View over Lancaster from the Ashton Memorial
Ashton Memorial, Williamson Park

Williamson Park in Lancaster, England, was constructed by millionaire James Williamson, 1st Baron Ashton, and his father, also called James Williamson. Its focal point is the Ashton Memorial. The park now covers an area of 53.6 acres (217,000 m²), having been extended in 1999 onto adjoining land, Fenham Carr, following a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

History

Lancaster from the Stone Quarry by William Linton (1854)

The site was originally moorland, and the site of a gallows.[1] By the nineteenth century it was developed as a quarry. During the Lancashire Cotton Famine (1861–65), public works started to develop the site with a gravel drive being created by unemployed cotton spinners giving access. There were some barrows on the site of the park which were excavated in 1865. Several funerary urns and some grave goods were found. In the 1870s James Williamson senior started to develop the site, and by 1877 a plan of pathways had been drawn up. When James Williamson senior died in 1879, his son Lord Ashton took the work forward, handing the site over to Lancaster Corporation in 1881. The Ashton Memorial was added in the early twentieth century.[2]

Features

Features of the park include the Ashton Memorial, fountains, a butterfly house, a café, a children's play area, the Lancaster sundial on the site of what was once a bandstand, an artificial waterfall, some sculptures and a small folly known as the Temple. The park is extensively wooded, with many pathways winding among the trees. There were also formerly an astronomical observatory and a weather station, but these became unviable with growth of the surrounding trees. They fell into disrepair after 1939 and only fragments remain.

Events

Play in the Park

Since 1987 The Dukes Theatre, based in the city, have put on their 'Play in the Park' during July and August each year. The production uses the natural scenery of the park as the stage and requires the audience to follow performers from scene to scene.[3] The first production to be staged in the park was A Midsummer Night's Dream in which Dukes' honorary patron Andy Serkis appeared.[4] Since it began over 500,000 people have attended at Dukes' park show and the 2016 production of The Hobbit won Best Show for Children and Young People at the UK Theatre Awards.[5]

Highest Point Festival

On 18–20 May 2018 the park played host to the inaugural Highest Point music festival which offered several stages across the grounds.[6] Highest Point featured performances from Ocean Colour Scene, Rae Morris, Embrace, The Two Bears and the Hacienda Classical, and the festival was held again in May 2019.

In July 2019, it was confirmed the festival would return to Williamson Park on 15–17 May 2020. However COVID-19 caused the festival to get cancelled.[7]

Since then 2 more iterations of Highest Point have run in the park, in September 2021[8] and again in May of 2022 when it was headlined by Richard Ashcroft, Clean Bandit and Kaiser Chiefs.[9]

Parkrun

A 5 km parkrun event takes place in the park every Saturday morning.[10] The first event was held in 2016.[11]

References

The lake and fountain from the bridge over the lake
  1. ↑ Burnham, Andy. "Golgotha Lodge (Williamson Park)". The Megalithic Portal. Andy Burnham. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  2. ↑ "Ashton Memorial Gardens and Williamson Park, Lancaster". historicengland.org.uk. Historic ENgland. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  3. ↑ Lancaster nostalgia: Dukes theatre celebrates 45 years, Lancaster Guardian, November 2016
  4. ↑ Andy Serkis becomes honorary patron of Lancaster’s Dukes theatre, The Stage, July 2016
  5. ↑ Why Lancaster is a thriving home for outdoor theatre, The Stage, June 2017
  6. ↑ Review: Embracing right royal summer vibes at the inaugural Highest Point Festival; The Moods. Cast. Embrace. Ocean Colour Scene. Rae Morris, Lancashire Evening Post, May 2018
  7. ↑ Release, Press (26 July 2019). "Lancashire's biggest music festival, Highest Point, will return for 2020". TheFestivals. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  8. ↑ "Highest Point Music Festival 2021". Lancaster Arts City. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  9. ↑ "Highest Point 2022". Lancaster Arts City. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  10. ↑ "Lancaster parkrun". Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  11. ↑ "Lancaster parkrun Event History". Retrieved 29 September 2019.

54°02′56″N 2°47′08″W / 54.0489°N 2.7856°W / 54.0489; -2.7856

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