As part of our ‘Design and Technology’ unit (Making Playgrounds) and in the interest of ‘Cultural Capital’ – Year 6 visited the historic ‘Birkenhead Park’.
A Brief History of Birkenhead Park
1847
On Easter Monday, Birkenhead Park was officially opened by Lord Morpeth and thousands of people attended the ceremony. On the same day, the new Birkenhead docks were also inaugurated.
1850
Frederick Law Olmsted, an agricultural engineer and landscape architect from America – visited the park and was impressed by its democratic ideals. He coined the term ‘the People’s Garden’ and would eventually go on to design Central Park in New York, based on the social and economic models of Birkenhead Park.
1858 - 1859
Work began on Central Park in New York in 1858. In the following year, at the height of the Central Park project, the commissioners voted to send Olmsted off to England, where he visited Birkenhead Park for the second time.
Y6 Birkenhead Park
