Birkenhead Park

The park was laid out following the third Birkenhead Improvement Act, passed in 1843: this private Act of Parliament let a local authority spend public funds on a park open to all. A belt of plots for houses and villas, already shown on Paxton's plan of 1844, surrounds the park, and these houses were meant to cover part of its cost. It was the first public park in the United Kingdom created at public expense.

Joseph Paxton, appointed by Sir William Jackson, designed the park. Edward Kemp, who had worked with him at Chatsworth, was recruited to supervise the construction, and the planting and general development owe a great deal to him. Another Chatsworth man, John Robertson, designed the lodges with the Liverpool architect Lewis Hornblower. In 1845 the commissioners asked Paxton to alter the plans of the plots still unsold; he then withdrew and left Kemp to complete the park. Appointed superintendent that same year, Kemp remained in post until 1891, for forty-six years.

The public was already using the park widely from the summer of 1845, but the official opening was put off until Easter Monday, 5 April 1847, to coincide with the inauguration of the new docks. Lord Morpeth opened the park before thousands of people.

In 1850 the American Frederick Law Olmsted visited the park and coined the phrase "People's Garden" for it; what he saw there went on to influence his own designs for Central Park in New York. Work on Central Park began in 1858, and Olmsted came back to Birkenhead the following year.

In September 1917 the park hosted the Welsh National Eisteddfod, attended by Prime Minister Lloyd George. When the winner of the poetry prize was announced, nobody stood up: the shepherd poet Hedd Wyn had been killed in action a few weeks before, and the empty chair was covered with a black sheet.

In 1921 a palm house was built in the park; badly damaged in the Blitz of 1941, it was demolished in 1947. In 2002 a grant of more than £11 million, from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the European Union and Wirral Council among others, launched a major restoration programme, covering among other things the boathouse pavilion, the Swiss Bridge and the main entrance. The visitor centre, opened in 2006, takes its inspiration from Paxton's Crystal Palace. In 2023 the park was placed on the United Kingdom's tentative list for a possible nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Paxton composed a landscape that imitates the countryside while placing lodges, bridges and a boathouse pavilion within it. Trees and shrubs are arranged to keep hiding and then revealing the views. The landscape looks natural, but it was carefully designed.

The park, close to 140 acres (about 57 ha), is crossed by Ashville Road, which divides it in two: the Upper Park to the north-west and the Lower Park to the south-east. Each has its own lake, ringed by planted banks and mounds and holding a wooded island; the Lower Park lake, with its irregular outline, reaches out in arms of water that vary the views along the path around it. Park Drive, the carriage drive around the park, was reserved for pleasure traffic, with a footpath along its outer edge: this separation of traffic was among the project's innovations.

The park has five entrances with lodges. The main entrance, which bears the date 1847 and was designed by Lewis Hornblower and John Robertson for Paxton, is a massive ashlar triple archway with segmental arches, articulated by full-height coupled Ionic columns that continue across the neighbouring lodges; it is listed Grade II*. The other lodges are known as the Gothic Lodge, the Italian Lodge and the Castellated Lodge; the paired lodges on Park Road North, called the Norman Lodges, are in fact Greek Revival in style.

The Swiss Bridge is a covered footbridge: stone abutments carry its timber structure, and braced timber columns hold up its red tiled roof; its panelled parapet is decorated with scallops, chevrons and bull's-eyes. Dated to about 1843-1847, it has been extensively renewed. The boathouse pavilion, known as the Roman Boathouse, dates from the same period: built of ashlar, it opens onto the lake through a segmental arch, and its square pavilion, with three segmental arches on each face divided by pilasters, was meant to serve as a bandstand.

The park is a public space for walking, picnics and sport. The visitor centre houses a gallery with a permanent display on the history of the park; a children's play area is close by.

Two cricket clubs play here, among them Birkenhead Park Cricket Club, founded in 1846. A rugby club, founded in 1871, sits on the edge of the park, which also has tennis courts, bowling greens and angling, with a permit from the visitor centre.

The park holds trees from around the world, such as the cucumber tree and the Himalayan cedar, alongside native species: oak, lime, hornbeam, field maple.

The park is open all year round, day and night. The visitor centre, which houses the café and the toilets, is open every day from 9 am to 4.30 pm, except 25 and 26 December and 1 January. All entrances, paths and facilities are accessible to wheelchair users.

For a first visit, the park suggests coming in through the Grand Entrance, where Park Road North meets Park Road East. Birkenhead Park station, on Merseyrail's Wirral Line, is a five-minute walk away.

Self-guided routes are on offer, among them a heritage trail and a tree trail; guided walks take place regularly, booked at the visitor centre or by phone. Park Drive, the two-mile (about 3 km) road around both parts of the park, suits cycling.