Parks & GardensHeritage Trail

ROTTEN ROW

Southport’s Rotten Row dates from themid-19th century. It probably derives itsunusual name from the more famousRotten Row in London's Hyde Park. Thiswas a fashionable thoroughfare along thesouthern edge of the park laid out in theseventeenth century, originally used forhorse riding. (1)

In 1848, the Lord of the Manor ofBirkdale, Thomas Weld Blundell,commissioned the landscape architectand garden designer Edward Kemp to layout a new and exclusive suburbandevelopment on part of his estate closeto the Southport boundary. It includedover one hundred detached houses seton broad tree-lined roads.

The emergence of this new suburb wasfollowed by the development of otheramenities, such as the construction of anew rail line from Aintree by CheshireLines Railway in 1881. The track isolateda section of former sandhills and roughgrassland lying at the foot of an old duneslope and sea-cliff. This vast andunassuming stretch later became thebeautiful floral masterpiece of RottenRow. (2)

The Birkdale Local Board proposed thedevelopment of a recreation ground inthe area which would be separated offby the new railway line. The civilengineer for the railway, Elias Dorning,was a prominent railway surveyor whohad worked on schemes in Lancashire asearly as 1845. It is possible that theframework of the design for therecreation ground and other landscapingwas his responsibility. In 1884-1886, the railway company laid out Victoria Park and the BirkdaleRecreation Ground on the land betweenthe old cliff and its new line. At the sametime it constructed a new road, RottenRow, running straight along the foot ofthe slope parallel to the new track. Thebasic structure of the present landscape

Rotten Row (1)

Rotten Row as seen in the1930s (2)

can be dated to the mid-1880s, with thefarsighted policy of the Birkdale LocalBoard in insisting that the building of theline should enhance the visual amenity ofthe area. (3)

The construction of the northern sectionof Rotten Row was only finished in 1908by the Birkdale Local Board, some tenyears after the first section had beencompleted. However, it would appear thelandscaping of the new park, recreationground and roads was fairly basic. Treesor shrubs were planted along the inlandside of Rotten Row, on the slope, andthere were some planting andornamental walks in the park, but the restof the area was featureless grassland.

Stephenson’s Guide to Southport of1905 notes that one of its attractionswas ‘an ornamental Park, called theBirkdale Victoria, which has beenbeautifully laid out, and already affords anexcellent example of landscapegardening’. The text makes no referenceto Rotten Row, suggesting that this wasnot yet considered a feature of note ormerit. (4)

This remained the case until after theamalgamation of Southport with Birkdalein 1912. At that point Victoria Park andthe Birkdale Recreation Ground, whichhad been separated by a large hedge andshrubbery, were joined together. Throughthe same works Rotten Row, previouslydescribed as a very indifferentthoroughfare, was remodelled as amagnificent half-mile herbaceous border.Further enhancement was delayed untilthe early years of the inter-war period.The 1922 edition of Stephenson’s Guidewas the first to single out Rotten Row forspecial mention. It refers to Birkdale andVictoria Parks, and then notes that ‘thePark is in [sic] Rotten Row, which isbordered by beautiful flower beds, andshrubberies, and is a delight both insummer and winter.’ Within a few years the border hadbecome one of the sights of Southport,as Stephenson’s 1926 edition makesclear :

The borders shown in 1925 (3)

The borders seen in Autumn (4)

‘Particular mention should be made ofthe herbaceous border on the fringe ofVictoria Park in Rotten Row, which isonly a minute’s walk from the South-Westerly end of the Promenade. Theborder is about half-a-mile in length, andin the Season is greatly admired by bothvisitors and residents. Much that is best inhardy and half-hardy flowering plants isto be seen there in profusion’. (5)

By the 1930s the border itself hadbecome one of the most importantelements in the ‘floral Southport’ imagewhich the Corporation sought to conveyin its tourist literature. The 1937-1938guidebook, ‘Sunny Southport’, suggestedto readers that: ‘the famous herbaceousborder on the fringe of Victoria Park inRotten Row … is a continuation of thePromenade at its south westerly end.This herbaceous border is about half amile in length, with an average width of26 feet, and in the height of the season is

one of Southport’s greatest floralattractions. Much that is best in hardyand half-hardy flowering plants is to befound there in profusion. The variety andarrangement, together with the wealth ofcolour, is magnificent. Until recently thefloral display in Rotten Row was confinedto one side of the Row, but nowpractically the whole of the opposite sideof the thoroughfare is also laid out as aflower border some ten feet in width.The grass slopes behind this new borderhave been planted with various varietiesof narcissi and scillas, which when inflower in the spring of the year make adelightful picture’. (6)

