Starting off as the Chinbrook Dairy Farm, it was acquired by Lewisham Council in 1929 to provide recreation grounds to the then newly built Grove Park Estate. The park was expanded in 1937. In 2002 the channelised River Quaggy was re-naturalised and incorporated into the parkland, thanks to the Quaggy Waterways Action Group and the local community. Plans are underway to create additional SUDs to help improve the water quality of the river.
In 2009 the Peace Garden was created at Chinbrook Meadows to celebrate Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s life and time in Grove Park between 1972 to 1975.
