Beacon Park

Beacon Park is a green flag public park in the centre of the city of Lichfield, Staffordshire, in England. The park was created in 1859 when the Museum Gardens were laid out adjacent to the newly built Free Museum and Library. The park has since been extended in stages and now forms 69 acres (28 ha) of open parkland in the city centre. The park is in the northwest of the city centre and to the west of the Cathedral Close across the road from the Garden of Remembrance. In 2024, the park was voted as one of the best 10 green flag parks in the United Kingdom. The majority of the park was originally waterlogged marshland and a lake covered the area of what is now the Museum Gardens. The land was drained in the early 19th century and the Museum Gardens were raised with silt dredged from Minster Pool. The large northern area of the park once formed the land and gardens of Beacon House. This land was incorporated into the park when the owner of Beacon House, Colonel Swinfen Broun, donated the land after his death. The park has many sporting and recreational facilities for use by the public, including an 18-hole golf course, football pitches, tennis courts and bowling greens. The park also hosts a wide range of events throughout the year including the Lichfield Bower and The Lichfield Festival. The park is home to many monuments, most notably a large bronze statue of Captain Smith of the RMS Titanic.