Bonner Gate

Bonner Gate serves as one of the primary entrances to Victoria Park, but its name carries a much darker history than the peaceful greenery it leads into today. The gate is named after Edmund Bonner, the Bishop of London during the sixteenth century. He earned the grim nickname of Bloody Bonner for his active role in the persecution of Protestants during the reign of Queen Mary the First, personally sentencing hundreds of people to be burned at the stake. Before the park was established in the mid-nineteenth century, this land belonged to the estate of his former manor house, which was known as Bonner Hall. This site was once a rural retreat for the Bishops of London, but the manor house itself was demolished in 1845 to clear the way for the creation of what would become a massive public park. While the hall is long gone, the gate and the nearby bridge remain as permanent reminders of the area's ecclesiastical past.