Lancaster taken from the Ashton Memorial in Williamson Park - geograph

Williamson Park in Lancaster, England, was constructed by millionaire James Williamson, 1st Baron Ashton, and his father, also called James Williamson. Its focal point is the Ashton Memorial. The park now covers an area of 53.6 acres (217,000 m²), having been extended in 1999 onto adjoining land, Fenham Carr, following a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

History

The site was originally

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...

, and the site of a gallows. By the nineteenth century it was developed as a quarry. During the

Lancashire Cotton Famine The Lancashire Cotton Famine, also known as the Cotton Famine or the Cotton Panic (1861–65), was a depression in the textile industry of North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ...

(1861–65), public works started to develop the site with a gravel drive being created by unemployed cotton spinners giving access. There were some barrows on the site of the park which were excavated in 1865. Several funerary urns and some grave goods were found. In the 1870s James Williamson senior started to develop the site, and by 1877 a plan of pathways had been drawn up. When James Williamson senior died in 1879, his son Lord Ashton took the work forward, handing the site over to

Lancaster Corporation Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

in 1881. The Ashton Memorial was added in the early twentieth century.

Features

Features of the park include the Ashton Memorial, fountains, a butterfly house, a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

, a children's play area, the Lancaster

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a fl ...

on the site of what was once a

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 ...

, an artificial waterfall, some

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

s and a small

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

known as the Temple. The park is extensively wooded, with many pathways winding among the trees. There were also formerly an astronomical observatory and a weather station, but these became unviable with growth of the surrounding trees. They fell into disrepair after 1939 and only fragments remain.

Events

Play in the Park

Since 1987 The Dukes Theatre, based in the city, have put on their 'Play in the Park' during July and August each year. The production uses the natural scenery of the park as the stage and requires the audience to follow performers from scene to scene. The first production to be staged in the park was A Midsummer Night's Dream in which Dukes' honorary patron

Andy Serkis Andrew Clement Serkis (born 20 April 1964) is an English actor, director, and producer. He is best known for his performance capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation, and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Go ...

appeared. Since it began over 500,000 people have attended at Dukes' park show and the 2016 production of The Hobbit won Best Show for Children and Young People at the UK Theatre Awards.

Highest Point Festival

On 18–20 May 2018 the park played host to the inaugural Highest Point music festival which offered several stages across the grounds. Highest Point featured performances from

Ocean Colour Scene Ocean Colour Scene (often abbreviated to OCS) are an English rock band formed in Solihull in 1989. They have had five top 10 albums including a number one in 1997. They have also achieved seventeen top 40 singles and six top 10 singles to date ...

, Rae Morris, Embrace, The Two Bears and the Hacienda Classical, and the festival was held again in May 2019. In July 2019, it was confirmed the festival would return to Williamson Park on 15–17 May 2020. However COVID-19 caused the festival to get cancelled. Since then 2 more iterations of Highest Point have run in the park, in September 2021 and again in May of 2022 when it was headlined by Richard Ashcroft,

Clean Bandit Clean Bandit are an English electronic music group, formed in Cambridge in 2008. They have had four number 1 hits and ten top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart. They direct and produce their own music videos, many of which have been nominated for ...

and

Kaiser Chiefs Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who formed in 2000 as Parva, releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their current name that same year. Since their formation the band h ...

Parkrun

A 5 km

parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of 5K run, 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 p ...

event takes place in the park every Saturday morning. The first event was held in 2016.

References

External links

Official site
{{City of Lancaster Parks and commons in Lancaster, Lancashire