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12
Historic Gardens 2010
BCD Special Report
was a superb composition of three distinct
zones (formal, informal and ‘picturesque’
landscape), carefully and subtly interrelated,
that exploited the south to north fall of land
across the site. Kemp’s plan was enhanced by
the successful fusion of landscape and built
form through the buildings and structures
designed by ER Robson, then the city architect.
The partnership proved very successful and led
to further collaborations (including Saltwell
Park in Gateshead) before Robson went on to
become the school boards architect for London.
Stanley Park was formally opened on
Saturday, 14 May 1870 to great acclaim.
The event was sufficiently grand to secure
coverage in the
Illustrated London News
(28 May 1870), which reported:
Stanley Park which was formally opened
by the Mayor Mr Joseph Hubback on
Saturday the 14th inst will be a valuable
boon to the inhabitants of the north end of
the town... The ground taken for this new
Park is very high, commanding a panorama
of South Lancashire and Cheshire with
the sea coast: the distant mountains of
North Wales as far as Snowdon on the
one hand: the mountains of Westmorland
and Cumberland on the other: some of the
North Yorkshire Hills: Blackstone Edge
and the Peak of Derbyshire: but the last of
these are often obscured by the smoke of the
factory districts. The park is greatly laid out
with a terrace, lawns and shrubberies, a lake
and bridges over it arranged by Mr Kemp;
landscape gardener of Birkenhead.
Sadly, the impact of the original layout
had been greatly diluted by subsequent
alterations, which have almost entirely been
made without consideration or sympathy for
Kemp’s aims. These changes included the
insertion of bowling greens and tennis courts
as well as the use of a large area of the ‘middle
ground’ for football pitches, all contributing
to the loss of clarity of Kemp’s vision.
The buildings and other structures
in the park were originally set within a
carefully composed and balanced landscape
Aerial view of the park with Goodison (Everton FC) in the foreground and Anfield (Liverpool FC) in the top right (English Heritage)
Historical postcards from the park’s heyday
(Liverpool City Council)
but its fabric and integrity have suffered,
as have the built elements it incorporates.
Tree planting, predominantly concentrated
along the park’s northern and western
boundaries, had been poorly managed over
many years resulting in the loss of many
fine views, both within and out of the park.
The landforms remained much as they were
laid out by Kemp, although insensitive
re-grading around the lakes had created an
inward looking and detached zone, cutting off
views and compromising pedestrian safety.
Through the latter half of the 20th century
the landscape and structures became victim to
the cycle of chronic underfunding and endemic
misuse that has affected many municipal parks.
This was exacerbated by well-intentioned
but ill-advised changes to the structure of the
park and its facilities. Not long after opening,
one of the lakes was filled in, presumably in
response to a problem with the lake lining.
A sunken garden (the Audley Gardens) was
created and furnished with statues depicting
characters from fairy tales and mythology
donated from a Liverpool benefactor,
George Audley. From 1923 until the early
1960s an outdoor swimming pool occupied
a section of the original lake formation.
Later, the brutal design of the leisure
facilities on the eastern section of the park
delivered an unsightly backdrop to the decaying
historic features of the central core. Finally, an
attempt to reuse the conservatory as a public
house only hastened its demise and encouraged
misuse of the western end of the terraces.
Outside the three zones of the park’s
original core a fourth component, the eastern
park, was of considerably less interest. Not
only did this section fit awkwardly with
Kemp’s historic core, it had been subject
to the most aggressive change. The area
was dominated by the large municipal
sports hall previously mentioned and
now demolished, accompanied by a vast
expanse of tarmac that provided match day
parking for the nearby football grounds.
This presented the ideal location for the
planned new stadium, which in turn would
provide the catalyst for the landscape
restoration and regeneration of the park.
By the turn of the new millennium little
positive activity was being generated by
those who were using the park, although it
was clearly still much loved by local people.
There was an accepted need to change
the cycle of misuse and encourage local
people to reclaim possession of the park. In
other urban parks the value of considered
regeneration and proactive management had
proved that change was possible. In Lloyd
Evans Prichard’s direct experience this had
been well demonstrated at Heaton Park,
Manchester and at Birkenhead Park. The
funding model applied at Stanley Park would
need to be quite different to suit the park’s
specific requirements and those of the parties
directly involved in the regeneration plan.
Regeneration
In 2004 Lloyd Evans Prichard (LEP) was
commissioned to complete a condition
and historic appraisal of the buildings and