Key

Steel key with a solid oval shaped bow with a crowned 'VR HP Pleasure Gardens No 72' inscribed on the obverse and 'Mrs Brown Not Transferable' on the reverse. IThis key provided access through Hyde Park’s surrounding wall to its Pleasure Gardens. The exact location of this part of the park is no longer known, but it thought to have been a private, enclosed area on the Eastern side reserved for wealthy residents to promenade and socialise in seclusion. Between 1790 and 1804, local householders paid the Office of Works to construct private gates into Hyde Park. For at least another four decades after, the Office issued individually numbered, non-transferable keys, granting entry only during permitted hours. This one is numbered 72 and belonged to a Mrs Brown.