Throughout the latter years of the 20thcentury the border suffered from a lackproper care and maintenance and itsfloral appeal disappeared. Many localresidents regretted the deterioration ofRotten Row and the loss of what hadonce been one of Southport's jewels inits crown. In 2011 volunteers from TheFriends of Rotten Row community groupcommenced works to restore the site toits original condition after a successfulapplication to the Heritage Lottery Fund.Together with Sefton Parks andGreenspaces along with members of The Landscape Group, an extensiveprogramme of replanting began thatsummer. (7)

Public information panel (6)

Since then The Friends of Rotten Rowhave received awards from North Westin Bloom, with their work officiallyrecognised in 2012, 2013, 2014 and2015. Additionally in October 2014, thevolunteers were awarded the City ofLiverpool Trophy Best NeighbourhoodAward and the Top Honour of theNorth West in Bloom Helena HomesTrophy for the Best OverallNeighbourhood. In 2015 they alsoreceived the coveted Community GreenFlag Award and in 2016, they wereawarded The Scottish Power HeroesAward for Best Community Group.Despite its somewhat unflattering name,Rotten Row is now once again one ofSouthport’s most delightful floral charms,attracting admiration and acclaim fromlocals and visitors all year round.

KING’S GARDENS

From its early beginnings at the end ofthe 18th century, Southport quicklydeveloped as an upmarket bathing resortand residence for fashionable andwealthy Victorians. However, the retreatof the sea from its shoreline left thetown’s founding fathers with the dilemmaof how to compensate for theincreasingly distant seafront. Thelandowners of the foreshore, presumablyseeing its development potential, wereinitially reluctant to release this land tothe Corporation. Ultimately, and aftermuch discussion and negotiation, the landwas sold to the town on the proviso thatit was only be used for recreationalpurposes. (9)

Marine Gardens and its lake were thefirst to be developed south of the Pier in1887. A Venetian water carnival saw thepark open with a flourish and the lakeand gardens were covered in a mix ofcoloured electric fairy lights. The newpark was a resounding success andresulted in calls for similar landscapingelsewhere in the town. This rallying crywas the first step to the creation of King’sGardens and signalled a happy andprosperous future for the people ofSouthport. (10)

In the previous year, tragedy had befallenthis maritime community when during a

Kings Gardens in the early 20th century (9)

Venetian water carnival (10)

severe gale the Mexico, a Germanbarque, found herself in difficulty. Threelifeboats were launched to come to herrescue, namely the Eliza Fernley fromSouthport, the Laura Janet from StAnnes, and the Charles Biggs fromLytham. The crew from the Mexico wererescued by the Lytham lifeboat, but theother two lifeboats capsized. All thirteenof the crew of the St Annes lifeboatwere lost, and only two of the sixteenmembers of the Southport lifeboat crewsurvived. It was the worst disaster in thehistory of the Royal National LifeboatInstitution. As a mark of respect, animpressive granite monument wascommissioned in honour of the men andunveiled on 28 June 1888. Thisextraordinary obelisk stands prominentlywithin the town near to ScarisbrickAvenue and is Grade-II listed. (11)

Looking to the future and building on thesuccess of Marine Gardens, a second lakeand gardens were created north of thePier in 1892, with the two being joinedtogether several years later. Noticeableadditions to the landscape from this periodinclude the charming tea rooms. (12)

This building had earlier been a ladieslavatory and dates from the early 1900s.Its appearance is similar to that of thenearby Marine Lake Café which hadoriginally been built as a ticket office for afairground attraction. (13)

In 1911 Southport Town Council beganpiling work for foundations for what wasto become King’s Gardens. Throughoutthe following year officials underwent aprocess of commissioning plans and ideasfor the new layout. In Thomas Mawson’sbook Civic Art (1911) his vision forimprovements to Lord Street and thewider seafront are illustrated. He viewedSouthport as a lost opportunity andalthough not asked to implement hisdesigns by the Corporation, his planswithout doubt influenced its futureappearance. See the Southport LordStreet trail for more information.

