Search for the name, locality, period or a feature of a locality. You'll then be taken to a map showing results.

Clarence Park

Introduction

Clarence Park is a late 19th century municipal park.

Location, Area, Boundaries, Landform and Setting

The park is divided into two sections by Walliscote Road. The East Park is an open grass area with a cricket wicket. It is surrounded by trees, many of which are evergreens such as holm oaks. These are more resistant to the sea wind than many of the trees more popular in inland parks. There is a pavilion with changing rooms, and two shelters for spectators.

The West Park is also screened by mixed trees along three sides, with an entrance lodge at the north. The northern side of the park also has a large rose garden. One greenhouse standing near the lodge is all that remains of the several which had existed. Near this greenhouse stands a stone block which works as a sundial. An iron fountain adorns the centre of a circular pond. It is a feature of the parks of Weston-Super-Mare that the ornamental ponds all seem to be of a similar size and exactly circular. Three bowling greens also exist within the park.

Description checked by Avon Gardens Trust 22/5/2012.

Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts

Access contact details

This is a municipal park for general public use.

Owners

North Somerset Council

Town Hall, Walliscote Grove Road, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1UJ
History

19th Century

The land was presented to the town in 1882. The park was opened some time after 1888.

A plaque at the main entrance of West Park states that the land 'containing about sixteen acres was presented to the town by Rebecca Davies in memory of her late husband Henry Davies, October 1882'. Henry Davies (1807-1868) was the resort's greatest building speculator and tried to make Weston a fashionable seaside resort. He was responsible for Weston's Royal Crescent, Ellenborough Crescent, Claremont Crescent, Manilla Crescent and Oriel Terrace. He was also involved in forming the water company which provided Weston with its first piped supply from the Ashcombe Park spring. Clarence Park was named after Clarence, brother of George V.

The area was originally all in one piece, and not divided by a road. The 1888 Ordnance Survey map shows it as open with some marshy ground to the north-west. The area used for houses on Beach Road and Clarence Roads North and South are marked off. Rebecca Davies wrote to the council from her home at 16, Ellenborough Crescent in 1888, complaining that the park was not yet open to the public.

A cutting from the 'Weston Mercury' states that:

"To study old prints, to see what the grouping of Royal Crescent, Park Place and Greenfield Place linked with well-landscaped public parkland and Ellenborough Crescent, similarly merged into public walks and gardens, leading to the seafront, is to appreciate what beautiful entities they were and sadly to reflect what Weston has lost by not preserving them as such."

Features & Designations

Features

  • Fountain
  • Description: The fountain was presented to Weston-Super-Mare by Spencer Tyler, chairman of the town commissioners, in memory of the late Rebecca Davies, donor of the park.
  • Sundial
  • Description: The sundial was presented to Woodspring District Council in October 1976 by the National Assocaiation of Master Masons after their conference in Weston. It is a 1.5 metre, 200 kilogram work in Portland Stone by Tom Langmead and John Hopkins.
  • Earliest Date:
  • Latest Date:
  • Pavilion
  • Earliest Date:
  • Latest Date:
  • Rose Garden
  • Earliest Date:
  • Pond
  • Earliest Date:
  • Latest Date:
Key Information

Type

Park

Purpose

Recreational/sport

Principal Building

Recreational

Survival

Extant

Hectares

8.9

Open to the public

Yes

Civil Parish

Weston-super-Mare

References

References

Contributors

  • Avon Gardens Trust

  • E.J. Spiller