Victoria Park is a public park in Tunstall, in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, England. It is owned and operated by

Stoke-on-Trent City Council Stoke-on-Trent City Council is the local authority of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. As a unitary authority, it has the combined powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council and is administratively separate from the rest of ...

. Few significant changes have been made since the early 20th century; it is listed Grade II in

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 The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by Historic England ...

History and description

The rectangular park, longer from north to south, has an area of , and is bounded by Victoria Park Road to the west, Queen's Avenue to the south and Little Chell Lane to the north; to the east is Whitfield Greenway, the course of a former mineral railway. The site for the park, former mine workings, was purchased by Tunstall Urban District Council, and the first sod was turned by the Chief Bailiff on 22 June 1897, marking the

Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated on 20 and 21 June 1887 to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. It was celebrated with a Thanksgiving Service at Westminster Abbey, and a banquet to which ...

. The park was designed by the council surveyor, Absalom Reade Wood (1851–1922); he had an architect's practice in Tunstall, and designed buildings in the town including the Town Hall and the Queen Victoria Jubilee Buildings, which contained a library and public baths. Work progressed over several years. The boating lake and boathouse, bowing greens and tennis courts were completed by 1904. A clock tower was erected in 1907, donated in memory of William Adams (1833–1905), a pottery owner, by employees of his company. The tower stands on the south-west corner of an artificial terrace, on which there is a lawn containing rose beds and bordered by balustrades. The official opening took place on 18 June 1908, when the main gates, at the south-west corner of the park, were opened; the wrought-iron carriage gates, with an ornamental overthrow, were made in memory of Thomas Peake.

Later features

A pavilion, built in

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

style, was completed in 1911; it was later named the Floral Hall, and is now a café."Parks - Tunstall Park (Victoria Park)"
City of Stoke-on-Trent. Retrieved 21 August 2023. A rockery and cascade near the northern boundary of the park were constructed about 1960. Refurbishment of the boathouse, bandstand and park gates, the renewal of footpaths and improvements to the play area, were carried out in 2020."£729k Stoke-on-Trent park revamp with upgraded play area, boathouse and bandstand set to start – but some improvements have been dropped"
''StokeOnTrent Live'', 30 July 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2023. Facilities include tennis courts, basketball courts, a playing field and outdoor gym equipment; there is a nature trail and wildflower areas. The lake has several species of water fowl including

mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

goosander The common merganser (North American) or goosander (Eurasian) (''Mergus merganser'') is a large seaduck of rivers and lakes in forested areas of Europe, Asia, and North America. The common merganser eats mainly fish. It nests in holes in trees. ...

coot Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family, Rallidae. They constitute the genus ''Fulica'', the name being the Latin term for "coot". Coots have predominantly black plumage, and—unlike many rails—they are usually ...

and

moorhen Moorhens—sometimes called marsh hens—are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family (Rallidae). Most species are placed in the genus ''Gallinula'', Latin for "little hen". They are close relatives of coots. They are of ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tunstall, Victoria Park Parks and open spaces in Staffordshire Areas of Stoke-on-Trent Tourist attractions in Stoke-on-Trent Grade II listed parks and gardens in Staffordshire