The Mount is known to date back to the 18th century but possibly even had its origins in the 16th century. In 2005 it was cleared of scrub and planted with ivy during the renovations as part of the Heritage Lottery Funded Award.
Cooper, Pam Waterlow Park – A garden for the gardenless – Chico Publications 2006
Historically, Mounts or Mounds were created in medieval gardens to give views over castle walls to surrounding countryside and in more recent times could also provide an owner views over his estate. Perhaps Sir Sydney Waterlow used the Mount to view the distant City of London where he was Lord Mayor 1872-73. At that time trees would have not blocked the view. But this is just conjecture.
After 2005 the Mount became a weedy, neglected area. At one point the Friends Committee investigated having steps installed and a seat at the top but the cost to ensure it was sufficiently structurally sound was prohibitive.
In 2018-19 a local resident generously funded wildflower turf being laid on the Mount as part of efforts to increase biodiverse planting in the park. Park visitors enjoyed a glorious display of wildflowers for several years before uninvited grasses began to dominate the planting.
This winter (2024-2025) the gardening volunteers will dig out a lot of the grass and sow grass parasitising yellow rattle in an attempt to reduce grass dominance. At the same time more wild flower seeds will be sown.
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