The Parks Agency has a collection of nearly ten thousand postcards which provide wonderful information about public parks from the late nineteenth century up to the nineteen-seventies. We are thinking about digitising the lot but in the meantime we are happy to receive inquiries and to produce jpegs of scans to whatever quality you need. We make a small charge and request that you acknowledge the Parks Agency in any publication.
Victoria Gardens, Neath. Undated. The bandstand survives and is at the heart of a thriving local park.
Sutton Park, Sutton-in-Craven. An unusual image of a park very soon after construction work was complete; the card is postmarked July 1913, a year after its opening.
The Public Park, Brechin. A beautifully clear image showing the elaborate ironwork originally featured in the park. Undated.
People’s Park, Grimsby. We particularly like the perfect camber on the gravel footpath!
Page Park, Downend, Bristol. The bandstand was restored in 2013, minus the glass screens, but the pond has gone. This photo only dates from 1952 but for many parks that’s another world.
North Lodge Park, Darlington. The truly wonderful lodge, actually a boathouse, was demolished c1960 and the lake backfilled in 1932. But the bandstand was restored in 2010, the work being carried out by our friends at Lost Art, funded by HLF.
Nauls Mill Park, Coventry. The park was opened in 1909, and this undated view must be from soon after. The bandstand was demolished in 1963 but the pool, adapted from the original mill pond, survives.
Belper River Gardens, Derbyshire, a finely detailed photograph on a postcard dated August 1907.
Croydon Road Recreation Ground, Beckenham, London. The oriental drinking fountain, part of the original layout of the park, opened in 1891. This image gives an idea of the original colour scheme, a far cry from heritage black and gold. The building does not survive and has been replaced with a modern shelter.
Lightwoods Park, Smethwick, West Midlands. The bandstand in this beautiful photograph is still standing, albeit without its glazed screen. It is listed and also regularly used; in 2013 the park was awarded £3.6m from HLF towards a comprehensive restoration programme.
Chelmsford, Essex, a card postmarked 1906. Nice rustic timber details of the kind that rarely survives and is rarely reinstated. And how about that footrest on the bench?!
Bowling Park Bradford from either 1902 or 1907 (the postmark is smudged), a photo showing flower beds as far as the eye can see across the park.
Carpet bedding in Hesketh Park, Southport in an early colour photograph – the card is postmarked February 1930.
West Park Wolverhampton. The hand-tinted colour and the frozen postures give this one a slightly disturbing quality which we like.