| Vale Park | |
|---|---|
 Vale Park and Vale House | |
 | |
| Type | Park |
| Location | New Brighton, Merseyside, England |
| Coordinates | 53°26′00″N03°02′08″W / 53.43333°N 3.03556°W |
| Created | 1899 |
| Operated by | Wirral County Council |
| Status | Open all year |
| Website | Vale Park |
Vale Park is a historic Victorian park in New Brighton, Merseyside, England. It features formal gardens, a rose garden, and a bandstand. The park opened in 1899 and has hosted weekly brass band concerts through the summer months since the day the park opened.
The park is on New Brighton Promenade with views of the River Mersey and Liverpool. It is a short walk from The Black Pearl driftwood pirate ship. [1]
The park opened on 20 May 1899 with the bandstand being added in 1926. [2]
Vale House, built circa 1830, was originally a family home. The family of Charles Holland, a Liverpool businessman and Wirral justice of the peace, lived here for over 50 years. Holland traveled widely and returned with botanical specimens that his gardeners planted, many of these plants and trees grace the park. The first Head Gardener of Vale Park was William Grinsell Burston, an expert botanist. Most of the design of the flowerbeds and footpaths were his. He died at Vale House in 1918. [3] Vale House is now a community cafe [4] and community centre. [5]
The park has formal gardens, a children's play area, a cafe, toilets, a rose garden, annual bedding displays, open grass areas, a kick about pitch, a fairy garden, and outdoor fitness equipment. [6]
The park features brass band concerts [7] under the bandstand each Sunday through the summer months. Entry is free, with deck chairs provided for seating. Brass bands have been present since the day the park opened, when the Tranmere Prize Gleam Silver Band played the crowd in through the gates with the British National Anthem. [8]
Leasowe Lighthouse is a historic lighthouse in Moreton on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, England. The lighthouse was built in 1763 by The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company to guide shipping safely to the Port of Liverpool and is the oldest lighthouse built from bricks in the United Kingdom. The lighthouse became obsolete and was closed in 1908. The last lighthouse keeper was a Mrs. Williams, the only known female lighthouse keeper of the period.
Sefton Park is a public park in south Liverpool, England. The park is in a district of the same name, located roughly within the historic bounds of the large area of Toxteth Park. Neighbouring districts include modern-day Toxteth, Aigburth, Mossley Hill, Wavertree and St Michael's Hamlet.
A bandstand is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an ornamental focal point and also serves acoustic requirements while providing shelter for the changeable weather, if outdoors. In form bandstands resemble ornamental European garden gazebos modeled on outdoor open-sided pavilions found in Asian countries from early times.
Port Sunlight is a model village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Port Sunlight was built by Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in its soap factory ; work commenced in 1888. The name is derived from Lever Brothers' most popular brand of cleaning agent, Sunlight.
Wallasey is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, it is at the mouth of the River Mersey, on the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula. At the 2011 Census, the population was 60,284.
New Brighton is a seaside resort and suburb of Wallasey, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England, at the northeastern tip of the Wirral peninsula. It has sandy beaches which line the Irish Sea and mouth of the Mersey, and the UK's longest promenade.
The Wirral Peninsula, known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about 15 miles (24 km) long and 7 miles (11 km) wide, and is bounded by the Dee Estuary to the west, the Mersey Estuary to the east, and Liverpool Bay to the north.
Heaton Park is a public park in Manchester, England, covering an area of over 600 acres (242.8 ha). The park includes the grounds of a Grade I listed, neoclassical 18th century country house, Heaton Hall. The hall, remodelled by James Wyatt in 1772, is now only open to the public on an occasional basis as a museum and events venue. It is the biggest park in Greater Manchester, and also the largest municipal park in Europe.
Queen's Park is an area located partly in the City of Westminster and mostly in the London Borough of Brent. Some of the area within Westminster forms a civil parish, the first to be created in London since the right of communities to establish civil parishes was enacted in 2007. The area is located 3.9 miles (6.3 km) north-west of Charing Cross, and centred around a 30 acres (12 ha) park, which opened in 1887 and was named in honour of Queen Victoria. The area gives its name to Queens Park Rangers football club.
Birkenhead Park is a major public park located in the centre of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It was designed by Joseph Paxton and opened on 5 April 1847. It is generally acknowledged as the first publicly funded civic park in the world. The park was designated a conservation area in 1977 and declared a Grade I listed landscape by English Heritage in 1995. In 2023 the park was placed on the UK government's "tentative list" of applications for UNESCO World Heritage Site status. The park influenced the design of Central Park in New York and Sefton Park in Liverpool.
Derby Arboretum is a public park and arboretum in the city of Derby, England, located about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the city centre in the Rose Hill area. It was opened in 1840, following the donation of the land by local philanthropist Joseph Strutt, and to designs by John Claudius Loudon. It was the first publicly owned, landscaped, urban, recreational park in England. After many years of neglect, the Arboretum was extensively refurbished in the early 21st century with the aid of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of almost £5 million. It is listed as Grade II* on the Historic England Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.
New Brighton Tower was a steel lattice observation tower at New Brighton in the town of Wallasey, Cheshire, England. It stood 567 feet (173 m) high, and was the tallest building in Great Britain when it opened some time between 1898 and 1900. Neglected during the First World War and requiring renovation the owners could not afford, dismantling of the tower began in 1919, and the metal was sold for scrap. The building at its base, housing the Tower Ballroom, continued in use until damaged by fire in 1969.
Rock Ferry is an area of Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Administratively it is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the county of Cheshire. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,298.
Cheshire West and Chester is a borough with unitary authority status in Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 local government changes, by virtue of an order under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. It superseded the boroughs of Ellesmere Port and Neston, Vale Royal and the City of Chester; its council assumed the functions and responsibilities of the former Cheshire County Council within its area. The remainder of ceremonial Cheshire is composed of Cheshire East, Halton and Warrington.
Eastham Country Park is a country park located in Eastham, Wirral. The park is situated next to the River Mersey and covers an area of 100 acres (40 ha). Facilities at the park include a visitor information centre, tea garden and picnic areas. There are two jetties that were formerly used to ferry people and goods from Wirral to Liverpool with the road leading to the park called 'Ferry Road.'
Eaton Park is a large public park located in Eaton, Norwich, England.
Royden Park is a park in Frankby, Wirral, England, managed by Wirral Council. The grounds of the park were originally part of an estate owned by Ernest Royden which comprised the park, Hill Bark house and Thurstaston Common. Upon his death the estate passed to Hoylake council and was opened to the public for recreation. The park features a visitor centre, walled garden, miniature railway, woodland walks and a lake.
Arrowe Country Park is a country park in Woodchurch, Wirral, England. The estate upon which the park lies was founded and shaped by John Shaw, a former Mayor of Liverpool who made his wealth from the slave trade. When he died the estate passed to his great nephew John "Ralph" Shaw, who built Arrowe Hall, an Elizabethan-style mansion, and laid out the grounds and gardens. Ralph Shaw was a magistrate who dissuaded people from trespassing on his land with traps including spring-loaded shotguns.
West Park is the premier park in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, England. It is also the location of the town's indoor leisure centre.
Saughton Park is a public park in Edinburgh, Scotland. It includes formal gardens, specimen trees, exotic plant greenhouses, a cafe, a bandstand, playing fields, an athletics track, a skateboard park and a creative play area. The skatepark was constructed in 2010 and is the largest in Scotland.
