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Layton-Jones, Katy
(2018).
URL: http://thegardenstrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2018...
Abstract
In 1850, in the wake of two severe cholera epidemics, the Liverpool Improvement Committee advertised for plans for the laying out of new public parks across the city. In 1865, the Liverpool Improvement Act finally enabled the corporation to raise the five hundred thousand pounds needed to realize its ambitious vision. Edward Kemp was to be a key figure in the resultant ‘ribbon of parks’. As the designer of both Newsham and Stanley Parks, his style and approach have defined large swathes of the Liverpool landscape for nearly a hundred and fifty years. This paper explores the design and history of Kemp’s Liverpool parks and their influence on the wider public parks movement. It concludes with an examination of their social, environmental and economic legacy, and the challenge of preserving and managing these landscapes in the twenty-first century.