Tea rooms (12)

Marine Lake Café (13)

The final cost of the works was in theregion of £20,000 with the new gardensformally opened by King George V andQueen Mary on 8th July 1913, afterwhom they are named. It was during these works that the artsand crafts structure was built as storagefor tennis equipment. Games would havebeen played on the courts opposite,where the crazy golf course and playarea are now situated. The buildingprovides a spacious verandah enclosingbuilt-in seating. An unusual, but highlyfunctional feature of its design is thecantilevered seating units above asweeping curved rendered base. This was included to make for easiersweeping by maintenance staff and toreduce the build-up of litter beneath the seats.

As part of the development, the layout ofthe existing South Marine Gardens wasslightly altered, with new linear pathsconstructed. Two new ornamental glassand iron shelters were erected uponraised concrete bases within theserectangular compartments adjacent to thePromenade, equidistant from the newmain axis through the gardens, with afurther six identical shelters erected within the new King’s Gardens on thelakeside promenade. The shelters remain a prominent feature of the gardens andare all Grade-II listed. (14)

The improvements also saw the creationof a fountain. This was orginally a straightsided pool with a single jet surrounded byrailings. This has since been upgraded intoa somewhat more impressive installationset within what is now known as thecommunity gardens.By the turn of the 20th century the seahad retreated quite some distance. To compensate for this, an open air bathswas constructed north of the pier in1914. The building of the linear route was thelast major phase in the development ofthe King’s Gardens and was designed tocreate an attractive path connecting King’sand Marine Gardens to Princes Park andthe new Sea Bathing Lake.

A Venetian Bridge was constructed in1931 with two flat sections and a centralarch. The design of the bridge over thelake necessitated the formation of twoislands each approximately 200ft long.These were built using sand extractedfrom the foreshore and the site of theFloral Hall. Art Deco lighting wasintroduced along the new route and thebridge continues to be one of Southport’smost recognisable features. (15)

Shelters (14)

Venetain bridge (15)

Heritage Lottery funded works (7)

Examples of planting (5) Rotten Row (8)

PARKS & GARDENS HERITAGE TRAIL

Southport is home to a number of beautiful parks and gardens and for this

reason the town is often referred to as the floral capital of the North West.

These verdant spaces have contributed to the enjoyable floral character of the

town for many years. Visited by thousands, the gardens are an important

cultural asset for the people of the region, and have become much-loved

tourist attractions in their own right.

Acknowledgements:The leaflet has been produced in conjunction with Historic England to promote Southport’s richhistory and built heritage. Work has been assisted by Friends of Rotten Row Group, BotanicGardens Community Association, Friends of Kings Gardens, Tom Glover, David Ritchie, Mark Shaw, David Cobham, Alan Crosby, Brian Quinn. Modern images have been provided by Daniel Longman.

© Historic England 2016

www.visitsouthport.com

Lifeboat memorial (11)

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Rotten Row

Victoria Park

Lord Street Gdns

KingsGardens Hesketh Park

Botanic Gardens

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Kings Gardens were added to theNational Register of Parks and Gardens ofSpecial Historic Interest in 2001 sealing itsplace as one of the country’s mostimportant areas of outdoor space.

In 2012, the gardens were awardedfunding as part of the Parks for PeopleProgramme. At the time this prestigiousscheme was the largest single investmentin parks by the Heritage Lottery Fund inthe North West. The gardens have sincebeen restored to their former glory withVictorian shelters and the VenetianBridge showcasing the beauty of thepark. The gardens have sprung to life withan array of colourful flowerbeds anddisplays, lovingly maintained by thecommunity. (16)

HESKETH PARK

Hesketh Park covers no less than 30acres of land making it one of the biggestparks in Southport. The land, upon whichthe park lies was originally owned by theReverend Charles Hesketh who donateda large share of his property to create awelcoming place for public recreation inthe 1860s.

The Southport Commissioners set aboutbringing the park into existence throughthe passing of the Second SouthportImprovement Act 1865, and theemployment of the renowned Victorianlandscape gardener Edward Kemp. Hisdesigns saw the creation of the park withan oval layout, similar to the design ofBirkenhead Park in Wirral on whichKemp worked under the stewardship ofSir Joseph Paxton. (17)

Restored balustrades (16)

1860s public recreation (17)

Hesketh Park was formed from an areaof sand hills and its topography wasexaggerated using spoil from theconstruction of its large lake. This allowedfor the creation of small secludedgardens of differing character betweenthe hills and a system of winding pathsallowing for continuously changingprospects. The lake with its irregularoutline surrounds three tiny islandssituated in a hollow slightly west of thecentre of the park. The lake is home to amixture of wildlife with numerous birdsbreeding here. (18)

The total cost of creating the new parkamounted to £12,000 with its officialopening taking place in the summer of1868.

