HYDE PARK AND SPEAKERS CORNER
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, England, and one of the Royal Parks of London. The park is divided in two by the Serpentine Lake. Hyde Park is contiguous with Kensington Gardens, which is widely assumed to be part of Hyde Park, but is technically separate. The boundary between the two is West Carriage Drive.
Hyde Park is 350 acres and Kensington Gardens is 275 acres giving an overall area of 625 acres.
 HISTORY AND LAYOUT OF HYDE PARK
The oldest part of Hyde Park once belonged to the manor of Ebury. This land had an area of one hide (anything between 60 and 120 acres, or 0.24 to 0.49 kmē), which gave the park its name. The land was acquired by Henry VIII in 1536 from the monks of Westminster Abbey. Much of the layout dates back to the work of architect Decimus Burton in the 1820s. Where Kensington Gardens is largely flat, Hyde Park has high and low features.
The park was the original site of the Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton for the Great Exhibition of 1851. On July 20, 1982 in Hyde Park and Regent's Park, London two bombs linked to the IRA caused the death of Seven horses and eight members of the Household Cavalry and the Royal Green Jackets.
Additionally, it has been the venue for some famous rock concerts, including those featuring Jethro Tull (1968), The Rolling Stones (1969), Pink Floyd (1970), Roy Harper (1971), Queen (1976) and Red Hot Chili Peppers (2004).
Furthermore, Hyde Park was the location for Live 8.
In addition, the photography for the Beatles album Beatles for Sale occurred at Hyde Park in autumn of 1964.
GRAND ENTRANCE OF HYDE PARK
The Grand Entrance to the park was erected from the designs of Decimus Burton. It consists of a screen of handsome fluted Ionic columns, with three carriage entrance archways, two foot entrances, a lodge, etc.
The extent of the whole frontage is about 107 feet. The central entrance has a bold projection: the entablature is supported by four columns; and the volutes of the capitals of the outside column on each side of the gateway are formed in an angular direction, so as to exhibit two complete faces to view. The two side gateways, in their elevations, present two insulated Ionic columns, flanked by antae.
All these entrances are finished by a blocking, the sides of the central one being decorated with a beautiful frieze, representing a naval and military triumphal procession. This frieze was designed by Mr. Henning, junior, son of Mr. Henning, who was well known for his models of the Elgin marbles.
The gates were manufactured by Messrs. Bramah. They are of iron, bronzed, and fixed or hung to the piers by rings of gun-metal. The design consists of a beautiful arrangement of the Greek honeysuckle ornament; the parts being well defined, and the raffles of the leaves brought out in a most extraordinary manner.
SITES OF INTEREST IN HYDE PARK
Sites of interest in the park include Speakers' Corner (located in the north-east corner near Marble Arch) and Rotten Row which is the northern boundary of the site of the Crystal Palace. To the south-east is Hyde Park Corner. South of the Serpentine Lake is the Diana, Princess of Wales memorial, an oval stone ring fountain opened on July 6, 2004.
SPEAKERS CORNER, HYDE PARK
Speakers' Corner is an area where public speaking is allowed located in the north-east corner of Hyde Park, City of Westminster, London. There are a number of other areas designated as Speakers' Corners in other parks in London, (eg. Finsbury Park, Clapham Common and Victoria Park), however it is decades since any of these have been used for public speaking.
In Hyde Park Speakers' Corner is generally considered to be the paved area close to Marble Arch but legally it extends as far as the Reform Tree, and also covers a large area of the adjacent parade ground.
Public riots broke out in the park in 1855, in protest over the Sunday Trading Bill - which forbade buying and selling on a Sunday which was - at that time - the only day working people had off. These riots were eagerly described by Karl Marx as the begining of the English revolution.
The Chartist movement used Hyde Park as a point of assembly for workers' protests but no permanent speaking location was established. The Reform League organised massive and violent protests in 1866 and 1867 which compelled the government to extend the franchise to include most working class men.
The riots and agitation for democratic reform encouraged some to force issue of the "right to speak" in Hyde Park. In 1872 the Royal Parks and Garden's Act delegated the issue of permitting public meetings to the Park Authorities (rather than central government). Contrary to popular belief it does not confer a statutory basis for the right to speak at Speakers' Corner. Parliamentary debates on the act illustrate that a general principle of being able to meet and speak was not the intention, but that some areas would be permitted to be used for that purpose.
Since that time it has become a traditional site for public speeches and debate as well as the main site of protest and assembly in Britain. There are some who contend that the tradition has a connection with the older Tyburn hanging gallows where the condemned man was allowed to speak his last words.
Although many of its regular speakers are distinctly non-mainstream, it has been frequented by such people as Karl Marx, Lenin, George Orwell and William Morris. Its existence is frequently upheld as a demonstration of the principle of free speech, as anyone can turn up unannounced and talk on almost any subject, though they are likely to be heckled by regulars.
The existence of a specific location where free speech is permitted is used as an excuse by the authorities to prohibit free speech in most public spaces in London, including the rest of Hyde Park and all other Royal Parks, where free speech is explicitly forbidden in written by-laws. In the late 19th century, for instance, a comination of park by-laws, use of the Highways Acts and abuse of venue licensing powers of the London County Council made it one of the few places where socialist speakers could meet and debate.
In 2003, the Park authorities, probably with the support of the Government, tried to ban a demonstration set for February 15 to stop the war in Iraq. This caused general uproar and forced a climb down; the demonstration was the largest in British history, with over 1 million people attending.
The nearest tube station is the eponymously named Marble Arch tube station.
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