St James's Palace, London - Framed Picture 16" x 16"

St James's Park is a 57-acre park in the City of Westminster. The park lies at the southernmost tip of the St James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St James the Less.

In 1532, Henry VIII bought an area of marshland to the west of York Place acquired by Henry from Cardinal Wolsey; it was purchased in order to turn York Palace, subsequently renamed Whitehall, into a dwelling fit for a king. On James I's accession, he ordered that the park be drained and landscaped, and exotic animals were kept in the park, including camels, crocodiles, an elephant and exotic birds were kept in aviaries.

While Charles II was in exile in France under the Commonwealth of England, he was impressed by the elaborate gardens at French royal palaces, and on his ascension he had the park redesigned in a more formal style. The park became notorious at the time as a meeting place for impromptu acts of lechery, as described by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester in his poem "A Ramble in St James's Park".