The picture above shows the entrance Lodge to Derby’s Arboretum built in the 1840s.
An inevitable question arises in this study ‘Where was England’s first public park’? As is often the case the answer is not simple, although for ‘pub quiz purposes’ the usual answer is the park created at Birkenhead (Merseyside) in the 1850s. The answer is not simple because a number of variables were at play in the early days of public parks, factors such as ‘was the park open to all classes of visitor’?, ‘was entry free’?, ‘was it funded by private subscription, by trust or by local government’? etc.
The creation of the Arboretum at Derby ticked some boxes but not others. The modest sized ‘park’ (11 acres) was created on land donated by Joseph Strutt, a liberal-minded, stern Nonconformist with a strong sense of public welfare and a descendent of the textile innovator Jedediah Strutt. The commission to design the site was awarded to J.C. Loudon (s.p.b.). Both men wanted the site to educational as well as relaxing so an arboretum was created with over 1000 species of trees and shrubs, native and exotic, and with each clearly named. The ‘park’ was opened free to all on Sundays (at times when no religious service was being held) and Wednesdays (when most local factories had a half day early closing) but an entrance fee was charged on other days as the local authority could not justify putting its running costs onto the general rates.
Derby’s Arboretum survives, after years of post-War neglect a cash injection from the National Lottery has enabled this public space to again be a valued place of resort.
Derby’s Arboretum was one of a number of European parks visited by F. Olmstead, a promoter of the U.S.A.’s first public park – New York’s Central Park.
Strutt argued that ‘a mere composition of trees and shrubs with turf’ was not enough for a public park.