Citylife in Lichfield July and August 2020
Brighter Days Ahead! Our combined July and August edition will take you all the way through the rest of summer in lovely Lichfield and is packed with our usual mix of features, recipes, articles, local news, history features, competitions and much, much more!
Brighter Days Ahead! Our combined July and August edition will take you all the way through the rest of summer in lovely Lichfield and is packed with our usual mix of features, recipes, articles, local news, history features, competitions and much, much more!
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Postcards from<br />
the Park<br />
..................<br />
The Museum Gardens <strong>in</strong> Beacon Park are one of the most<br />
admired <strong>and</strong> visited attractions <strong>in</strong> <strong>Lichfield</strong> <strong>and</strong> these v<strong>in</strong>tage<br />
postcards show views of the gardens from the past. The<br />
gardens opened <strong>in</strong> 1859 <strong>and</strong> although many of the features <strong>in</strong> the<br />
postcards are very similar to how they are today there are also<br />
some differences. At the end of the avenue go<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> to the ma<strong>in</strong><br />
park there used to be a b<strong>and</strong>st<strong>and</strong>, <strong>in</strong>stalled <strong>in</strong> 1893 <strong>and</strong> demolished<br />
<strong>in</strong> the 1960s. There used to be a rose arch on the Swan Road side<br />
of the gardens which provided an archway through to the James<br />
Thomas Law founta<strong>in</strong>. Law, a major <strong>Lichfield</strong> benefactor, donated<br />
the founta<strong>in</strong> to the city <strong>in</strong> 1871. The K<strong>in</strong>g George VII statue was<br />
sculpted by the firm of Robert Bridgeman <strong>and</strong> Sons of Quonians<br />
Lane off Dam Street, Robert Bridgeman presented the statue to the<br />
city <strong>in</strong> 1908 when he was the Sheriff of <strong>Lichfield</strong>. The old Free<br />
Library <strong>and</strong> Museum opened <strong>in</strong> 1859 <strong>and</strong> was only the second free<br />
library to open <strong>in</strong> the whole of the country, it is now the <strong>Lichfield</strong><br />
Registry Office.<br />
*From Jono Oates’ private collection.<br />
Avenue <strong>and</strong> b<strong>and</strong>st<strong>and</strong><br />
The James Law founta<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> the arch of roses<br />
The b<strong>and</strong>st<strong>and</strong> at the far end of the avenue<br />
Recreation Gardens <strong>and</strong> statue of K<strong>in</strong>g George VII, dated 1949<br />
The Old Free Library <strong>and</strong> Museum <strong>and</strong> Gardens, dated 1948<br />
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