Above photo common gulls on the ice at East Park, Hull, February ’23.
In Kingston upon Hull probably the city’s newest park is Victoria Park on Victoria Dock Village whereas what some call England’s oldest municipal park is also called Victoria Park (strictly speaking the Royal Victoria Park) in Bath, Somerset. The Park in Bath is so called because it was formally opened by Princess Victoria in 1830 when she was just 11 years old (seven years before becoming queen). The Park in Hull is so named because it has been created on land that was formerly part of Victoria Dock, this being Hull’s first dock with direct access to and from the Humber Estuary (although the original dock entrance lock was off the lower River Hull in the parish of Drypool). Victoria Dock created in the 1850s was so called after the then queen Victoria. Lots of municipal parks around England have the name Victoria because she was queen when most were first created; initially the most common name for municipal parks was ‘people’s park’ to emphasise that here was a space for all, but sometimes the name was later changed (not so in Grimsby).
Ironically the princesses name was somewhat controversial. It is written that her inebriated father George IV decided on the name at the christening font while her uncle, William IV, thought it un-English and pressed the Prime Minister, Earl Grey, to get it changed by legal process – to Elizabeth!
Partly as a result of her long reign, the Queen’s name came to define an historical epoch and to generate further derivations such as ‘Victorian’ and ‘Victoriana’ for example.
Victoria Park in Bath survives, overlooked by the properties of the famous Royal Crescent. It is the site for many municipal events across the year and is very well maintained.
(to be continued)