Prince's Park, Toxteth, Liverpool, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

A park designed by Joseph Paxton in 1842 which was his first independent work on a park. The design was influenced by Regents Park, and it was the first in a sequence of parks by Paxton and his followers which were to be enormously influential on the design of public parks thereafter.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Princes Park is situated about 3 kilometres south-east of Liverpool city centre in a residential area, on a site which rises from the south-east to a small promontory north of a lake. The roughly 28 hectare park lies within an area bounded by Devonshire Road on the north-west side, Croxteth Road on the north side, Park Road on the north-east side, Ullet Road on the south-east side and Belvidere Road on the west side. A curving perimeter drive encloses the park and the land between this and the roads was designated as building plots for villas which were to have private enjoyment of the park. Part of the land along Ullet Road and a small area south of Devonshire Road have not been built on. The villas are of 19th-century date and their gardens form part of the setting of the park. Fences to the gardens of houses form the boundary of the park on the west and south-west sides, and along the eastern side where gardens back onto the park from Windermere Terrace, on the site of a lodge shown on the 1st edition OS map surveyed 1846-8. This is the only part of the park where there is an encroachment over the line of the original perimeter drive. The north-eastern boundary is formed by a stone wall which runs between private gardens and the park. The south-eastern boundary along Ullet Road is marked by a fence. Princes Avenue, also known as The Boulevard, forms part of the setting. The Avenue, which is aligned with the principal entrance and terminates in a circus opposite the main gates, was completed in 1853.

REFERENCES Used by English Heritage

G F Chadwick, The Park and the Town (1966), pp 66-7

N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: South Lancashire (1969), pp 35, 148, 233

H Conway, People's Parks (1991), pp 88-9

Maps

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition surveyed 1846-8, published 1850

Archival items

Anon typescript of historical notes partially drawn from minutes of the Corporation Parks Committee, 1988 (Liverpool City Council Planning Department)

Postcard views of Princes Park, probably early and mid-20th century (Liverpool City Council Planning Department)

Aerial photograph, 29 May 1974 (Liverpool City Council Planning Department)
 

Description written: March 1997

Amended: June 1998

Edited: March 1999