Victoria Park in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, England is a public park of 69 acres (279,000 m²). It is in the south-east, just outside the city centre, backing on to the University of Leicester and close to the Leicester railway station.

History

The park was historically part of the South Fields of Leicester, and was used from 1806 to 1883 as a racecourse – a function that was then transferred to the purpose-built Leicester Racecourse in Oadby. It was opened as a park in 1882. A

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

grandstand stood in the park until the mid-20th century, and was used as a pavilion after racing moved to Oadby. It was damaged by a German

parachute bomb A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, wh ...

in 1940 and later demolished, with the new pavilion built on the same site and opened in 1958.Pavilion rises in place of Victorian version hit by bomb
, '' Leicester Mercury'', 15 January 2010, retrieved 2011-06-09 Leicester Fosse (who later became

Leicester City Football Club Leicester City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Leicester in the East Midlands of England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home ...

) played here on various occasions between 1884 and 1890.

Facilities

It has facilities for various sports, including tennis, basketball, bowls, croquet, football and cricket. A skate park has recently been added, and there is an adventure playground for young children. The majority of the park is level, open grassland and the largest space in particular is sometimes used as a venue for outdoor events – in recent years these have included BBC Radio 1's One Big Sunday, the

Leicester Caribbean Carnival Leicester Caribbean Carnival is an annual event, held in early August in Leicester, England. The community-organised carnival has been held annually since 1985 (with the exception of 2006) on the first Saturday in August, with a parade around t ...

Leicester Pride Leicester Pride is an annual LGBT pride event in Leicester, England, which started to take place in 2001. The launch project intended to involve the lesbian and gay community in the production of the Leicester Pride Carnival, to involve the whol ...

and the Summer Sundae music festival. Kasabian also had a sell out concert here with 50,000 tickets sold. A pavilion provides sports changing facilities, and is also the site of a cafe.

Landmarks

The park is home to two memorials. The Arch of Remembrance, a quadrifrons arch, was designed by

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

and built in 1923, to commemorate the dead of the First World War. The memorial, a Grade I listed building, stands at the top of an ornamental walkway ("Peace Walk") with gates (also by Lutyens) opening on to University Road. A smaller memorial near the cafe commemorates the American

82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry division (military), division of the United States Army specializing in Paratrooper, parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops ...

, stationed in Leicester prior to

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

. The gates and lodges on the London Road side of the park were also designed by Lutyens and built in 1930.

Sport

A parkrun takes place in the park every Saturday morning at 9am.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Victoria Park Leicester Leicester City F.C. Leicester Tigers Parks and open spaces in Leicestershire Tourist attractions in Leicestershire Sports venues in Leicester