History of the Gardens

In Georgian Scarborough the area  known as the Plantation was recommended in many guide books as the place to take an afternoon stroll. Anne Bronte would certainly have been familiar with the walks around the valley. The walk started at the beach and followed Mill Beck through quiet sheltered woodland until it arrived at Turner's Mill Pond. Visitors could admire the gardens of Mill Cottage, marvel at the series of waterfalls or watch the corn mill in action. The footpath then continued across fields to the ancient village of Falsgrave.

In 1860 the Town Council decided to designate the area as a public park, free to enter for visitors and residents and called it the Peoples' Park. It opened in 1862. The mill pond became a duck pond and the now derelict mill buildings were demolished. Unfortunately Mill Beck was culverted and a new road built to replace the track that was Mill Lane. The gardens were landscaped and flowerbeds set out. A bridge was erected over the valley in 1865.

The gardens quickly became a favourite tourist destination for the many Victorian visitors that poured into the town on the newly opened railway (1845). 

Turner's Pond

The lithograph above is by a local artist J Stubbs and shows the mill pond in the early 1820's. Most experts date it to 1830, but it doesn't show the Spa Bridge which opened in 1827. A lithograph, dated 1829 by Stubbs, of the Lighthouse shows the bridge in the background, so our print has got to be earlier.

1860 photograph of the pond

I was very fortunate to pick this photograph up on e-bay. It is a Carte de Visite and measures only four inches by two and a half inches. A French photographer called Disderi patented a method of taking more than one photograph on a photographic plate in 1854. It resulted in smaller, but cheaper photographs and once they were being produced commercially they became very popular. Victorians would collect them and stick them in albums rather like we used to do with PG tips tea cards. This one is early, probably dating from around 1860/61. It was produced by John Inskip a photographer with a number of studios around Scarborough. He was active from about 1860 until the late 1880’s and his son, also John, was a well known landscape artist. His Queen Street studio was badly damaged in the great storm of November 1861, when the house next door collapsed.

The photograph shows Plantation House, originally the mill owner’s house. It was demolished to make way for the bridge which opened in 1865. Early drawings of the area show the pond as being unfenced and I would suspect that the council erected the fencing as an early health and safety measure before the park opened in 1860. The beautiful garden of Plantation House is mentioned in many of the Georgian guidebooks of Scarborough which all describe a pleasant walk from the Spa following Mill Beck up to the ancient village of Falsgrave.