Burslem Park is a public park in

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in ...

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, England, operated by

Stoke-on-Trent City Council Stoke-on-Trent City Council is the local authority of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. Since 1997 it has been a unitary authority, a district council which also performs the functions of a county council, independent from Staffordshire C ...

. It was opened in 1894, and is essentially unchanged from the original layout. It is listed Grade II* in

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 Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

's Register of Parks and Gardens. The park 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, ...

in July 2023.

History

The park, created on derelict industrial land, was designed by Thomas H. Mawson. Mawson had begun his career as a

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

designing gardens for country houses. He went on to design a number of public parks including Hanley Park. Work started in 1893; a great quantity of soil was brought to the site to lay out the park. It was opened on 30 August 1894. A programme of restoration began in 2005 and was completed in 2012.

Description

The area of the park is . There is a network of informal paths, with a tree-lined central grass area. On the west is an informal lake. On rising land at the northern end, on a former spoil heap, is an extensive rockery constructed of

Pulhamite Pulhamite was a patented anthropic rock material invented by James Pulham (1820–1898) of the firm James Pulham and Son of Broxbourne in Hertfordshire. It was widely used for rock gardens and grottos. Overview Pulhamite, which usually look ...

, through which runs an ornamental cascade. On the eastern side of the park is the Terrace, along the edge of which is a formal

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

balustrade. Steps lead up to either side of the bandstand; this is a cast iron structure erected in 2008, replacing the original wooden bandstand destroyed by fire in 2005. A pavilion, in Tudor Revival style, stands on the eastern edge of the terrace. Between the bandstand and the pavilion, on either side of the central axis, are two terracotta circular basins with simple fountains.

References

{{Stoke-on-Trent Gardens by Thomas Hayton Mawson Parks and open spaces in Staffordshire 1894 establishments in England Areas of Stoke-on-Trent Tourist attractions in Stoke-on-Trent Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Staffordshire