Victoria Park is the premier

urban 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 resi ...

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

, Cheshire, England. It is managed by

Halton Borough Council Halton Borough Council is the local authority for the Borough of Halton, incorporating the towns of Runcorn and Widnes and the parishes of Daresbury, Hale, Moore and Preston Brook. It is a constituent council of Liverpool City Region Combined Aut ...

History

The park was opened in 1900 to celebrate the

Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond ...

. It is on the former Appleton House estate and was created by the local council with funds collected via a public subscription.The Wonders of Widnes. Author Andrew Richardson. West Derby Publishing. . Page 54 - 56

Facilities

There are paved walking routes, grass open spaces, formal gardens, a lake with a fountain, a café with toilets, ice cream parlour, children's play area, tennis courts, bowling greens, a skate park, climbing boulder,

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 ...

, basketball courts, an enclosed dog run and a

butterfly house A butterfly house, conservatory, or lepidopterarium is a facility which is specifically intended for the breeding and display of butterflies with an emphasis on education. Some butterfly houses also feature other insects and arthropods. Butterf ...

Landmarks

The park contains a

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed war memorial pillar. Incorporating detailed carvings and standing more than 16m high, the memorial is a striking and prominent architectural building. The pillar was designed by Harold E Davies and unveiled by the

17th Earl of Derby Edward George Villiers Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, (4 April 1865 – 4 February 1948), styled Mr Edward Stanley until 1886, then The Hon Edward Stanley and then Lord Stanley from 1893 to 1908, was a British soldier, Conservative politician, d ...

in a ceremony on 28 September 1921 after a civic parade from

Widnes Town Hall Widnes Town Hall is a municipal building in Victoria Road in Widnes, Cheshire, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Widnes Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building. History After significant industrial growth in the sec ...

. The memorial cost £6,000 and was paid for by public subscription. The sculptural additions were undertaken by the national artist

Herbert Tyson Smith George Herbert Tyson Smith (1883–1972) was an English sculptor born in Liverpool. He executed many works in the Liverpool and Merseyside area, in particular war memorials. He was the brother-in-law of fellow Liverpool sculptor Edward Carter Pr ...

. There is a memorial fountain in honour of

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

. A

milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

marker with plaque commemorates the last effective

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

air raid of World War I in England. Five Zeppelins dropped bombs in Widnes, Ince and Wigan. There is a statue of Sgt.

Thomas Mottershead Thomas Mottershead Victoria Cross, VC, Distinguished Conduct Medal, DCM (17 January 1892 – 12 January 1917) was an England, English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the ene ...

V.C., DCM (1892–1917) who was born in Widnes and was awarded a

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

and

Distinguished Conduct Medal The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by Queen Victoria for gallantry in the field by other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military decoration, ranki ...

in World War I. There is a combined memorial headstone for Mottershead and two other recipients of the V.C. from Halton: Thomas Wilkinson and

Thomas Alfred Jones Thomas Alfred Jones, VC, DCM (25 December 1880 – 30 January 1956), also known as 'Todger' Jones, was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy awarded to British and Commonwealth f ...

Events

Vintage Steam Rally

Each year the park hosts

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

's largest Vintage Steam Rally, featuring a vintage

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

, and vintage steam machinery.

Parkrun

A 5 km

parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...

takes place every Saturday morning beginning at 9am.

References

{{coord, 53.375, -2.730, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Parks and open spaces in Cheshire Widnes