The late Sir John Betjeman once described Albert Park as “England’s finest example of a Victorian suburb” and the area has been favourably compared with Victorian north Oxford. Its development may be traced back to the Charity Commissioners’ Scheme for the Management and Regulation of Christ’s Hospital of Abingdon, introduced in 1859. This scheme set out, inter alia, to create a “Recreation Ground and Allotments” for the benefit of the townspeople of Abingdon. The Governors of the charity were empowered to set aside ten to twenty acres of their own land for each of these enterprises and were permitted to spend £500 to adapt the land and a further annual sum of £40 towards its upkeep.