Brockton Point is a

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Jo ...

off the Downtown Peninsula of

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, on the north side of Coal Harbour. Named after Francis Brockton, it is the most easterly part of Stanley Park and is home to a 100-year-old lighthouse and several hand-carved totem poles made in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. Like the rest of Stanley Park coastline, Brockton Point is lined by the Vancouver Seawall. Part of the land at the point was first cleared in 1865 in order to construct a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

. Due to rough currents around the point and a reef offshore, the Burnaby Shoal, however, the mill was built in Gastown and the point instead became the primary sports fields of early Vancouver. The main sporting venue, Brockton Oval, has been visited by

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

players such as Donald Bradman, Fred Trueman and Geoffrey Boycott. Cricket and

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union or rugby league. Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, where the rules were first codified in 1845. Forms of football in which the ball ...

are still played here.

History

Before 1865, the point was utilized as a graveyard for early

settler A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...

s who came to Vancouver. That year, Edward Stamp—a British businessman in the

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

industry—cleared away part of the site in order to build a

. However, he was forced to abandon his plans after realizing the strong currents from the harbour impeded the construction of log booms. He ended up moving the mill to Gastown, becoming Hastings Mill. The land cleared by Stamp was converted into sports fields by 1891. One of these, Brockton Oval, became a key

amateur sports Amateur sports are sports in which participants engage largely or entirely without remuneration. The distinction is made between amateur sporting participants and professional sports, professional sporting participants, who are paid for the time t ...

venue and was mostly used for

. Donald Bradman and Fred Trueman both played at the Oval, and after Bradman's visit in 1932, he called the venue the most beautiful cricket ground in the world. Geoffrey Boycott also played at the grounds in September 1964 and echoed Bradman's sentiments and praise of the Oval.

Totem poles

P1030295 - Vancouver - Stanley Park - totem

One of the province's most popular attractions is a group of ten totem poles at Brockton Point. Four totem poles were originally brought from Alert Bay and placed at Lumbermen's Arch in 1924. Some had been carved back in the late 1880s. More totem poles were purchased in the 1920s and 1930s, this time originating from the

Haida Gwaii Haida Gwaii (; / , literally "Islands of the Haida people"), previously known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago located between off the British Columbia Coast, northern Pacific coast in the Canadian province of British Columbia ...

and Rivers Inlet. All of the totem poles were moved to Brockton Point in 1962 to allow the construction of an overhead road at Lumberman's Arch. Many of them have been replaced with replicas, with the originals now kept in museums for preservation. The most recent addition, erected in 2009, was carved by a member of the Squamish Nation whose mother was born in Stanley Park. There is a visitor center and gift shop near the totems called Legends of the Moon at the Totem Pole Interpretive Centre.

Lighthouse

A number of ship collisions in the waters around the point led to the construction of a lighthouse and signaling station at Brockton Point. For a time, Brockton Point had a lighthouse keeper, who served for 25 years starting in 1855 and is credited for having saved 16 people from drowning. The present day lighthouse tower with an automatic light was built in 1914. It was designed by British Landscape Architect Thomas Hayton Mawson, who also constructed the lifeboat house located below the point and other Stanley Park landmarks.

References

External links

Cricket ground photo from 2002
{{Portal bar, Canada, Cricket Cricket grounds in Canada Headlands of British Columbia Peninsulas of British Columbia Stanley Park

History

Totem poles

Lighthouse

See also

References

External links