Victoria Park, Millbridge, Plymouth

The area which it occupies was once a part of an area of tidal marshland, known as the Deadlake; Batholomew Terrace, a road now adjacent to the park, was marked on 19th century maps of the area as Deadlake Lane. At the end of the 19th century, culverts were constructed to channel a few small streams which fed into the Deadlake, and the creek was filled in with rubble from the quarries at Oreston and Cattedown, a mile or so away. After heavy rain the culverts can become overloaded and water forces its way to the surface. This has only been particularly dramatic once in the last 10 years, with no effect other than temporarily inconveniencing pedestrians using the park as a short cut between…