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.
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