Friends of Birkenhead Park
       That which is good should be preserved

It was the forerunner of the Park's Movement and its influence was far reaching both in this country and abroad - most notably on Olmsted's design for Central Park, New York.

In 1841, alarmed by the exploding population figures, the idea of a public park in Birkenhead was first raised by Mr Isaac Holmes, a Liverpool Councillor. Two years later, empowered by another Improvement Act, the Birkenhead Commissioners created history by purchasing land on which to construct the world's first publicly funded park. The site chosen for the park was part of the Birkenhead Estate, owned by Mr F R Price. The land was low lying, a mixture of fields, marsh and commons, and contained a small farmhouse which was a known beer den where illegal gambling and dog fighting took place.

The land was purchased cheaply because of its poor quality. 125 acres were designated for public use, the remaining 60 acres were to be sold for private residential development. The proceeds from the sale of the building plots was sufficient to recoup all the costs incurred by the purchase of the land and the construction of the park. An Improvement Committee chaired by William Jackson was set up to supervise the development of the park. Joseph Paxton, a Landscape Gardener whose work in Liverpool had brought him to the attention of the Committee, was approached and in August 1843 he was engaged to design and construct the park at a fee of £800.

By November 1843 the completed plan of the park and the preliminary sketches for the lodges (drawn up by Paxton's assistant, John Robertson) had been approved. Preparatory work began on the site under the supervision of Edward Kemp - later the Park Superintendent. A young Liverpool architect, Lewis Hornblower, was engaged to supervise the construction of the lodges, and to design and oversee other artefacts and building work within the park. Major planting of trees and shrubs was carried out during the planting season of Autumn 1844/Spring 1845. Attention was then directed to the establishment of grassland areas. Sixty acres of peripheral land were divided into building plots and sold for private development at two auctions and through estate agents. In order to ensure a degree of uniformity and consistent high standard of development, strict rules were laid down regarding the construction of the dwellings. Any unsold plots of land were eventually absorbed into the public area of the park. For example, the area now known as the Bowling Greens on Park Road North was laid out for bowls and quoits in 1880. The Boothby Ground was purchased from the Boothby Estate as late as 1903.

Work was virtually complete by Autumn 1846 but the official opening of the park was delayed until 5th April 1847, in order to coincide with the opening of the Birkenhead Dock Complex. The park was opened by Lord Morpeth and visited on that day by an estimated 10,000 people. The strength and flexibility of the original design were revealed over the years by the ease with which the park evolved to satisfy the changing demands of its users. From an almost entirely passive function the park absorbed facilities for active sports and large scale events. Commemorative trees were planted, unemployment relief schemes undertaken. Two World Wars intruded onto the park, different buildings and structures erected and then removed or demolished. Some areas such as the area known today as The Sunken Garden changed their nature and their name.

Interesting historical facts

THE FIRST PARK CREATED BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT AT PUBLIC EXPENSE, DESIGNED BY JOSEPH PAXTON

The steam-ferry crossing the Mersey was introduced in 1820 and Birkenhead started to grow. By the 1841 census it had a population of 8,223 and was run by the Birkenhead Improvement Commission. Isaac Holmes is credited with the idea of a public park for the people of Birkenhead, and William Sommerville Jackson (a monument to his brother stands in the Park) with the determination to bring into existence a park of great quality that recognised the optimism of the times and was a worthy expression of civic pride.

An act of parliament in 1843 allowed the purchase of land for a public park created at public expense. The famous architect Joseph Paxton was commissioned to design it, and on Easter Monday 1847 a park of international standing was opened by Lord Morpeth on the same day as the nearby docks and warehouses. There were great celebrations including “dejeuner” (i.e. lunch) in the warehouses for the invited guests and events in the Park such as rural sports (sack race, foot race, chase the pig with the soapy tail, blindfold wheelbarrow race, grinning match through six horse collars - the ugliest to receive five shillings). Finally there was a fireworks display at the Docks. Even the Prime Minister was invited (but was unable to attend) and tens of thousands of people attended.

The event was so important that it was reviewed in the Illustrated London News with sketches of crowds at the Grand Entrance and Boathouse.

From the start, the Park was expected to earn money, with the sale of plots of land for houses and the rental of Upper Park for grazing sheep.

CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK CONNECTION

In 1850 the American park architect Frederick Olmsted toured Britain looking at parks, and visited Birkenhead Park. He incorporated some of the features he saw in Birkenhead Park into his creations in America - notably Central Park, New York. THE PARK AS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF BIRKENHEAD

At its inception the Park was on the very outskirts of Birkenhead in a rural setting, but was close enough to the majority of the population that they could easily walk to it. It was thus an integral part of the town’s activities with leisure, sport and music as well as celebration and protest. SPORT IN THE PARK

The Rugby Club and two cricket clubs had permanent premises in the Park but initially there was also great competition, between smaller clubs, especially cricket clubs, to get permission to play there. Other sports allowed in the Park included archery, angling, bowls, football, putting, quoits and tennis - all of which could involve the local population. Cricket and rugby could on occasion attract crowds as large as ten thousand. In the 19th century both Park Cricket Club and the Rugby Club had genuinely national status. International matches were played on the rugby ground for both rugby (Wales v Ireland in 1887 and Wales v England in 1894) and junior soccer. When celebrating its centenary in 1971, Park Cricket Club was able to attract an international XV of the highest quality to play against it. Park Cricket Club played against Oxford and Cambridge Universities and counties such as Surrey and Middlesex. An All-England XI visited Birkenhead between 1866 and 1873, with Park being allowed 18 players and once winning by 13 wickets.

