Crumbles Castle is overlooks Bingfield Park. as you enter the playground you will find yourself transported out of the city and into a nature-filled wonderland with hidden swings and secret places to climb and explore.
It is important that parents and carers understand that our playgrounds are not childcare services, they are play services. You should read more about this by following this link. Our open access adventure play service is for children aged 6 years and upwards. All of our playgrounds are free of charge.
Crumbles Castle provides an exciting and safe space for children to jump, climb, run and enjoy playing out, meet neighbours and friends and explore the world of their imagination.
Islington Play Association has worked closely with Islington Council to extend the playground and to adapt an empty building on the park into a welcoming space for young people that now houses offices and a play space.
Please make sure your children are dressed for playing outside. This means clothes that can get dirty, play is a messy business.
History:
The Crumbles’ was the name given to the local Beaconsfield Buildings which were regarded as the worst slums in Islington and demolished in 1971. Soon after, the Bemerton Adventure Playground Committee asked architecture students from Regent Street Polytechnic to design what we know today as Crumbles Castle. Cobbles from the old buried courtyards of Crumbles’ tenements and the market site on York Way can be found in the tower and walls of the castle. Local children and their parents helped build the castle between 1968 and 1971; it was recognised that ‘building’ was an extension of the children’s play throughout that time. Crumbles Castle Adventure Playground has welcomed generations of Islington’s children to play.