Milnshaw Park
History of Milnshaw Park
Milnshaw Park has the distinction of being Accrington’s first park. In 1879 the 
Corporation purchased what was then known as Victoria Gardens for £500 following which a further £2,000 was spent on the laying out of the grounds.
Initially, the public were quite sceptical of the idea of a park, no-one thought that anything would grow on the land, however they were proved wrong, for the gardens flourished.
The provisions in the park included: the first tennis hard courts, bowling green and croquet lawn. An open-air swimming pool was also built which contained some 250,000 gallons of water, although problems with lack of water filtration and vandalism meant the pool soon became disused.
Mayor Alderman J E Lightfoot, officially opened the park on 17 June 1880.