CELEBRATION AND PROTEST IN THE PARK

In its early years the Park expected to host major outdoor celebrations with speeches and displays. In 1864 an Oak tree was planted to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. Celebrations were staged of coronations of new monarchs (Edward VII, George V, and Elizabeth II), jubilees (e.g. Queen Victoria’s and the that of Birkenhead itself) and other local events, involving large numbers of people both participating and watching. The town also had a willingness to protest and express its opinions. Here the Grand Entrance established a role as the prime location for public meetings. In the 1895 election campaign, the Liberal candidate W.H. Lever addressed crowds there and then led a parade of 3,000 people to gain more publicity. In the 1920s and 30s communists, and fascists including Oswald Mosley's blackshirts, addressed crowds.

Oswald Mosley wanted to speak at Birkenhead Park but was refused permission. Some of the troubles of the Birkenhead Means Test Riots in 1932 started with gatherings here - followed by much violence in the town and many arrests. Even spikes from the Park railings were broken off and thrown at the police. There were “No More War” processions from the centre of town to the Grand Entrance in the 1930s, and the Lower Park was also the location for May Day celebrations and Labour Day Protests in that period.

MUSIC IN THE PARK

Musical performances were part of the Park’s function right from the start, although they greatly diminished by the latter part of the 20th Century. The Boathouse was said to have been Paxton’s idea of a bandstand. However in 1885 a circular cast iron bandstand was erected in Lower Park with regular weekly evening brass band performances in summer. This was replaced in 1929 by a more ambitious bandstand which was demolished in the post-war period.

Music in the Park gave Birkenhead one of its greatest days - in 1917 the Welsh National Eisteddfod was held in the Park and was attended by the Prime Minister himself, David Lloyd George. He is said to have even chosen some of the hymns to be sung.

GOD IN THE PARK - THE LARGEST CROWD

In the 19th century Birkenhead experienced serious conflicts between the Protestant and Catholic sections of its community. The Garibaldi Riots of 1862 were mainly in the town itself, but over the years there were Orange marches to the Grand Entrance and at least one occasion when the Town Council refused permission for preaching in the Park on the grounds that it might lead to bad behaviour. However, possibly the largest crowd for a meeting in the Park, reported to be 30,000, gathered in the Rugby Ground in 1953 to hear the American evangelist Father Patrick Peyton preach. More recently there have been religious meetings entitled “God in the Park”.

WORLD WARS IN THE PARK

The Park has shared in the sacrifices made by the Town in the World Wars, especially in 1939-45. In the First World War there were allotments on Plot 6 in Lower Park to help with food production. There was a concert in the Park to help with fund raising and the Cavalry used the pitch of the Rugby Ground to graze their horses.

The Second World War was a much more terrifying affair, especially in the town itself. Both the Town and the Park were bombed. A spitfire crashed in Lower Park. Park Cricket Club were evicted from their clubhouse by the Army who wanted to use the facilities. There was a searchlight and a barrage balloon anchored near the present children’s playground, and 14.9 acres of allotments in Upper Park. Some of the Park railings were taken away for scrap metal. Wood was stolen for the basic necessity of heating homes. Many of the Park staff left for jobs more relevant to the war effort and the Park went into a decline that would take more than a decade to reverse.

GREENHOUSES AND FLOWERS IN THE PARK

Originally the Park comprised prestige buildings, an extensive variety of trees, imaginative landscaping, lakes and extensive flat open spaces. In 1921 a new initiative was made with the construction of the of the Palm House - a glasshouse in Upper Park - which had a full sized palm tree at its centre, statues and exotic species of plants for the public to view. It lasted until about 1950 when it was replaced by a conservatory, with a collection of giant cacti at its centre and less exotic but more colourful flowering plants as its attraction. In the 1950s another imaginative attempt was made to add colour to the Park with the introduction of a “Blind Garden” in the site of Paxton’s 3rd Lake. The area had never functioned well as a lake, as the water tended to drain out of it, but it worked well as a sunken garden with a cherry tree and plants and whose flowers were well perfumed to appeal to the senses of blind people. There was a sinuous circular path to walk on with a rail that would help the disabled to find their way round it. These features are now regrettably lost but it is hoped that the gardens round the new Pavilion will go some way to restoring a colourful flowering area in the Park

THE FUTURE

In recent years the state of the Park has not reflected either the enduring local pride in it, or its genuinely international reputation. The great days of the sports clubs are gone, not least because of the modest ground size. The public facilities such as bandstands, hot houses and flower beds are gone, as well as most of the staff who looked after them. The grass is always well mown, but there has been a sense of barely adequate maintenance and little renewal.

However, there is hope for the future! In 2004 the Park secured a grant for over £11 million for restoration projects of an extremely high standard - and work started! The Heritage Lottery Fund which provided the majority of the money is very worldly wise and required that the Local Authority, whose responsibility the Park is, should make a commitment for staffing it well into the future. The first impact of the grant is already visible with a new pavilion whose glassy design reflects a style that Joseph Paxton himself pioneered. There is clearly hope for the future, but the necessity for local commitment cannot be overstated.

THEY DUG UP THE SPITFIRE

      For some interesting accounts of the Park at War please click here.

A spitfire crashed in the Park in 1942. What remained of it has been a mystery, but that has been resolved - the remains were dug up on 6th Oct 2007 in a grassy area of Lower Park near the Gothic Lodge and just a few yards from the Carriage Drive near the football pitch. A large excavator dug up a pit said to have been 15 ft deep and recovered the "Merlin" engine, some small oxygen tanks, the drive mechanism for the propeller and 6 large builders'-bags of twisted metal. There were no traces of rust on them (they were probably an aluminium alloy) and one piece was positively shiny as if chromium plated. The hole was then refilled and the soil compacted, with the turf replaced in excellent fashion. Most of the recovered materials are now on display in the museum at Fort Perch Rock. New Brighton.