Queen's Park also known as Longton Park is located on Trentham Road in Dresden, Stoke-on-Trent.
The park's official name is Queen's Park. The land was given by the Duke of Sutherland, and work began in 1887. The total cost was estimated to be £6000, which was mostly met by voluntary subscription. The park was officially opened on July 25th 1888 by George Granville William Sutherland Levison-Gower, the third Duke of Sutherland. (
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These former fountains are no longer working but have been retained as an historical feature of Queens Park.
The four fountains are situated at the base of the clock tower.
The clock tower in Queen's Park, was renovated to mark the centenary of the opening of the park. It was unveiled by the mayor Alan Edwards on 24th July 1988. The ornate stone clock tower has four clock faces and a weathervane on the dome. There are four fountains with lion heads at the base of the structure. There are memorial plaques located on three sides of the tower with a door on the fourth side.
The plaque to commemorate the centenary of the opening of the park inscribed as follows;
'CENTENARY
24TH JULY 1988
QUEEN'S PARK, LONGTON.
THE OCCASSION WAS MARKED
BY THE RENOVATION OF THIS
CLOCK TOWER
UNVEILED BY
THE LORD MAYOR
OF STOKE-ON-TRENT
COUNCILLOR
ALAN EDWARDS BEd.'
The clock tower has two further plaques that acknowledge the opening of the park and the work done in the laying out of the park.
The plaques are inscribed as follows;
'THE LAND FOR THIS PARK
WAS GENEROUSLY GIVEN BY
HIS GRACE THE
DUKE OF SUTHERLAND.K.G.
AND OWING TO THE
LIBERALITY AND UNTIRING ENERGY OF
JOHN AYNSLEY ESQ. J.P.
(DURING HIS MAYORALITY)
IT WAS LAID OUT AND HANDED OVER
TO THE PEOPLE OF LONGTON
FREE FROM DEBT
ON THE
25TH DAY OF JULY 1888.
UNVEILED 6TH JUNE 1892'
'THIS INSCRIPTION
ACKNOWLEDGES
THE WORK OF
JOHN M GARRETT
AGENT TO THE
DUKE OF SUTHERLAND
IN THE DESIGNING AND
LAYING OUT OF THIS PARK
BETWEEN
MARCH 1887 AND JULY 1888
PRESENTED BY S.R.WOODCETT
A photograph of the clock tower (c1900- 1940) can be seen at the following link: (
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Queen's Park, Longton, opened in 1888, is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
* Date: the park is a good example of a later Victorian municipal park in an industrial town;
* Design: its design is essentially unchanged from its original layout of the 1880s;
* Designer: the park was designed and laid out by the Duke of Sutherland's Land Agent John H Garrett;
* Historic interest: the park was the first public pleasure ground in The Potteries;
* Structures: the park retains various C19 park structures, many locally manufactured;
* Planting: good mature trees survive, with tree-lined paths and drives.
Date first registered: 21-Jul-1998
Date of most recent amendment: 21-Aug-2013
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