Tipperary Park is a community park located in the Downtown neighbourhood of

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the cap ...

, just Northeast of New Westminster City Hall. The park technically only includes the grounds Northeast of 4th Street, however, the park's name is often used to refer to the adjacent Friendship Gardens and the front lawn of the City Hall. The park itself is lightly treed and has several paved pathways for cyclists and pedestrians. The nearby Friendship Gardens is renowned for its water features including several artificial waterfalls, stepping-stone paths, a duck pond, and a footbridge painted red and black (culturally important colours in New Westminster as they were worn by the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

History

The land currently occupied by the park was initially designated by Colonel Moody as the location for British Columbia's government buildings. Unfortunately for Moody and the rest of the city, the unification of the Mainland Colony of British Columbia and the

Colony of Vancouver Island The Colony of Vancouver Island, officially known as the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies, was a Crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with the mainland to form the Colony of British Columbia. ...

in 1866 led to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

being awarded the capital, leaving the lands of Tipperary Park with no inherent purpose. The land became known as Tipperary Park due to the presence of worker camps, which were formed by street construction workers and their families in 1889. The Daily Columbian, a New Westminster newspaper, published a story about the camps, comparing them to worker and squatter settlements in

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, causing residents of the city to call the area "New Tipperary." The land was eventually used by the New Westminster Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club who set up a sporting facility in 1901 with permission from the provincial government. In 1908, the land which was still under provincial jurisdiction, was transferred to the City of New Westminster, and was subsequently established as a municipal park.

Amenities

Tipperary Park is still the home of the New Westminster Tennis Club, who moved to the park grounds in 1901. The park is also just across the street from

Irving House The Irving House is a heritage site residing in New Westminster, British Columbia. It is a one and a half storey tall building which is known to be the oldest house in the Lower Mainland that is still completely intact. It is located at the corner o ...

, a heritage home which was converted into a museum about the history of the Irving family and New Westminster in general. Tipperary Park is also the location of the New West Farmers Market, which operates in the

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...

and

summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

, where vendors from across the

Lower Mainland The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 ...

come to distribute their food products. Friendship Gardens is also a popular spot for photography in the city (especially in the spring), and is frequently visited by couples for wedding photoshoots.

References

{{New Westminster Parks in New Westminster Parks established in the 1900s Downtown New Westminster

History

Amenities

See also

References