HELSTON has one; so do Perranarworthal, Mylor Bridge, Lostwithiel and Gunnislake. There are several in Devon, London has dozens, there’s one in Australia and you can even find them in Barbados, the Falkland Islands, Malta, Nigeria and Yemen.

But why are there so many King George V playing fields? Why are they named after the King, and who paid for them?

In fact, there are more than 470 King George V Playing Fields in the UK. You can generally spot them by their special plaques or entrance gates, designed to give them an appropriate air of grandeur. The smallest are tiny city parks less than a quarter of an acre in size, while the largest stretch to more than 100 acres.

These are currently protected by an organisation called Fields In Trust, which was established in 1925 as the National Playing Fields Association to keep the country’s towns and cities green and healthy. Its founder was HRH The Duke of York, later HM King George VI; its first patron, HM King George V. Today, HRH The Prince of Wales/Duke of Cornwall is now the royal patron of Fields in Trust with former footballer Jill Scott MBE as president.

According to Fields In Trust, a committee was set up after the death of King George V in 1936 to consider an appropriate memorial to the late Monarch. It was decided a philanthropic scheme which would benefit the entire country should be associated with the King’s name, and the King George’s Fields Foundation was set up in November 1936, to be chaired by Clement Attlee until he became Prime Minister in 1945.

The project was established in response to the increasing urbanisation of Britain, and concern about the lack of open spaces. Its aim: “to promote and assist in the establishment of playing fields for the use and enjoyment of the people.” Usage was limited to “outdoor games, sports and pastimes”, with purely ornamental gardens ruled out.

Grants would be provided towards the establishment of playing fields across the UK, each to be named King George’s Field with heraldic panels or appropriate signage to commemorate the late King - St Mabyn’s gate posts depict a an engraving of a lion and has been described as “one of the jewels in the crown in St Mabyn since 1938”.

There was also a suggestion that every child should be asked to contribute one penny towards the project, meaning they would have a sense of ownership of the fields as they were created.

Between the opening of the scheme in March 1937 and the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, 1,800 preliminary applications were received of which 462 were approved. Many were abandoned following the war, but alternative locations were approved in a few cases and by 1950, all the funds had been allocated.

Lostwithiel gained its King George V Playing Fields in 1961. The area once known as Hick’s Moor was a long meadow used for grazing cattle, with the abattoir just the other side of the river. The southern half of the meadow was designated as the playing fields; the entrance gates from the car park were built from local materials and display heraldic panels.

By the end of 1965, a total of 471 spaces across the UK had been established and grants in excess of £600,000 had been distributed. The total capital costs to all bodies concerned came to more than £4 million.

Many of the UK’s ‘KGV’ playing fields in the UK are legally protected from development in perpetuity, and are safeguarded by Fields in Trust through a legal covenant which says they must be used for public recreation. While protected from housing developments, they can still be improved with new sports facilities befitting 21st-century users.

In October 2025, Madron Parish Council welcomed members of the community to a skate jam event to mark the official opening of a new wheeled sports park at its King George V Playing Field.

The King George V Playing Field in Mylor Bridge has tennis and basketball courts, and a new community orchard with 136 fruit and native trees, offering volunteering opportunities and community-led initiatives that promote environmental awareness.

Perranarworthal’s field, meanwhile, is heavily used by schoolchildren, two adult male football teams and two junior sides. However, the corner-to-corner slope of the pitch exceeds the FA limit for league matches, and there are plans to level it an upgrade the overall facilities.

In Helston, there are proposals for a new Scout Hut and community café. However, its King George V Playing Fields were out of bounds in January after Storm Goretti took down several trees.

There are also King George V Playing Fields in Delabole, Liskeard, Probus, and Gunnislake and St Ann’s Chapel.