Ultimate Guide to Conkers in London
Conkers is a fantastic game. Its fun for people of all ages, and has a strong sense of nostalgia for those coming back to the game with fond childhood memories. And with conker season right around the corner, you might be looking to play – perhaps to revisit some of those fond memories, or create some new ones with friends and family.
With the persistent rise of urbanisation in London however, it can seem increasingly difficult to play this beloved game. Therefore, we are setting out to provide a conclusive guide for Londoners and those visiting, covering:
The Best Places to find Conkers in London
Conker Competitions in London
Where to play Conkers in London
Where to Buy Conkers in London
The Best Places to find Conkers in London
Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens
Located right next to each other, both are excellent locations to hunt for conkers!
Originally, Kensington Gardens formed the western wing of Hyde Park, made as a hunting grounds for Henry VIII, later becoming a private gardens for Kensington Palace.
These parks have a rich history, serving over time as a popular duelling spot, a venue for celebrations and exhibitions, and in more recent years a popular spot for live concerts.
It’s also a fantastic spot for finding conkers! Whilst these can be found dotted all around the park (which we recommend doing as part of the fun of finding good conkers is going on a small ramble for them), it has been noted that one of the best spots is found by following the main paths by the Serpentine lake going towards Lancaster gate.
Greenwich Park
Another former hunting grounds, Greenwich Park is rich in both conkers and history.
Some important sites can be found within the park boundaries, such as the Royal Observatory (on the top of the hill, almost exactly in the park centre), the National Maritime Museum (to the north) and Greenwich Hospital, now better known as the Old Royal Naval College.
More importantly however (depending on your perspective), this is a fantastic spot for picking up some conkers! Along Blackheath Avenue run two strips of horse chestnut (aka conker) trees, many of which were planted to replace the sweet chestnut trees, of which only four remain. Rather conveniently, this avenue, though once used for direct access to the Queen’s House, is now a parking spot. So with autumn around the corner, make a trip, park up, and pick up some conkers!
Morden Hall Park
Originally part of a private estate (this is a bit of a recurring theme), Morden Hall came to be used as a private school, a location for processing tobacco, a military hospital during the First World War, and ultimately a public park.
This is a perfect location for families – it is beautiful, so quiet you’d think you weren’t even in London, easily accessible by tube (the nearest stops being Morden tube station and Morden South railway station), and is a perfect spot for collecting conkers! Our advice is to follow the nature walks in the park, and see what spoils you can collect on the way!
Victoria Park
Better known by some as the People’s Park, this fair field was created after a mass petition to the Queen. Whilst it has a great deal of history like the other parks, perhaps the most interesting thing about it in more recent years is that it is the only park in the UK to have won the Green Flag People’s Choice Award three times.
A great city escape to the East of London, its also a good place to scout for conkers. For the best pickings, head over to the park’s hub.
Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath has perhaps the longest standing history, with the first recording of the area in 986 when the then King of the English, Ethelred the Unready, granted land to one of his servants at ‘Hemstede’. It has since passed hands multiple times, always owned privately until the main heath was purchased for public use by the Metropolitan Board of Works.
A fantastic spot for finding conkers, this also happens to be the location of the annual Hampstead Heath Conker Championships. Needless to say then this park is a must-visit.
Bushey Park
Not to be confused with Bushey, which although near the northern border of London is in fact in Hertfordshire (as I may or may not have done), Bushey Park lies in Richmond upon Thames and is the second largest of the Royal Parks in London.
Rather interestingly, Bushey Park has not only a long history, but a long history of conkers. According to some local sources, visitors came to the park from the mid-19th Century to celebrate Chestnut Sunday and see the trees on Chestnut Avenue blossom. This is also the best spot to go hunting for conkers, as this Avenue stretches from Hampton Court to Teddington Gate!
If you make a trip, we’d also advise enjoying the beautiful scenery, seeing the wild deer, and maybe even a spot of cricket. The park was developed to be a royal sports centre after all.
London Conker Championships
If you fancy challenging yourself when in London, here are some competitions that are well worth considering! Just bear in mind that these competitions, like the game of conkers itself, are seasonal.
Hampstead Heath Conker Championships
This competition broke the Guinness World Record in 2011 with 395 participants. Having run for nearly two decades, it is one of the biggest and more established conker competitions in the UK. Competitors typically gather at Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath for a huge BYOC (Bring Your Own Conker) knockout tourney in 5 age categories (under 5s, 5-7 years, 8-13 years, 14-17 years, 18s and over) until a winner is declared in each respective category, all of whom receive a Golden Conker and a certificate.
Unfortunately this competition - like so many others - hasn’t run due the pandemic, but with lockdown restrictions being lifted, it’s possible this competition may be back on come September, and is a must for anyone in London.
Peckham Conker Championships
Started in 2017, the Peckham Conker Championships runs as an alternative conker championships playing according to Battle Royale Rules – where anything goes, including stampsies, tangles and customised / hardened conkers.
The Peckham Conker Championships is based in London (England) and takes place at the Brick Brewery in Peckham. In 2018, conker winning prizes included meats from butchers Flock and Herd and free beer!
Where to play Conkers in London
If competitions aren’t quite your speed (or if you and your crew and just too good for the competition), then there are still plenty of places where you can enjoy a good game of conkers, especially if you subscribe to our Battle Royale style.
To kick off – Parks. If a Championship can be held there, then its good enough for you and yours too. Just find an open spot, with enough space to avoid hitting others, and without any low hanging branches that could get in the way, and conker away! Likewise if you find yourself in the countryside, any old field should do the trick. We guarantee you’ll have a great time, but not that you’ll win.
Next up – Pubs. Unfortunately many of the games that used to be played at pubs now aren’t, and conkers aren’t allowed on the premises for a few pubs. After all, ‘happy’ clientele throwing hard chestnuts at each other sounds like a one way ticket to A&E. More sober visitors could absolutely enjoy the game outside the premises however, especially with our friends over at the Brick Brewery. Pubs are a social meeting point after all, and what is conkers if not a social game?
An old favourite that is no more – School Play Grounds. Many of our readers may have developed their fond memories of conkers by playing it in the school playground during break time. Unfortunately this is no longer possible at many schools, reportedly as a consequence of the old tabloid favourite ‘health and safety gone mad’. For those of you whose children are still able to enjoy it at school, we encourage you to get them to try it. If you’re looking for a way for them to be able to play, check out the kits on offer in our online store. If however you are looking to play on a school playground and you do not attend said school, whilst the grounds might look like a perfect location, it is unfortunately the case that you most likely won’t be allowed in. Therefore it’s probably best to consult some of our other recommendations.
Last but certainly not least – why not just have a Street Battle? If this pandemic has taught me one thing, it’s that some of the roads in London never served much function, and as a consequence have been incredibly quiet as many have been shacking up and socially distancing. So why not find one of these quiet streets and battle it out until someone’s conker smashes? Finding one of these streets might require a bit of research, but nothing that’s worth having comes free. Places to look out for in London might be residential areas with community gardens.
Where to buy Conkers in London
Consider this scenario: you’ve got yourself all packed and ready for the big day out, prepared to smash conkers for hours on end, but realise that you’re missing some fundamentals. Even if you successfully scavenged some conkers, you may have found difficulty in finding a string to use for the conker (maybe your shoelace?), let alone the difficulty of getting a hole through the conker in the first place. Perhaps you even want some customised conkers.
If any of these thoughts may have crossed your mind, don’t fret! Look no further than our store, where we can address all of your conkering needs.