Parks & Gardens

A selection of images of historic parks and gardens Check out our Teaching Activity Victorian Life: Going to the Park

Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Gardens, Rochester Castle, Rochester, Kent General view of children playing in the gardens. The Castle Grounds and Terrace were created in 1870. The land for them was leased from the Earl of Jersey by the Rochester Corporation. In 1883 the Corporation bought the land from the Earl. This garden layout was removed in 1931. This property is managed by Medway Council.	Add to My Favourites English Heritage.NMR Clissold Park, Clissold Park, Stoke Newington, Greater London Four children riding on a many-seated rocking horse in the childrens playground at Clissold Park. Clissold Park was opened by the newly formed London County Council(LCC)on 24 July 1889. The park was formed from the grounds of Clissold House and the adjacent Newington Common. This open space was saved from development by Joseph Beck of The City of London and John Runtz of The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) who persuaded the Board of MBW to buy the land and create a public park.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Fountain, Corporation Park, Blackburn, Lancashire General view of visitors gathered around the fountain. Corporation Park was opened to the public in 1857. It cost a total of £147,000. It was part of the extensive improvements to and expansion of Blackburn in this period. Much of the money needed was raised by selling land to the East Lancashire and Blackburn railway companies.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Ropner Park, Stockton On Tees, Cleveland The park was officially opened by the Duke and Duchess of York in 1893. It included three lodges, a cast-iron fountain, a bandstand, a recreation ground, a bowling green, a tennis lawn, gymnasia for boys and girls, a lake and terrace walks. It is called Ropner Park because Major (later Sir) Robert Ropner of Preston Hall paid for the land on which it was built.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Roker Park, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear Children gathered around the edge of the lake. This park was opened to the public in 1880. In the late 19th century an area known as Roker Dene had become one of the few green spaces available for recreation in Sunderland. This land was given to the town to create a park. It was hoped that the park would help improve and upgrade the area around it.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands Colour tinted reproduction of a photograph showing the Wyndley Pool. The parkland was a royal deer park in medieval times. In 1528 Henry VIII was persuaded to give the use of the park to the townspeople. When the railway to Sutton Coldfield opened in 1862 special trains for day trippers to the park ran regularly. The park even had its own station. Activities for the visitors included boating, donkey rides, swimming and refreshments.
Add to My Favourites English Heritage.NMR Parliament Hill Fields, Paddling Pool, Hampstead Heath, Hampstead, Greater London Children playing in the paddling pool at Parliament Hill Fields. Parliament Hill got its present name during the English Civil War when it was used by soldiers who were fighting on the side of Parliament. In 1888 it officially became part of Hampstead Heath, a large area of natural parkland. The hill is around 321 feet (98 m) high and is known for the excellent views it provides of the London skyline and as a good place to fly kites.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Childrens Corner, Pleasure Gardens, Bournemouth, Dorset Children playing in a stream in the Children's Corner of the Pleasure Gardens. Many seaside towns have large areas of parkland and gardens for tourists to enjoy. The Pleasure Gardens run through the centre of the town. They were given to the town in the early 1870s.
Add to My Favourites English Heritage.NMR Holland Park, Kensington, Greater London Children playing in the sand pit near the Ilchester Place entrance to Holland Park. Holland Park was first opened in 1952 and takes its name from Sir Henry, earl of Holland who was formerly resident at Holland House. The Park lies in the former grounds of Holland House and is one of London’s smallest public parks.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Botanical Gardens, Sheffield, South Yorkshire It was in 1834 that the Sheffield Botanical and Horticultural Society commissioned these gardens to be built. The Gardens were opened in 1836. Admission was limited to subscribers; the public was only allowed in on gala days. Free admission was only introduced in 1897 when the gardens were taken over by the Sheffield Town Trust.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Grove Park, Weston-super-Mare, Avon General view of people around bandstand. Grove Park was originally part of a private estate. The town Board of Commissioners rented The Grove for the town for £300 a year. In April 1890 a goverment loan was used to convert the private pleasure grounds into a public park. This was done by 20 June 1891 and Grove Park was opened to the public. It had a bandstand, rockeries, a refreshment room, a pavilion, and extensive floral displays.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Park, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire General view showing boys posed in an unidentified park in Nottingham. It is possible that this might be Nottingham Arboretum. It was the first public park in Nottingham. It was designed as a botanical collection but also for relaxation. It opened to the public on the 11th of May 1852.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR The Lake, Hanley Park, Stoke On Trent, Staffordshire Hanley Park was opened in 1897. The lake apparently cost £2,500 to create. It was filled with water from the nearby Cauldon Canal. The whole park, including the Cauldon Grounds (opened 1894), cost £41,000. The money was raised by public subcripton.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Crescent Gardens, Harrogate, North Yorkshire General view showing the gardens crowded with people. The Crescent Gardens were developed in the 1890s on the site of the old Crescent Inn. A spring had been discovered in the garden of the Crescent Inn in 1783. The gardens were designed to provide visitors with an area to stroll in after taking the waters.
Add to My Favourites English Heritage.NMR Battersea Park, Festival Gardens, Battersea, Greater London Battersea park was formally opened by Queen Victoria in 1858. The park focused more on sporting facilities than horticultural displays. Part of the park was requisitioned for use as the Festival Gardens in the Festival of Britain in 1951. Whilst it was intended as a one-off, year-long exhibition, the funfair remained a permanent attraction until it was closed in 1974.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Royal Victoria Park, Bath, Avon A group of people standing beside the park gates with the obelisk in the distance. Royal Victoria Park was opened in 1830. It was opened by Princess (later Queen) Victoria as a public pleasure park. The park was managed by a committee of wealthy Bath inhabitants and financed by voluntary contributions. It was then taken over by Bath City Council in 1921.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Pleasure Gardens, Bournemouth, Dorset A view of adults and children enjoying the walkway running along side the River Bourne. The Pleasure Gardens were originally a series of garden walks. They were created in the fields of the owners of the Branksome Estate in the 1860s. By the 1870s the fields had been leased to the Bournemouth Commissioners.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Pavilion Gardens, Buxton, Derbyshire Girls feeding pigeons in the gardens with the pavilion in the background. The Buxton Pavilion Gardens were created between 1869 and 1871. They were designed by an Edward Milner. He was the apprentice of the renowned garden designer Joseph Paxton. Paxton is best known for designing the 'Crystal Palace' in London.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Western Esplanade Gardens, Ryde, Isle of Wight A view of the Esplanade Gardens, with a fountain and a bandstand in the background. The development of the foreshore to the west of Ryde Pier was first suggested in 1877. For this to happen local residents on Pier Terrace would have to agree to sell their properties. This was not a popular request. It was not until 1900 that work on Pier Terrace and the Western Esplanade could begin.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Sunken Gardens, North Shore, Blackpool, Lancashire General view showing people walking along the meandering path in the sunken gardens.