Newsham Park

Liverpool’s Victorian parkland is one of the things we can legitimately rub in the faces of everybody else in the whole world. Huge swathes of our land were taken up by these grassy stretches and we’re much better for it. We’re so up to our eyeballs in huge grade-​listed parks, we can even afford to let a few go a bit shabby, Newsham Park for example. Take that, London.
The first individual work by landscape architect and one of the judges of Manhattan’s Central Park, Edward Kemp, Newsham Park may just be little more than grass, trees and a bit of water but it has a scrubby, desolate charm that brings to mind a post-​outbreak thriller film. You half expect to find an upturned, abandoned police car amongst the shopping trolleys and bags of doggy-​do-​do.

Ah lovely Newsham Park, this place holds good memories for me as it was the local park when I was a nipper. It was where I learned to ride a bike, it’s where I spent every summer playing footy and it’s where, ah, oh yes it’s where I fell in the lake when I was 4.
Nevertheless it’s a much overlooked park as it is situated in the equally overlooked area of Tuebrook which offers little for the tourist or indeed other residents of the city.
The park itself though is a big area with plenty of hidden features and spaces for you to explore.

Newsham Park is one of the less ‘famous’ parks in Liverpool, possibly because it’s just a patch of grass with a pond. I don’t mean that in any derogoratoy way, just that it hasn’t been marketed to high heaven, or had any botanical gardens put there or anything fancy like that.
It is a nice place to go for a walk or sit by the pond, it’s usually very quiet so a good place to chill out. My friend lives on the circular round around the park, and the view when you wake up is lovely.

The Park was one of three created as a result of a severe outbreak of cholera in 1832 and 1849 in order to improve the health of Liverpool’s citizens and provide open space.
It is believed that Newsham Park represents Edward Kemp’s first solo venture in public park design. The Park is yet another beautiful area in Liverpool where you can just walk and walk and walk and think. Or just feed the birds on the pond. The park is surrounded by Seaman’s Orphanage and Newsham House (now used as the Judges Lodgings). People also enjoy fishing all year round in the two lakes set in the park.