Derby Arboretum is a
public park
An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to re ...
and
arboretum
An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...
in the city of
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
, England, located about south of the city centre in the
Rose Hill area. It was opened in 1840, following the donation of the land by local philanthropist
Joseph Strutt, and to designs by
John Claudius Loudon
John Claudius Loudon (8 April 1783 – 14 December 1843) was a Scottish botanist, garden designer and author. He was the first to use the term arboretum in writing to refer to a garden of plants, especially trees, collected for the purpose of ...
. It was the first publicly owned, landscaped, urban, recreational park in England. After many years of neglect, the Arboretum was extensively refurbished in the early 21st century with the aid of a
Heritage Lottery Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
grant of almost £5 million. It is listed as Grade II* on the
Historic England
Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.
History
Derby Arboretum opened in 1840 and is often described as "Britain's first public park". Although green spaces and common lands had existed previously, as had private parkland and gardens, the park in Derby was the first to be deliberately planned as a place of public recreation in an urban setting.
The Arboretum was donated to the town in 1840 by
Joseph Strutt, a former
mayor of Derby
Names of the Mayors for the Borough of Derby from the first that was chosen on 3 July 1638 by the king's charter then granted to the town. The two last bailiffs were the two first mayors, Mr Mellor being proclaimed 3 July 1638 to be the mayor u ...
and member of a prominent local family of industrialists. A noted philanthropist, Strutt was grateful to the working people of Derby for the part they had played in helping him and his family amass their fortune, and wanted to convey his thanks by providing a much needed recreational facility for a rapidly expanding and urbanising area. Strutt commissioned
John Claudius Loudon
John Claudius Loudon (8 April 1783 – 14 December 1843) was a Scottish botanist, garden designer and author. He was the first to use the term arboretum in writing to refer to a garden of plants, especially trees, collected for the purpose of ...
to design the park, and Loudon adapted Strutt's original plans for a
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
and pleasure grounds to his own vision, incorporating landscaped walkways.
Work on the Arboretum commenced in July 1839, and was completed in time for the grand opening which took place on 16 September 1840. The occasion was marked by a parade from the Market Place in the centre of Derby to the new park. The park initially charged for admission, in order to pay for its upkeep. However, admission was free on Sundays and on Wednesdays (which had been adopted as half-day closing in Derby). This meant that the working classes, who had limited leisure time and probably lacked the means to pay admission, could gain free access to the Arboretum when they actually had the time to do so; in effect, the park was paid for by those who had time and money to spare to enjoy the facilities. Free admission times continued to be extended until charging was finally abolished in 1882.
In 1859 the Arboretum was one of a number of parks visited by
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...
while on a research tour of Europe, and it is thought that he may have incorporated features of Loudon's work into his design for
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
in New York.
A scene from
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...
's 1969 Oscar-winning film ''
Women in Love
''Women in Love'' (1920) is a novel by English author D. H. Lawrence. It is a sequel to his earlier novel ''The Rainbow'' (1915) and follows the continuing loves and lives of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula. Gudrun Brangwen, an artist, ...
'' was shot at the Arboretum. The scene had a brass band playing on the Aslin-designed bandstand whilst
Oliver Reed
Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...
,
Alan Bates and
Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson (born 9 May 1936) is an English actress and former Member of Parliament (MP). She has won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice: for her role as Gudrun Brangwen in the romantic drama ''Women in Love'' (1970); and again for ...
acted in front of it. The Easter Pavilion had received a coat of paint for the occasion; this was the last work on the building until 2005 when it was fully restored.
Notable landmarks
![The fountain in the Derby Arboretum - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/The_fountain_in_the_Derby_Arboretum_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1101279.jpg)
Over the years the Arboretum has incorporated a variety of buildings, statues and ornaments. Perhaps the best known locally is the ''
Florentine Boar'' statue, which was originally placed on the site in 1806, when the land was Joseph Strutt's private garden. Strutt had commissioned
William John Coffee, a
Crown Derby sculptor, to make an earthenware copy of the bronze statue which he had seen when he once visited the Mercato Nuovo (New Market) in central
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
. The earthenware boar remained in place after the creation of the Arboretum until it was damaged (actually decapitated) during a German air raid on Derby on 15 January 1941.
[Florentine Boar](_blank)
, derbyarboretum.co.uk
derbyarboretum.co.uk However, a claim was reported in January 2002 that a Derby resident had, as a child, accidentally broken off the boar's head while climbing on the statue.
The current statue is a bronze replacement dedicated in 2005.
Other past and present features of the Arboretum include:
* The original "Grand Entrance" from Grove Street and adjacent lodge.
* An elaborate entrance from Arboretum Square, incorporating a statue of Joseph Strutt, completed in 1852.
* An entrance lodge on the Rose Hill Street side.
* A
Victorian bandstand
A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an orname ...
, destroyed along with the Boar in 1941.
* An iron and glass building (later nicknamed the Crystal Palace after the building in London) designed by
Henry Duesbury
Henry Duesbury (a relative of the Duesbury family of Royal Crown Derby fame) was the Borough Architect for Derby from 1841 to about 1854. He designed the Derby Guildhall, the Arboretum Square entrance and orangery, and the so-called Crystal Palace ...
was erected at the Rose Hill Street end of the 1845 extension. This was demolished in the 1890s.
* The fountain, originally built in 1846 and recently restored.
* Two bowling greens, home of the Arboretum and Joseph Strutt Bowls Clubs.
* ''Arboretum Field'', an extension to the original area of the park added in 1845. At one time major football matches were played here, notably
Derby Junction's victory over
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
in the quarter-finals of the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
in
1888. There are still football pitches here today.
Restoration
In recent decades, vandalism and lack of investment had left the Arboretum in a state of seemingly terminal decline, however this process has been reversed in the light of the recent injection of Lottery money and a determination locally to return this important historic landmark to its former status. Ornaments and buildings have been restored and new ones added. After a long running local campaign, a new bronze replica of the Florentine Boar statue, produced at cost by a local engineer, Alex Paxton, was finally put in place in November 2005.
Other new features include the ''Heart of the Park'' building, incorporating community rooms, a café, public toilets and changing rooms for the adjacent sports facilities (basketball courts, cricket net and two astroturf five-a-side football pitches).
The Rose Hill Recreation Ground is an extensive modern playground catering for all age groups of children that has been created within the park.
References
External links
Derby Arboretumon In Derby website
Derby Arboretumat Historic England
Derby Arboretumat Parks & Gardens UK
BBC Derby history of the Arboretum and guide
{{Authority control
1840 establishments in England
Arboreta in England
Defunct football venues in England
Gardens in Derbyshire
Parks and commons in Derby
Sports venues in Derby
Urban public parks in the United Kingdom
Football venues in Derbyshire
Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Derbyshire