Victoria Park is a park in Millbridge, Plymouth, England.https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/findpark/victoriapark It extends at the eastern end from the

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

beneath what was once a railway viaduct to what is now the merging of Molesworth Road and Eldad Hill, and which once was a

toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road ...

, and an important thoroughfare between Devonport and Plymouth.

History

The area which it occupies was once a part of an area of tidal marshland, known as the Deadlake; Batholomew Terrace, a road now adjacent to the park, was marked on 19th century maps of the area as Deadlake Lane. At the end of the 19th century, culverts were constructed to channel a few small streams which fed into the Deadlake, and the creek was filled in with rubble from the quarries at

Oreston Oreston ( ), formerly a village on the southern bank of the Cattewater, is now a suburb of Plymouth. It is recorded as ''Horestone'' on the 1591 Spry ''Map of Plimmouth''. Oreston offers many small, local services. It is home to a small cornershop ...

and

Cattedown Cattedown is an inner city suburb of Plymouth, Devon. Its position beside the River Plym estuary just short of the mouth led to its early settlement. Catherine of Aragon - the first wife of Henry VIII - travelled from Loredo in Spain to a h ...

, a mile or so away. After heavy rain the culverts can become overloaded and water forces its way to the surface. This has only been particularly dramatic once in the last 10 years, with no effect other than temporarily inconveniencing pedestrians using the park as a short cut between Millbridge and the city centre. The park, which has a park-keeper's lodge, was formally opened to the public in 1903. During

World War II 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 opposing ...

3 underground shelters were built in Victoria Park to protect the population during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

. At the eastern end there is an 80 foot painted mild steel loop sculpture called Moor, by

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...

winner Richard Deacon, set in 1990, on top of three tall redundant red brick railway pillars.

References

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External links

a wartime reminiscence of Victoria Park

a reference to the Deadlake

a description of the park Geography of Plymouth, Devon Urban public parks Parks and open spaces in Devon