Corporation Park is a traditional Victorian park close to the centre of Blackburn and has been awarded the prestigious Green Flag award status.
Outdoor tennis court facilities (Red Rake) dominate the top end of the park and are terraced into the hillside. Below these courts are three well-used bowling greens. There is also a children’s playground next to the lakes.
The park has many sports areas including
- 3 shale tennis courts
- 3 all weather courts
- 2 multi use game areas
- cycle track
- playgrounds – one formal, one natural
- bowling greens
- flat green grass areas
A Little History
The park was laid out by William Henderson and opened in 1857, creating a sensation in the town and also further afield. Blackburn was deserted as the Mayor led the procession from the town hall to the park to the official opening. Shops were closed at noon and manufactures let loose their thousands of employees so that they could participate. The park was surrounded by thousands and the paths within the park were crowded. The Sebastopol cannons boomed thunders of welcome to over 60,000 attendees, 14,000 of which had arrived by train.
The main entrance to the park is from Preston New Road under a handsome archway with flanking lodges. Step back in time & imagine the horse drawn carriages & elegant Victorian ladies arriving at the park gates. The gateway has a large central archway for carriages and smaller side arches for the foot ways. The borough arms appear above the arches on both sides of the entrance. .
The Broad Walk forms the main axis of the park, an avenue of magnificent lime trees marks its southern edge. It is an impressive walkway constructed 1863-4 by unemployed weavers during the cotton famine. Here on Sundays ‘crowds of young men and maidens would walk four or five abreast, promenading from end to end between 3 o’clock and 4.30’ (Blackburn Times, 1936)
As you wander through the park you will find two picturesque lakes, home to many species of waterfowl, including mute swan and ducks.
The larger water feature is known as ‘the Big Can’ and was formed from a pre-existing reservoir, Pemberton Clough. This was created in 1772 and was the town’s water supply. Wooden pipes were laid to the town’s stand pipes until installation of the mains water in 1847. People were charged a penny per bucketful of water.
The smaller lake is known as ‘the Can’ because people took cans to the lake to draw water.
Panopticons (2003-2007) was a unique creative project to erect a series of 21st-century landmarks across East Lancashire as symbols of the renaissance of the area. ‘Colourfields’ was the first of East Lancashire’s Panopticons, designed by Jo Rippon Architecture with artist Sophie Smallhorn, ‘Colourfields’ is an inspired transformation of the cannon battery originally installed for the opening of Corporation Park in 1857 to house two Russian cannons captured during the Crimean War.