A decade later a large conservatory waserected and housed an array of rare andexotic plants. It had originally been partof Brunswick Villa on Lord Street, but waspurchased by the corporation andmoved to the park in 1878. Today theconservatory still stands and remains afantastic addition to the park. (19)

Park conservatory (19)

An unusual feature of the park is theVictorian observatory which can be foundat its centre. This had been the privateobservatory of Joseph Baxendell who hadarrived in Southport in the late 1800s,having retired from his post asTimekeeping Astronomer for the City ofManchester. After his death in 1901 theBaxendell family offered the observatoryand its equipment to the SouthportCorporation and it was duly opened tothe public. Nowadays it is managed by theFernley Observatory Heritage Groupwhich helps maintain the building andprovide tours on specialist open days. (20)

During the First World War HeskethPark remained unaltered and wasmaintained to a reasonable standard.During the Second World War however,the boundary railings and the two largeCrimean Cannons were removed,believed to be for the war effort. Thepark’s original water fountain wasremoved in the early 1920’s, but a newornamental water feature replicating thehistoric fountain was reinstated as part ofa 21st century Heritage Lottery Fundedrestoration. (21)

During the works the formal AmericanGarden containing the floral clock wasalso replanted to its original 1930sdesign. The surrounding plantingincorporates species of Americanspecimen shrubs, bulbs and herbaceousplants, with the clock face planted withcarpet bedding. (22)

THE BOTANIC GARDENS

The Botanic Gardens are situated inChurchtown, the ancient village thatspawned the nearby resort of Southport.The gardens first began to take shape in1874 when a number of discerningSouthport gentlemen leased an area ofland from the Lord of the Manor, theHeskeths of Meols Hall. (23)

These forward-thinkers bound togetherto form a company for the establishmentof Pleasure Gardens at Churchtown. Anumber of park architects along withlandscape gardener John Shaw werecommissioned to develop the 20 acresof green space into a welcoming floralutopia. The formal opening of the BotanicGardens took place on 15 May 1875,with the service performed by theReverend Charles Hesketh of StCuthbert’s Church, and the Mayor ofSouthport, Mr Walter Smith. For over 50years these new and beautiful gardens,featuring a large conservatory, museumand café were open to the public onpayment of a small fee. (24)

1874 Botanic Gardens taking shape (23)

As the years passed the gardens fell intoa state of neglect and were later sold toa private investor who had the intentionof transforming the site into streets andhousing. This notion displeased many ofthe town’s well-to-do residents who inno uncertain terms aired their oppositionto the scheme. Thankfully the SouthportCorporation came to the rescue and thegardens were bought back into publicownership in 1936. (25)

The Corporation had previously acquiredthe lake and adjoining walkways,providing for all time the preservation ofthe Botanic Gardens for free publicenjoyment. This was further enriched in1937 by the laying of park sections underthe King George’s Playing Field Schemeto provide recreational facilities for youngpeople. A new side entrance was alsobuilt to mark the occasion, complete withsplendid Memorial Gates andoutstanding commemorative panels builtinto the piers. (26)

Botanic museum (25)

The gardens were reopened by RogerFleetwood Hesketh Esq of Meols Hall in1937 and have flourished ever since. TheGardens boast a beautiful tree-linedserpentine lake with Victorian bridges,and plentiful examples of contemporaryarchitecture. (27)

Today its fernery is ranked No 1 inEngland, and sits alongside a very popularaviary, pets corner and much-lovedchildren’s play area. The café is open fromdawn to dusk and brass band concertsare held on summer Sundays. (28)

As befits a botanical garden, its crowningglory is the many seasonal floral gardenbeds and award-winning displays to befound within. (29)

In addition to the work of Council staff, alocal resident’s volunteer group known asthe Botanic Gardens CommunityAssociation help with gardeningmaintenance and general upkeep. Theyalso run a successful flowerbedsponsorship scheme and organise year-round events, as well as developing aneducational Wildlife Nature Trail followingthe lakeside paths. All involved aredetermined to help in preserving the richheritage of the Botanic Gardens and itspublic benefits as was envisaged by itsfounders over 140 years ago.

Award-winning beds and displays (29)

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Floral clock (22)

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Botanic Gardens entrance (24)

Memorial gates commemorative panels (26)

Beautiful tree lined lake and bridges (27)

Park Fernery (28)

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