Located on Fishponds Road, Eastville Park is a Victorian ‘people’s park’ dating back to the 19th century.
The Bristol City Council purchased the land for the park from Sir Greville Smyth for £30,878 in 1889 and the decision to build the park was derived following the publishing of an 1871 anonymous pamphlet titled ‘A Cry from the Poor: A Letter from Sixteen Working Men to the Sixteen Aldermen of the City’.
The authors of the pamphlet highlighted the need for a ‘people’s park’ in the working-class area of the city and noted that the existing parks at Brandon Hill and on the Clifton Downs were convenient for well-off people who lived nearby, but benefitted less the working-class people in other areas of the city.
Whilst most of the industry’s factories and packed terraced streets were in St Philip’s, Eastville was only a short train or tram journey away.
The park, filled with countryside, was the perfect spot to take a break, breathe fresh air, get healthy exercise and be closer to nature.
At the time, there were gentle walks, a swimming pool and sports areas. One of the most popular features of the park, which remains to date, is a lake. Visitors could hire rowing boats until 1914 and 1923 when the boathouse was burnt down twice.
The swimming pool was destroyed after it was hit by a bomb in World War II. The site is now the Old Swimming Pool Garden.
Nowadays, visitors can also enjoy the fishing lake, two playgrounds, three football pitches, a bookable tennis court and a bowling green among other facilities in the park.
The River Frome borders Eastville Park on the north, and visitors can follow the river via the Frome Valley Walkway to Oldbury Court and Snuff Mills.
Here are 22 photos from our visit to Eastville Park:
5. Lake
The serpentine-shaped lake was dug out in 1908-09 using the labour of 300 men as part of a relief of unemployment scheme, at a total cost of £4,000. The project was initiated by Ernest Bevin, a famous socialist and trade unionist. | adriana amor
6. Forest-like walks
Visitors can enjoy forest-like paths as they walk surrounded by greenery and overarching tree branches. | Adriana Amor
7. Football
There are three football pitches to the southeast of the park. | Adriana Amor
8. Fishing
Fishing is allowed in the lake in the designated areas subject to having an Environment Agency rod licence. | adriana amor