One of Highbury Parks historic features completely demolished by vandals

One of Highbury Parks historic features was completely demolished last week by vandals. I have spent this afternoon with David Papadopoulos of the Friends of Highbury Park, salvaging what we can of this feature.

The historic feature that was damaged is the Viewing Platform up near Highbury Hall. It was created in 1890 and it was from this platform that Joseph Chamberlain was able to view his ornate gardens of Highbury Hall, looking down to the main pond that still exists today.

The Viewing Platform was completely demolished last Thursday between 4pm and 5pm. The ornate stonework of the platform was knocked over onto the ground, then pushed over the edge of a rocky outcrop, smashing into tiny pieces on impact.

A member of the Friends of Highbury Park witnessed this vandalism and described the group as all male, containing a small number of 40 to 50 year old men, who were encouraging teenage boys to smash up the stonework. When the member of the Friends group approached the group, he was swore at and threatened.

Both David Papadopoulos and myself have move the smash stonework to another side of the park, until we can find permanent storage.

The timing of this vandalism has been terrible, since I was busy finding money to fully restore this viewing platform this Autumn and this has significantly increased that cost. Some of the stone blocks are re-usable, but there are lot that will require complete replacing.

Photographs of the wreckage can be seen at http://highburyparkfriends.org.uk/images/photo/2011/08/21/