LIDAR (light and RADAR map) is a 3D mapping technique that detects surface features which are not otherwise discernible from the ground. One of the Ealing park rangers (thanks James!) pointed me to this site; https://houseprices.io/lab/lidar/map?ref=TQ15148280 which provides a postcode based map of UK LIDAR data. Here it is for Perivale Park.
In the enlargement below I have highlighted three features of the park that are no longer visible from the ground.
- A diagonal path, or possibly a water main, running across the playing fields
- A circular path containing spokes. Could this have been a planted garden of some kind?
- A pond, perhaps dug as a drinking area for cows?
No doubt LIDAR experts would have a better idea of what these artefacts might have been. The park itself was created in the 1930s from farmland, so do the artefacts predate the park or were they introduced as part of the park? If anyone has any ideas, do tell!