The making of Mowbray, Sunderland's favourite public park

BEFORE the 1840s there were no public parks in Britain, but there was plenty of cholera.

As the sickness spread in the 1820s, governments took steps to try and stop its progression, including enforcing the quarantine of any ships coming from the Baltic states, where it was rife. Sunderland, however, decided not to pay too much attention to this, and in 1831 a ship coming into the port brought the disease with it.

Local man William Sproat was the first recorded victim, and soon tens of thousands more would follow him.

The ever-practical Victorians decided that people would be healthier if they had some good, clean, fresh air – particularly those who lived in built-up, urban areas. After some failed experiments with semi-private parks, where people had to pay for access, it was decided that a parks initiative would provide – for free – places where people could play sports, walk dogs, and perambulate while enjoying beauty like ornamental lakes and extravagant flower beds.

The government offered £750 grants towards buying plots of land in the centre of towns and landscaping them.

Sunderland bought its land from the Mowbray family and started to develop it. It was known first as People’s Park and then Mowbray Park, and was officially opened in 1857 by John Candlish, twice mayor of Sunderland and later an MP.

The original park was to the south of the railway line and split by Burdon Road, with West Park, a small triangular slice of land, to the west. In 1866, an extension to the park was created north of the railway: an ornamental lake and a terrace were added. Thousands of people attended the opening on July 10, which included a parade of more than 17,000 children, each given a medal as a memento with Queen Victoria on one side and the event details on the other (below).

Sunderland’s museum had, up until now, been housed in the Atheneum building on Fawcett Street. This became too small and so it was decided to build something new next to the park. A foundation stone was laid by Alderman Samuel Storey in the presence of former US president Ulysses S Grant in 1877.

Two years later, the new museum, art gallery, and winter gardens, the latter designed to look like the Crystal Palace in London, opened.

A statue to Jack Crawford was put up in the park in 1890, somewhat bookending things given that Jack was the second recorded victim of cholera and was now being honoured in a space created as a result of that health crisis. Crawford, a sailor in the Royal Navy, gained fame for climbing up his ship’s mast after the flag had broken off during the Battle of Camperdown in 1797. Leaving it missing could have been interpreted by the French enemy as a sign of surrender, but Jack literally nailed his colours to the mast.

Despite being financially rewarded, Jack died a pauper and was buried in a mass grave. The people of Sunderland raised money for a headstone for him, and as there was some left over, they put it towards the creation of a statue, which still stands overlooking the park.

Sunderland was bombed extensively during the Second World War and a parachute mine damaged the Winter Gardens irreparably in 1941, causing it to be demolished.

The Winter Gardens after bomb damage in 1941, picture taken in 1942 (Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens)

The layout of the park was also adjusted in order to use it to grow fruit and vegetables, and metalwork, like the bandstand and railings, was removed to melt down for use in the war effort. This meant that post-war Mowbray Park was in a bit of a sorry state and became a target for vandalism; it was no longer the pride of the town centre.

Sunderland Museum in 1960, post Winter Gardens demolition and before the extension was added (Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens)

In the 1960s, the Civic Centre was built on the land of West Park, and an extension was added to the museum building in place of the Winter Gardens – the Queen Mother opened this in 1964.

Mowbray Park Bowling Green 1974 (Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens)

A £4m Heritage Lottery grant helped to give the park a new lease of life, and in 2001 it was reopened after an extensive refurbishment and with a newly built Winter Gardens. Artworks were added, like the bronze walrus statue (below) – a nod to the link between Lewis Carroll and Sunderland, where he supposedly took inspiration for his poem The Walrus and the Carpenter after seeing a stuffed walrus displayed in the museum. Sunderland Libraries note that the walrus had not yet been given to the museum when the poem was written, but it’s part of the story now nevertheless.

The Victoria Hall memorial – commemorating the 183 children who died in a tragic accident there – was restored and returned to the park, having moved to Bishopwearmouth Cemetery for a while where it had been vandalised.

READ MORE: TRAMPLED TO DEATH FOR TRINKETS AT THE VICTORIA HALL

READ MORE: THE CURIOUS CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE VICTORIA HALL AND DARLINGTON AND WEARDALE

One of the oldest municipal parks in the North East and the first public park in Sunderland (though Roker Park wasn’t far behind it in 1880), Mowbray Park is now recognised by the Historic England Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Interest in England, which means its future is protected and any development of the area must meet specific conditions, further ensuring that the park remains a pleasant, free space for the public.

The replica bandstand in Mowbray Park, re-created to look like the original after it was melted down during the war (Marie Gardiner)

In 2008, it was voted Best in Britain, a competition created by Briggs and Stratton, beating off opposition from places like Regent’s Park in London.

It also has Green Flag status, an award to identify well-managed parks and green spaces around the world.

Today, Mowbray Park hosts events like concerts, festivals, and outdoor theatre productions. Walking around, it’s easy to see the people of Sunderland enjoying their free outdoor space as the Victorians had imagined: kids feeding the ducks, families playing on the grass, someone reading a newspaper on one of the benches.

Parks are integral to communities. They’re places to meet, they’re good for our mental health, and they’re essential for our local identity. Parks help to reduce pollution in built-up areas, they reduce crime, and they appeal to people of all ages.

Whether it’s something to take for granted because it’s always been there, if you use it every day, or you drop in now and again when there’s something on, Sunderland is lucky to have such a beautiful Victorian park at its heart.

READ MORE: THE CURIOUS NORTH EAST CUSTOM OF DISASTER GLASSES

Celebrating Sunderland by Marie Gardiner has just been published by Amberley Books for £15.99. It is available from bookshops, the Amberley website or from Amazon. Marie is launching the book with a talk at 1pm on September 16 in the Pottery Gallery at the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens. Tickets are free but need to be booked via Eventbrite – go to the Eventbrite website and search “Sunderland book launch”. Marie is also giving her talk as part of the Sunderland Literature Festival on October 16 at 2pm in the Winter Gardens.

Inside the current Winter Gardens (Marie Gardiner)