Newcastle's oldest green space is the Town Moor, which has been used for centuries mainly for agriculture but also for coal mining and horse racing.  Many public rights of way within Newcastle and the surrounding countryside were also established centuries ago but are still in use today.  Historically the 'denes', steep sided valleys with streams flowing to the Tyne served as recreational space for the towns population.  Some were filled in but several remain  and still serve the public.  Jesmond Dene, Walbottle Dene and Sugley Dene are still valley landscapes with remnants of ancient woodland.

Many formal parks were the gift of our Victorian and Edwardian forebears who recognised that the urban population crowded into dense housing close to their industrial workplaces needed access to fresh air and recreation. The first of Newcastle’s parks was Leazes, followed by Elswick, Nuns Moor, Walker, Hodgkin, Heaton, Armstrong, Exhibition and Brandling.  Allotments were also becoming available to allow the urban working people in nineteenth century Newcastle a chance to grow food. During the Twentieth Century more parks, recreational grounds and playgrounds were added as the city expanded. Some are attractive local parks and gardens with a range of facilities such as Gosforth Central Park, others are little more than open grassy spaces, with a level area for ball games and a children’s’ play area.

After the war, Newcastle started to reclaim contaminated and infertile land abandoned by the industries of the previous century. It has been gradually restored to support trees, shrubs, grass and wildlife. Government grants enabled this work to happen with public open space and wildlife habitat being an acceptable and beneficial end use on land that was generally unsuitable for building on. Some of these sites are now our larger ‘countryside’ style green spaces and green routes, for example, the riverside cycleway, Newburn and Walker riverside parks, Percy Pit and Havannah Local Nature Reserve. These have value for wildlife as well as people.

In the last 20 years there have been a number of new green spaces created either through development, redevelopment or following demolition. There has also been investment in parks improvement at Walker, Elswick and Kenton Parks. There has also been a move toward city centre renewal through partnerships, in particular Grainger town and the Quayside. For the first time in decades Newcastle has gained high quality inspiring buildings within new public spaces.