Corporation Park, Blackburn
| Corporation Park | |
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Triumphal arches at the southern entrance (large version)
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| Type | Urban park |
| Location | Blackburn, Lancashire, England |
| Coordinates | 53°45′22″N 2°29′43″W / 53.7562°N 2.49536°WCoordinates: 53°45′22″N 2°29′43″W / 53.7562°N 2.49536°W |
| Area | 44.5 acres (18.0 ha) |
| Created | 1857 |
| Operated by | Blackburn with Darwen Council |
| Open | All year |
Corporation Park is a traditional Victorian park in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. It was landscaped by William Henderson and opened in 1857. Corporation Park is regarded as the main formal park in Blackburn and is used mainly by local people for general recreation, walking and dog walking, as well as for its tennis, bowling and football facilities.
The park is registered by English Heritage as a Park and Garden of Special Historic Interest and is one of around 440 facilities of "exceptional historic interest" meriting a Grade II listing. The park has also been credited with the Civic Trust's prestigious Green Flag Award. Corporation Park also gives its name to a local government ward for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council.
The 18 hectare (44.5 acre) park occupies a relatively central location to the west of the main town centre precincts. The land is delineated to the north and south by two of Blackburn's main arterial roads. Revidge Road stretches for 490 metres (535 yards) along its northernmost edge; the grand southern entrance at Preston New Road (90 metres, 98 yards) arches away immediately along East and West Park Roads to reach its greatest width of 625 metres (685 yards) from Park Crescent to Brantfell Road. The grounds can be entered from the main southern entrance, two entrances aside the east and west porter's lodges or ten other gates on the perimeter of the park.
A Grade II listed triumphal archway with flanking lodges (see picture above) marks the main entrance at the southern edge of the park, from which the landscape widens and rises 84 metres (276 ft) to its peak adjoining Revidge Road in the north. Over one of the smaller side arches reads an inscription: "This park was publicly opened on the 22nd day of October 1857 during the mayorality of WILLIAM PILKINGTON ESQUIRE, by whose munificence the four ornamental fountains were presented to the borough". Travelling through the large archway for carriages or two smaller side arches on foot, visitors are presented with the largest of these recently restored ornamental fountains to the right and a war memorial and formal garden of remembrance (laid out in 1922) on the left. The fountain was formerly powered by gravity, with a water jet rising 23 metres (75 ft) into the air, although the modern jet is more modest. A former reservoir providing drinking water to Blackburn lives on as one of two lakes in the park. The areas of water are home to a number of species of waterfowl, including mute swan, moorhen and ducks. A stream, Snig Brook, flows down the park from the ponds to the memorial garden, broken by waterfalls and pools.
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Wikipedia