Royal Victoria Park is located in Bath,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. 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, with an

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...

dedicated to her. 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 57 acres (231,000 m²) with attractions that include a

skateboard A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. They are usually made of a specially designed 7-8 ply maple plywood deck and polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks. The skateboarder ...

ramp,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...

and

putting green A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

and 12 and 18 hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...

open-air concert A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or hol ...

s, a large children's

play area A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people w ...

and a 9-acre (36,000 m²)

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, an ...

. Seasonal attractions include carnival fairs and hosted events. It has received a

Green Flag award The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...

, 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 Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

on the

National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by Historic England ...

The Botanical Gardens

The Botanical Gardens were formed in the north-west area of the park in 1887. It contain one of the finest collections of plants on

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

in the

West country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glo ...

. 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 British Government decided to site the British Empire Exhibi ...

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 north-west Londo ...

in 1924.

Seasonal events

Royal Victoria Park is known for hosting events, such as Vintage FunFair, a carnival with hot-air balloons and rides. Popular annual festivals include The Bank Festival and The Children's Festival for May Bank holiday weekend. Other titular events include winter

ice-skating rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

Bath On Ice, as well as Movie by Moonlight, Glow In the Dark Mini Golf, Bath Thai Festival, Bath Easter Fun Fair, 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.

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 England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. It is part of the Cer ...

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 more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

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