On May 27, 1850, at the recommendation of a local baker, Frederick Law Olmsted, his brother and a close friend visited Birkenhead Park, located across the Mersey River from Liverpool, UK. This first visit left an indelible and life-changing impression on Olmsted.
“The baker had begged of us not to leave Birkenhead without seeing their new park, and at his suggestion we left our knapsacks with him and proceeded to it,” wrote Olmsted in Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England.
At the time, no one knew that he was to become America’s foremost landscape architect and the co-designer New York City’s famous Central Park. Few people could have predicted the enormous impact it would have on the future development of public parks in the USA— and across the globe. This ‘American farmer’ regarded Birkenhead Park as a “Democratic Institution” where, for the first time, “the privileges of the garden” could be enjoyed about equally by all classes. As he wrote, “all this magnificent pleasure-ground is entirely, unreservedly and forever the people’s own. The poorest British peasant is as free to enjoy it in all its parts as the British Queen.”
Birkenhead Park came into being when, in the early 1830s, the town commissioners had remarkable foresight and vision for the growth of the settlement. This included imagining a new park which would serve as an antidote to the poor living conditions commonly experienced in other rapidly expanding industrial cities of the time. It was so visionary that Birkenhead’s park was constructed before most of the town itself— in anticipation of the rapidly growing urban population that was to settle in the town. In addition, Birkenhead’s municipal authority backed up its grand intention for a park by appointing one of Britain’s most highly regarded horticulturalists and landscape designers of the time— Joseph Paxton. With the support of Edward Kemp, Paxton set out to create a place which replicated the pastoral countryside and included an assortment of features such as lodges, bridges and a boathouse.
When it officially opened in 1847, Birkenhead Park was the first park in Britain to be purpose-built for the entire population. It was funded by public money and made freely accessible for everyone to enjoy— not just the wealthiest.
Today, the park continues to be managed and maintained by the local Wirral Council, and it’s widely known as ‘The People’s Garden,’ a term that Olmsted coined. In recognition of the park’s importance, the Wirral Council sought UNESCO recognition of Birkenhead Park People’s Garden as a World Heritage Site in 2022. It has since been placed on the UK Tentative List, making it eligible for this important recognition.
Marie Le Devehat is the World Heritage Project Officer for the Wirral Council, which oversees Birkenhead Park.
