The study of public and municipal parks primarily focusses on those in Greater London and in the former industrial centres. While they have also been acknowledged as an important element in spa and seaside towns - not just for the local population, but also to entice and entertain visitors - there has been limited interest in exploring how these municipal parks came into being. Because of the need to cater for all classes of population the latter category of parks often exceeded in quality and range the provision in areas with a more homogenous working-class population in industrial towns. Alexandra Park in Hastings is one of the very largest parks in a seaside location and has not only been considered ‘superior to any park in any other seaside resort’, but also one of ‘the most beautiful parks’ in the country. It is thus clear that the general quality of Alexandra Park has long been acknowledged, as has the involvement of Robert Marnock (1800-1889) as landscape gardener. While this has been explored and indeed is celebrated locally, it has thus far escaped academic scrutiny and has been insufficiently contextualised with respect to the politics of the public parks movement, the design process and implementation, leaving a considerable knowledge gap. This paper aims to fill this gap and make this chapter of the history of public parks more widely known. It also aims to elucidate a thus far hidden chapter of Marnock’s life, and further inform our understanding of contemporary landscape practice.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)