The Lincoln Arboretum is an 8.8 hectares (21.7 acre) park in Lincoln

Lincoln, Lincolnshire

Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....

, Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The park has two ponds and varied tree cover, and was designed and laid out between 1870 and 1872 by the celebrated Victorian

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 gardener Edward Milner

Edward Milner

Edward Milner was an English landscape architect.-Early life and career:Edward Milner was born in Darley, Derbyshire, the eldest child of Henry Milner and Mary née Scales. Henry Milner was employed at Chatsworth by William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, as a gardener and porter...

. The arboretum

Arboretum

An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...

 is a park of grade II historic importance.

History

Following the national trend of providing public parks, and with the closure of the nearby Temple Gardens, which had operated on a semi-public basis, the Lincoln Commons Act (1870) was passed. Monks Leys Common, located to the east of the city, was purchased by the Corporation through Act of Parliament

Act of Parliament

An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

. Authorisation was also given to sell 3 acres (1.2 ha) of the land for residential building purposes to help fund the layout and construction of the Arboretum, which would become Lincoln's first truly public park.

The Arboretum has a lodge at its west entrance on Monks Road, and has three terrace

Terraced house

In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...

s of housing adjoining it to its western edge: Arboretum View, Monks Leys Terrace, and Woodland View.

Renovation of the Arboretum in 2002–2003

The Arboretum reopened on 19 September 2003, following £3 million worth of restoration work to bring it back to its original state. Works have included: overhauling and improving the facilities at Abbey Lodge to provide a community access centre and visitor tea rooms, restoration of the Victorian bandstand

Bandstand

A bandstand is a circular or semicircular structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts...

, new period railings, restoration of a cast iron

Cast iron

Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...

 folly, new asphalt footpaths, refurbished gardens and extensive replanting, the introduction of a new children's maze, resurfacing of the major terrace feature, refurbishment of the ponds and bridges, underpinning

Underpinning

In construction, underpinning is the process of strengthening and stabilizing the foundation of an existing building or other structure. Underpinning may be necessary for a variety of reasons:*The original foundation is simply not strong or stable enough....

 and replacement of the stone steps, new lighting columns, installation of closed-circuit television

Closed-circuit television

Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....

(CCTV), refurbishment of the children play area, restoration of the lion statue and restoration of the two fountain features.

External links

• Arboretum, Lincoln Council
• Lincoln Arboretum, Visit Lincolnshire