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Royal Victoria Park is a public park in
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
, England. It was opened in 1830 by the 11-year-old
Princess Victoria, seven years before her ascension to the throne, and was the first park to carry her name. It was privately run as part of the
Victorian public park movement until 1921, when it was taken over by the
Bath Corporation.
The park is overlooked by the
Royal Crescent and consists of with attractions that include a skateboard ramp, tennis, bowling and putting greens and 12 and 18 hole golf course, a large children's play area and 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. is ...
covering . Seasonal attractions include
carnival fairs, open-air concerts and hosted events.
It has received a
Green Flag award (the national standard for parks and green spaces in England and Wales) and is Grade I registered by
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 Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...
on the
National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England
{{R from move ...
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.
Victoria Column and Victoria Gate
Inside the east entrance to the park on Marlborough Lane is the
Grade II* listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
Victoria Column, erected in 1837 to mark the
coming-of-age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...
(at age 18) of Princess Victoria.
G. P. Manners, the Bath city architect, designed a tapering triangular stone
obelisk
An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...
, about tall. The triangular plinth has a low-profile relief of the Princess, and contemporary and later inscriptions on its other faces; radiating from it are three plinths bearing lions
couchant. The whole is surrounded by a low balustraded wall. The unveiling of the monument took place on Victoria's
coronation day
Coronation Day is the day of the formal coronation, crowning of a monarch or its anniversary as observed as an annual commemoration or festival. The name is also frequently used for accession days, the dates or anniversaries of the formal assumpti ...
, 28 June 1838.
At one time, guns captured in the
Crimean War
The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...
were placed nearby but they were later removed.
The obelisk is approached from Royal Avenue and Marlborough Lane through a former carriage gateway constructed in 1830. Originally called Spry's Gate, it became Victoria Gate on the raising of the obelisk. When the structure was designated as Grade II* listed in 1972 it was stated that the cast iron gates had been removed in World War II, but gates with gilded decoration have since been reinstated. In the centre is a wrought iron column carrying a lantern, and on each side are pedestrian entrances in limestone ashlar. These each have a platform roof on twelve plain square columns, and above is a feature with a semicircular arch under a plain pediment. The designer, Edward Davis, had been a pupil of
John Soane
Sir John Soane (; né Soan; 10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neoclassical architecture, Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professor ...
in the 1820s, and the listing description notes similarity to the style of
St John's Church, Bethnal Green, London, where Davis had assisted Soane.
The Botanical Gardens
The Botanical Gardens were formed in the north-west area of the park in 1887 and contain one of the finest collections of plants on
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
in the
West Country
The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...
. The replica of a Roman Temple in the gardens was used at the
British Empire Exhibition
The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925.
Background
In 1920 the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government decide ...
at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...
in 1924.
Seasonal events
Royal Victoria Park is known for hosting events, such as Vintage FunFair, a
carnival
Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras.
Carnival typi ...
with hot-air balloons and rides. Popular annual festivals include The Bank Festival and The Children's Festival for
May Bank holiday weekend.
Other events include an
ice-skating rink in winter, as well as Movie by Moonlight, Glow in the Dark Mini Golf, Bath Thai Festival, Bath Easter Funfair, Pub in the Park and Bath Race for Life.
Great Dell
To the north of the Botanical Gardens is the Great Dell, a sunken wooded area alongside Weston Road. It is a former stone quarry planted out in the 1840s with a collection of unusual trees, including some large North American
conifers
Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All e ...
.
2007 restoration
In 2007 a programme of reconstruction and restoration was undertaken by
Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority district in Somerset, South West England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. ...
Council and supported by the
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 ...
. This included the renovation of two
Medici lion statues on plinths each side of the Queen's Gate entrance to the park, replacing the original iron armatures inside the limbs, returning them to their bronze colour, and giving each a gilt ball under its front paw. Further work will add two
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...
replicas of the original lanterns and the replacement of the decorative iron gates to the three main entrances to the park. The original gates were removed, along with all the railings around the park, as part of a
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
national scrap metal campaign.
Further works involved the reinstatement of over a mile of perimeter railings, the restoration of the bandstand, the reforming of three sets of park gates, work to the Royal Crescent Ha-ha, and the extension of the Temple of Minerva to form a small interpretation centre. These works coincided with significant works to the planting throughout the park.
Gallery
File:Rvptreecarving.JPG, Tree carving in the Botanical gardens
File:Flame.inflates.balloon.bath.arp.jpg, Air-balloon event, a seasonal tradition in Bath
File:Royal Victoria Park - panoramio (1).jpg, Children's play area
File:Rvpgreatdelstatue.JPG, Statue in the Great Dell
File:Rvptempleofminerva.JPG, Temple of Minerva, constructed at Wembley in 1924 for the British Empire Exhibition, rebuilt in the Botanic gardens in 1926
File:Rvpduckpond.JPG, Duck pond
File:Rvpbotanicgates.JPG, Gates to the Botanical Gardens
File:Botanical Gardens, Royal Victoria Park, Bath-9069291551.jpg, Botanical Gardens
File:Autumn Colours in Bath.JPG, Autumn at the Royal Victoria Park
File:2016 Tour of Britain (5) Bath - 021 Bradley Wiggins.JPG, Tour of Britain event at Royal Victoria Park
File:England (199632942).jpg, Medici Lion on the side of the Queen's Gate
References
External links
Royal Victoria Park Bath and North East Somerset Council
{{Authority control
1830 establishments in England
Parks and open spaces in Bath, Somerset
Botanical gardens in England
Grade I listed parks and gardens in Somerset