About a mile south of Derby city centre, in the Rose Hill area, Derby Arboretum occupies a place in British history that few parks can claim. Opened on 16 September 1840, it is widely regarded as the first deliberately planned, publicly owned, landscaped urban recreational park in England – predating the great Victorian park-building movement that followed in its wake. The park carries a Grade II* listing on the Historic England Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, placing it among the most significant designed landscapes in the country.
Origins and Design
The land was donated to the town by Joseph Strutt, a former mayor of Derby and member of a prominent local family of textile industrialists. Strutt was motivated by a sense of gratitude towards the working people of Derby whose labour had helped build his family’s fortune, and he wanted to provide a recreational space for a rapidly growing urban population. He commissioned John Claudius Loudon, one of the foremost garden designers of the era, to realise the project. Loudon adapted Strutt’s initial vision of a botanical garden and pleasure grounds into something more considered, incorporating landscaped walkways across the site. Work began in July 1839 and was completed in time for a grand opening ceremony marked by a parade from the Market Place in Derby’s city centre to the new park. Admission was initially charged to fund upkeep, but entry was free on Sundays and Wednesdays – the half-day closing day in Derby – which gave working people practical access during the limited free time they had. Charging was abolished entirely in 1882.
Notable Connections and Restoration
In 1859, the American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted visited the Arboretum as part of a research tour of European parks, and it is thought he drew on Loudon’s approach when designing Central Park in New York. Over a century later, the park appeared on screen when a scene from Ken Russell’s 1969 Oscar-winning film Women in Love was filmed there, with Oliver Reed, Alan Bates, and Glenda Jackson performing in front of the Aslin-designed bandstand while a brass band played. After long years of neglect, the Arboretum underwent extensive refurbishment in the early 21st century, supported by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of almost £5 million, restoring the park to a condition closer to Loudon’s original design.