Steeped in history and supported by an active Friends Group, this park has enjoyed ongoing improvements including play areas, toilets, footpaths, football and basketball facilities.

Please select a link from the list below for further information about Victoria Park: 

• Park Opening Times
• Site Facilities
• Park History
• Friends Group
• Events
• Map

View Parks & Natural Sites in Nottingham City in a larger map 

Victoria Park also includes a newly planted inter-faith garden which represents a unified wish for world peace and tolerance. It has been awarded Green Flag Status six times. 

Opening Times 

Victoria Park is open all year from 7.00am, please click here for closing times

Site Facilities

• Disability Access
• Dogs Welcome
• Heritage
• On Street Parking
• Picnic Areas
• Play Areas  Public Transport
• Ranger
• Toilets
• Wildlife Areas

Park History

On 7th May 1894 the Mayor of Nottingham, Alderman Frederick Pullman, formally opened Victoria Park in Bath Street. A leading figure in the Sneinton area and proprietor of a successful drapery shop in nearby Sneinton Street, Pullman was well aware of the value to the community of an attractive open space in this far from wealthy part of the town.

However the history of Victoria Park does not start here and goes back more than half a century when the earliest mention of a recreation ground on this site was in the 1845 Enclosure Award Map. It named the open space as Meadow Platt Cricket Ground, and cited the Mayor, Aldermen & Burgesses of Nottingham as its owner.

The Enclosure Award referred to it in these terms: 'One other allotment or piece of land situate in the Clay Field... containing four acres and eighteen perches bounded towards the East by Recreation Road, towards the West by St Ann's Cemetery, towards the North by allotment 95, and towards the South by Meadow Platt Road, and which said Allotment 91 now forms and is called the Meadow Platt Cricket Ground...' Recreation Road was the thoroughfare known nowadays as Robin Hood Street: St Ann's Cemetery is now the Bath Street Rest Garden: and Meadow Platt Road became Bath Street. Land for the cemetery was given by Samuel Fox, a Quaker, following the cholera outbreak of 1832. Consecrated as St Ann's Cemetery in 1835, it was later officially named St Mary's Cemetery, though often referred to locally as Fox's Close.

In 1945 Nottingham City Council took over the responsibility of the park, keeping much of its legacy intact. The most celebrated occupant is William Thompson, a renowned prize fighter known as 'Bendigo', whose tomb is guarded by a statue of a lion, but perhaps the most puzzling to passers by is the curious little stone tower which stands close to the boundary wall within the old cemetery. It is believed that the tower was originally an access shaft built by Foster & Barry to the Belk Culvert Tunnel, part of Nottingham City's drainage improvements. It became, however, a ventilation shaft for the culvert, foul air being carried up the shaft, and out through a grille at the top.

Green Flag Award

Victoria Park is the most successful park in Nottingham with regards to the Green Flag Award. It has won a grand total of 9 times (including 2011/12).  Click here for more information on the Green Flag Award.

Friends Group

Victoria Park has a strong friends group who have been instrumental in the refurbishment of the park.  They are always keen for new members to join, if you would like more information please contact the parks office.

Events

Click here for further information on forthcoming events at Victoria Park.

Map

 Click here to download a map of Victoria Park [2Mb]

Victoria Park
Bath Street
Nottingham
NG1 1DF

If you would like to comment on how well you feel your park or open space is being managed and maintained then please click here to visit the GreenSTAT website and record your opinion.

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