Belmont Pleasure Ground, Exeter
The park is bounded by Belmont Road and Blackboy Road
Belmont Pleasure Grounds, also called Belmont Park, is a public park in Exeter.
Opened to the public as a children's play area, it was subsequently enlarged for the use of the general public. It was on a 5-acre site, part on a brickfield belonging to a Mr Phillips, and part on land belonging to William Huxtable. The laying out of the park cost £1,400, including the filling in of several hollows, from the brickfield.
1885 Request for tenders to supply three acres of turf.[1]
1886 July 29th. Opening of Belmont Pleasure Gardens.[2]
1891 Belmont Lodge, Blackboy Road: John Lock, Public Pleasure ground Keeper. with his wife Jane and five children.[3]
1901 Lodge, Belmont Pleasure Ground, Blackboy Road: John Lock, Pleasure Ground keeper. With his wife Jane and two children.[4]
1911 Belmont Lodge, Belmont Pleasure Ground, Bath Road, Blackboy Road: John Lock, Lodge Keeper, City Council. With his wife jane and one son.[5]
Prior to WW1, the park was a highly regarded botanical garden, and the Exeter guidebooks recommended that tourists visit the park to appreciate its varied plants and trees.
1918 Death of Joel H. Crosscombe, age 52, keeper of the Belmont Pleasure Gardens.[6]
1939 The first garden in England designed for the blind was planted. Known as the Belmont Scent Garden, it is situated in the east of the park and contains many of the best fragrant plants. The scent garden was designed by Arthur Joslin and D. Manning.[7][8]
WW2 The park was the scene of a range of wooden huts, used by the Army Pay Corps, and when the war ended these were taken over by Exeter Technical College. The remaining hut is still used as a community centre.