The Victorian Park.

The Victorian Park

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). 

The 1875 photograph above shows the new road and newly planted trees. The view from the bridge below shows Valley Road a few years later.