leaves!
Finally on the course this a fast and flat event that is a joy to run around!
Personal Stats
I have given up on my times and now it is just a matter of getting round and completing this challenge, time 34:37
Important Info
I recommend as stated on Crane parkrun website if coming by car street parking at Meadway Sat Nav TW2 6PL is your best option! There are two reasons why I would recommend this option
Firstly its a lovely 1 km walk/jog along River Crane Walk to the start of the parkrun!
Secondly there is no public toilets and cafe in Cranes park but at Kneller Gardens, Meadway they have both facilities available for you to use!
Final Verdict
I would like to thank Kevin and his team of volunteers for making us all feel very welcome at Cranes park, excellent work guys!!!
Finally if you like to run a flat beautiful parkrun course with a river running through it there is no better example out there than Crane Park, you have been told!!!
Best
Mark aka Silent Runner
Run on 29/04/2017
Silent Runner 
4 thoughts on “Event 47 Crane Park”