Drayton Green was a small hamlet in the parish of Ealing, with commonland surrounded by a few large properties but otherwise remaining quite rural until the late C19th, when housing increasingly encroached the area's open space. As a result of the 1866 Metropolitan Commons Act, Ealing Local Board was able to purchase various areas of common land for public open space, including 4 acres of former commonland at Drayton Green. By 1932 a large oval running track had been laid out here and a children's playground existed by the 1950s.