How wartime bombsites became adventure playgrounds

During the Second World War (1939–1945), German planes dropped thousands of bombs on London, devastating parts of the city. Among the rubble, imaginative young Londoners created their own spaces for play. These paved the way for somewhat safer community-organised adventure playgrounds.

Key dates:

1940s–1970s

Bombing caused devastation across London

Between 1940 and 1941, the capital was one of the main targets of an intensive German bombing campaign called the Blitz. In 1944, German V1 and V2 rockets hit the city. Almost 30,000 Londoners were killed during these raids. Bombsites remained a feature of the city landscape for many years after the war.

Playing in the rubble

Children used these bombed-out patches of land as playgrounds, climbing on the rubble and creating dens from whatever they found. Many families didn’t have gardens and children historically played out on the street. These open spaces provided new opportunities for fun, regardless of the danger. Children claimed these spaces for themselves.

Inspiration from Denmark

In 1943, a ‘junk playground’ opened in German-occupied Copenhagen. Based on the ideas of landscape architect Carl Theodor Sørensen, it encouraged children to play freely with inexpensive materials like wood, tyres and old furniture. And it inspired a visitor from Britain: landscape architect Marjory Allen.

Adventure playgrounds come to Britain

Bexleyheath-born Allen campaigned to turn London’s bombsites into ‘junk’ playgrounds. In the 1950s, these spaces became official playgrounds, supervised by adults, with facilities created out of junk. She called these ‘adventure playgrounds’. This one in North Kensington was one of the first to open in 1952.

London’s early adventure playgrounds

Allen designed the Lollard Adventure Playground in Lambeth on the site of a bombed school. Opened in 1954, it featured material like sand, drainpipes, tools and old bricks and could cater for around 50 children – toddlers or teens. The playground still exists across the road from its original site, although it looks a little different today.

Creative outlets for inner-city Londoners

Here, boys play with swords and shields at the Ladbroke Adventure Playground in Notting Hill, 1961. Adventure playgrounds gave inner-city children creative spaces to play in. Some even provided indoors craft activities like paper and playdough, and children could play with cars, trains, dolls and other toys they didn’t have at home.

Playgrounds across the capital

By the late 1970s, when this photo of a Hackney playground was taken, there were about 100 adventure playgrounds in London. In 2025, there were over 70. But as councils have faced budget cuts, many playgrounds have struggled to find funding for staffing and to keep the doors open. Some have reduced their services – or closed for good.