As well as shaping our modern towns and cities the Victorians also tried to shape the lives of the people who lived in them. One of the great legacies passed on to us by our Victorian forebears are some of the parks and open spaces we still enjoy today.
There are several parks and gardens in my home town of Newport and while all serve their purpose I think my favourite has to be Belle Vue Park.
The land on which Belle Vue Park stands was a gift to the town from Lord Tredegar in 1891 to provide a public park for the people of Newport.
An open competition to design and construct the park was won by Thomas Mawson (1861-1933) of Windermere.
Belle Vue Park was Thomas Mawson’s first win in an open competition. He went on to become one of the foremost landscape architects of his time, responsible for the design of many gardens in his adopted Cumbria, including Holker Hall and Rydal Hall as well as Dyffryn Botanic Garden in Cardiff.
In November 1892 Lord Tredegar performed the ceremony of cutting the first sod; construction began and the Park opened on 8th September 1894. The final cost of the Park is recorded as £19,500.
Belle Vue Park has many features typical of a Victorian public park, including the conservatories and pavilion, bandstand and rockeries.
Additional features were added to the Park throughout the years. The Gorsedd Stone Circle was erected in 1896, for the National Eisteddfod, held in Belle Vue Park in 1897. The bowling greens were opened in 1904 and a Tea House added in 1910.
In 1924 the adjoining house and grounds of Belle Vue House came into the Council’s ownership and the additional 11 acres of land were absorbed into the Park, which now extended to 26 acres.
Here are a few images of the bandstand, pavilion and conservatories.
Irish-Le-Feaux
Skegness, my home town, was planned and established in Victorian times and is all the better for it. We have a lovely green park with water features, wide boulevards and a traditional pier.