Victoria Park, Newbury

Victoria Park is a small public park near to the centre of Newbury, Berkshire, England. Current features of the park include a bandstand, tennis courts, boating lake, bowls club, skatepark, and a statue of Queen Victoria.

History

Originally Victoria Park was called The Marsh, however by the turn of the 20th century the name Victoria Park had arisen. This is likely due to the Queen's popularity and the fact that many public celebrations, such as the Queen's jubilee were held in the park. The statue of her was originally placed in the centre of town, however it was moved into the park in 1966.

Up until the 1930s the park was common land, which included the right to graze cattle. The park used to be larger, however it has been gradually encroached upon by housing and the nearby A339 road to the eastern edge of the park, which up until the building of the Newbury bypass was the main route for traffic between Oxford and Southampton.

The A339 was in fact built on the path of a stream called the Minny Flush, because of the number of minnow to be found in it.

The American Bridge

During the Second World War a temporary or emergency bridge was built over the Kennet and Avon canal, joining the park with the centre of town. The reason for this was because it was feared the other main bridge in the centre of town was to be bombed which would have effectively split the town in two. Although it was supposed to be a temporary bridge it became a key crossing point and lasted up until 2001...
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