Blackpool: Stanley Park Gardens and Landscapes 2020/21

Stanley Park, Blackpool, Lancashire.

Stanley Park Rose Garden 2020

Stanley Park Lake 2021

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Blackpool: Stanley Park in August 2023

Stanley Park. A nice place to visit. A tranquil relief spot. A handy walk. A great contrast to Victoria Hospital across the road to the north east of the Park.

To the western end there's a tree lined route into the park honouring heroes of past wars on the right, while on the left, heroic groups of the present day are honoured.

There's a sports stadium, and a sports centre. And attached to the sports centre is an outdoor gynasium that the zoo across the road would doubtless love to have for its gorillas and orangutans.

There's flowerbeds in an Italian garden, a rose garden, a memorial garden, not forgetting the flowerbeds adjacent to the brick built cafeteria.

There's a lake with boating opportunities to float amongst the swans and ducks, and photographic opportunities at every turn among its many paths.

There's a bandstand with tiered seating to better enable the sight of performers on certain days.

In times gone by, six bowling greens were in use, though today they are ruins, and even well-meaning dog owners ignore the signs and let their dogs off their leads to run abandonly upon once hallowed turfs.

There's an extensive BMX track, football fields, a skate park, tennis courts, five-a-side courts, a children's playground, and subject to availability trampolining and inflatable bouncy castles.

And, as if that wasn't enough, at the east side of the park you'll find a privately run model village.

There are lions in the Park, too. Not real ones, but statues. Not original statues, either, but replicas of the originals. The originals arrived from Stowe House in 1926, and were dismantled in 2012 to be returned for restoration (Learn about this conservation work).

There are little places, a posy beneath a tree, or a plaque on a seat, dedicated to the memory of indiviuals who have enjoyed some of their life spent in the Park. I don't know about this Janette Healy, Chief Mischief Maker (second picture) but clearly she impressed others in her lifetime.

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Blackpool: Stanley Park Cocker Clock Memorial Tower

Cocker Clock Tower 

The clock tower occupies a strategic position within the park, situated on the north-south axis linking the South gate with the Italian Garden. Being some 26 metres high, the tower stands above the tree plantations of the park and is visible over a wide area, thereby providing a point of reference.

In 1926, the Corporation of Blackpool invited architects to submit designs for a monument for this site. Lionel Budden, who, at the time, was Assistant Professor of Architecture at Liverpool University, submitted the winning entry for this design competition.

The clock tower not only has a practical use, it has a civic stature. The clock face is over 2 metres in diameter and the viewing platform beneath offers extensive views over the park and beyond.



The clock tower design is based on a classical design incorporating pilasters, segmental pediments around the doors, rusticated stonework, gabled pediments, consoles, cornices and a finial. There are two bronze lion head drinking fountains at the base of the clock tower, which is dedicated to Dr William Cocker who was the first mayor of Blackpool following its Incorporation in 1876.

Original shot by Ian Hatcher - Sky tweaks, me.

Short video of the Cocker Tower, not by me.

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Blackpool: Stanley Park in January

It was a little bit wet in Stanley Park yesterday.

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