Article 1: Avenham and Miller Park redevelopment

A £5 million redevelopment project involving Avenham and Miller Parks entered its second phase.



The project that was launched in 2006 started with the demolition
of the 1950’s bandstand. The most significant addition included
a £1.3 million pavilion designed by competition winning architect
Ian McChesney. The building, which comprises a cafe, exhibition
space, toilets, park ranger base and drop-in centre for the police
On the Beat scheme, also offers a spectacular view on the park
through its large glass walls.



Harvey Hamilton-Thorpe, Avenham and Miller parks manager, who
previously used to be based at the Guild Hall, said: “It is good
to based in the park, to see what is going on, to be close to the
gardeners, and it is also easy for local people to come in and
talk to me.”



The pavilion is located at the southwest corner of Avenham Park
at the foot of a natural amphitheatre. The shape of the building
resembles a tapering crescent or horn when looking from above.
Its sculptural roof constructed entirely of timber is built using
a stressed skin principle, where the timber joists are forming a
solid composite structure. The building is deliberately raised up
on a new earth plinth to protect it from flooding. The new plinth
is shaped to form an amphitheatre and contemporary performance
space to the north.



Other works planned under the phase one including the footpaths,
lighting and the diversion of a main sewer are also completed.
Another interesting feature installed is replicas of two cannons
captured at the Battle of Sebastopol during the Crimean War
in 1853–1856.



The largest proportion of the project has been funded by the
Heritage Lottery Fund (£2.8 million), Preston City Council
(£1,296,000) and the European Regional Development Fund
(ERDF)


The development programme aims to restore all the historical
features (including the Swiss Chalet and Belvedere), improve
vehicle controls, entrance gates, boundary walls, railings and
cycle routes as well as lighting and signage.



“The parks look really smart now and for that reason they have
got the Green Flag award now but I am a bit disappointed that
Avenham park is still flooding which means that drainage system
does not work as it should do but we are looking at it,” said
Father Timothy Lipscomb, chairman of the Friends of Avenham and
Miller Parks.



“We are still undergoing troubles with the Swiss chalet which
people often set on fire while doing barbecues and it is my
intention that we should have a barbecue area with brick
foundation so that people could use their portable barbecues,”
he added.


The second phase of the re-development is due to finish in 2011.



Here you can listen to Father Timothy Lipscomb, chairman of the Friends of Avenham and Miller Parks

Article 2: A short history of local parks

Many people visiting Avenham and Miller parks today are not probably
aware that these Grade II listed parks are closely connected not only
with British history but also with the history of the United States.



Although Avenham Walk was purchased as early as 1697, it was only
in 1844 when Preston Corporation bought the land in Avenham valley
to create a ‘people’s park’ and to provide jobs for cotton workers
who had lost their jobs because of the ‘Cotton Famine’ during the
American Civil War in the 1860s.

The development process lasted for several years (between 1862 and
1867) and was administered by Edward Milner, a famous landscape
gardener and chief designer to Joseph Paxton in 1851 at the Crystal
Palace Exhibition in London.

According to the initial plan, a large natural amphitheatre should
have been converted into a typical public park of that time.
However, Milner decided to add some other features, which, he
believed,would give the park its distinctive look.



Thus, he laid out the duck pond in the north west corner,
described by Hewitson as a ‘lakelet, with a rustic, rock-formed
cascade in the rear’. In 1936 the pond was redesigned into the
Japanese rock garden using 136 tons of Milnthorpe stone.

Another interesting addition was Italianate lodgia (or Belvedere,
as we know it now) which originally located in Miller park but
was removed in 1873 to make way for the Earl of Derby’s statue.
Its current location is on the site where a stationary steam engine
used to haul loaded tramway wagons up the steep gradient from the
Old Tram Bridge.


It might seem hard to believe that the nearby Miller Park with its
totally contrasting formal appearance was in fact constructed at
the same time and by the same architect as Avenham park. It began
with Alderman Thomas Miller’s decision to give the land to Preston
Corporation for the benefit of the public and as a lasting memorial
to himself. Unfortunately, Thomas Miller died in 1865 and never saw
his project fully completed.

Anyone walking in Miller Park today immediately notices the fountain
which was initially planned as a focal point. Installed in 1868, the
fountain promised jets of water rising to 60ft. The original shell,
which was restored for the 1992 guild, is supported by the four
elements – earth, air, fire and water represented by symbolic
female figures.

Opposite the fountain is a beautiful Italian-style terrace with
the sculpture of Edward Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby by the
London-based sculptor Matthew Noble. An MP for Preston and
eventual Prime Minister, Stanley donated £500 to help poor families
during the ‘Cotton Famine’. The statue cost £2000 with £349 of it
coming from work people’s penny subscriptions.



The official opening ceremony was held by the Duke of Cambridge
on 3rd October 1867. It began with a twenty-one gun salute
‘echoing across the valley’ and ended with a singing of the national
anthem by 20,000 Sunday school scholars.