Princes Park is a classic example of the Victorian park. Princes Park was the first public park to be designed by Joseph Paxton (1803-1865).  Paxton was a gardener, garden designer and architect, born near Woburn in Bedfordshire. His first lake, at Battlesden, was made at the age of 19. In 1826 he became gardener to the 6th Duke of Devonshire, firstly at Chiswick House and later at Chatsworth. He was head gardener to the Duke when he designed Princes Park. The Duke's name is commemorated in nearby Devonshire Road.

Princes Park was the idea of Richard Vaughan Yates, whose name figures so much in the history both of Toxteth and of Dingle. It is he who invited Paxton to design the park - Paxton's first design for a landscape outside the Duke's estates. The park was a private venture and was financed by the sale of building plots around the park.  Yates had hoped to attract the support of the town Council, or establish a joint stock company, to help finance the park and the substantial houses he planned to build on the park's periphery. This did not materialise however and instead he set up a trust, which managed the park until 1918.

It was planned from the start that Prince's Park should be in close relationship with the surrounding housing. Several of the larger villas provided the focus of long views that are still important today, though many are now obscured.  

At the centre of the new park lay the serpentine lake. This was formed by damming Dickinson’s Dingle, the valley of which can still be seen within the park today, its contours being skilfully incorporated by Paxton within his designs. The lake was meant to create the impression of a long, winding river. It was also the site of the ornamental Swiss boathouse, rockeries and the Chinese bridge.

Planting beds were aligned along the lake's western bank and carefully composed groups of trees enhanced the landscape . A carriage drive provided a circuitous route round the park boundary, linking the four principal entrances. The original layout was both simple and elegant, however new paths, random plantings and encroachment began early in its history.

The park opened in 1842 but was not finished until 1845. James Pennethorne was also involved in the design, but he is less often given credit than Paxton, who of course went on to greater things including Birkenhead Park, Upton Park (Slough), People Park (Halifax), Baxter Park (Dundee) and Hesketh Park (Southport) plus of course his most famous work - The Crystal Palace in London. Prince's Park still features James Pennethorne's beautiful 'sunburst' gates at the entrance. The plan was drawn by John Robertson and Edward Milner supervised the work.  The landscape retains many of Paxton's, often subtle, design qualities, including views both within the parkland and beyond to the surrounding area.

Public access, though once limited to certain areas (the lake gardens were open only to adjacent residents) gradually became more available. Boundaries adjacent to the lake area are a vestige of this era. This initially 'private' or 'elitist' nature of the park has been criticised by generations of reporters and PC politicians, and seems to have coloured attitudes to the park right through to the present day.  However the villas and houses served to finance the building of the park itself, without these villas there would have been no park and the area would have become yet another mass of close packed terraces.  This same financial model is the one used subsequently by Liverpool City council to finance Greenbank Park, Sefton Park and the parks and reclamation associated with the Liverpool Garden Festival a hundred years later.

Within Prince's Park can be found several features.

The grave of Judi the Donkey (shown right) is perhaps one of the most touching.  

Park Nook tunnels built by James Martineau.  He was a Unitarian minister posted to Liverpool in 1832 and he was initially a tenant of Joseph Williamson, of Williamson's Tunnel fame, in Mason Street. When Martineau bought land and built a villa within the Prince's Park development, in 1844, he apparently built tunnels also,  where his children could play as they had done at Mason Street. In 2001 these tunnels were re-found within Princes Park still in good order and lined with beautifully dressed sandstone. Martineau's mansion, marked on the 1905 map, as 'Park Nook' has long gone and the site has recently been bulldozed and developed with new apartments.
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In 1918 the City Council took over the park from Yate's family trust.  The picture left shows the noticeboards at the entrance to the park, in this year.

Today the park is in a very poor state: the Chinese bridge has gone, the lake is reduced in size and the boathouse has been burnt out several times.  Most of the original railings have been lost and instead there is an unsightly mess of fences, railings and boundaries.  

There seem to be constant battles fought over encroachment, land grabbing and attempted developments actually on the park.  Park Nook appears to be the latest victim of development.  The general picture with regard to the park seems to be one of  neglect.

The City Council avoids all mention of Prince's Park in the parks section of its website.