Sefton Park

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This article is about the public park in Liverpool, England. For the place in Adelaide, Australia, see Sefton Park, South Australia.

Sefton Park

Sefton Park is public park in the Sefton Park district of south Liverpool, England. In 1867, a French landscape architect Édouard André won the competition to design the park; work on the design was also done by Lewis Hornblower. The park is 640 acres (2.6 km²) in area, the site had been purchased by the Liverpool City Council for £250,000 from the Earl of Sefton.

It has tennis courts, a lake (formerly used for boating) and recently restored Palm House. For some time there was a model pirate ship until it fell apart with age. A statue of Peter Pan was recently restored at Liverpool's Conservation Centre, and returned to the Park in December 2005.

A map of the park from 1947

The park also boasted a small open-air theatre – "The Concert" – near the café which featured singers, magicians and talent contests to entertain local children during the summer holidays. This was removed in the 1970s.

The park had a gallops which led to it being nick-named "the Hyde Park of the North" but was always referred to by locals as "The Jockey Sands". A road runs around the perimeter, through a bridge across the Dell but it is closed to cars. The perimeter road's outer edge is lined with impressive Victorian and Edwardian houses. Some split into flats and others hotels.

Sefton Park

Various tree lined avenues split the park into large sections of both grassed and wooded areas. At the centre of the park is a small café and there used to be an aviary. It is a popular jogging circuit and local league association football is a regular weekend fixture. It has also been a site for Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's summer pops season, Africa Oyé and the Moscow State Circus. In 2005 the park received provisional approval for a major renovation project which involves the refurbishment and improvement of many of the park's features.