Birkenhead Park, Wirral, England

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

Birkenhead Park, opened in 1847, was the first public park to be established at public expense in the United Kingdom. It was designed by Joseph Paxton and incorporated a number of innovative features. It was influential on the design of public parks both nationally and internationally. It is considered an outstanding example of Paxton's work and a landmark in the history of public parks.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Birkenhead Park is situated about 1.5 kilometres from Birkenhead town centre. The roughly 90 hectare site is situated on undulating land in a residential area. The park was laid out within an area bounded by Park Road North, Park Road East, Park Road South and Park Road West. A belt of land around the park between these roads and a curving perimeter carriage drive called Park Drive was designated for private houses and villas and divided into plots, as shown on Paxton's plan of 1844 and in a revised form on a sale plan of 1850. Where these were built and survive they form an integral part of the park's setting and the private gardens backing on to the park form the park boundary along Park Drive. Most of the plots on the south and west sides of the site were built on, not all of them however in accordance with the sale plan. In those areas which were not built on, on the north and east sides of the site, the park boundary is formed by Park Road North and Park Road East. Most of the original railings have been removed, but sections remain on the north side of Ashville Road, on those parts of Park Road North fronting the Birkenhead Park Rugby Union Football ground and Park High Lower School, fronting 76 Park Road West, the playing fields on Park Road East and Park High School on Park Road South.

REFERENCES Used by English Heritage

G F Chadwick, The Park and the Town (1966), pp 68-9

N Pevsner and E Hubbard, The Buildings of England: Cheshire (1971), pp 91-3

Landscape Design, (November 1989), pp 24-7

Landscape Design, (March 1990), pp 16-17

H Conway, People's Parks (1991), pp 88-90

Birkenhead Park, (Colson Stone Partnership 1992)

Maps

J Paxton, Plan of Birkenhead New Park with the Surrounding Building Lots as intended to be sold, 1844

Sale Plan of land surrounding Birkenhead Park, 2 July 1850

OS 10' to 1 mile: Cheshire sheet XIII 3.17, 3.23, 3.28, published 1875