Victoria Park in Millbridge in Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

 is a small recreational area. It extends at the eastern end from the bowling green

Bowling green

A bowling green is a finely-laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of lawn for playing the game of lawn bowls.Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on them...

 beneath what was once a railway viaduct to what is now the merging of Molesworth Road and Eldad Hill, and which once was a toll bridge

Toll bridge

A toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...

, and an important thoroughfare between Devonport

Devonport, Devon

Devonport, formerly named Plymouth Dock or just Dock, is a district of Plymouth in the English county of Devon, although it was, at one time, the more important settlement. It became a county borough in 1889...

 and Plymouth. The area which it occupies was once a part of an area of tidal marshland, known as the Deadlake, and 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, culvert

Culvert

A culvert is a device used to channel water. It may be used to allow water to pass underneath a road, railway, or embankment. Culverts can be made of many different materials; steel, polyvinyl chloride and concrete are the most common...

s 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

Oreston

Oreston, formerly a village on the southern bank of the Cattewater, is now a suburb of Plymouth.Famed for its limestone quarries, and the discovery of prehistoric remains of animals such as rhinos and lions, stone from which was used in the construction of Plymouth Breakwater, the name is assumed...

 and Cattedown

Cattedown

Cattedown is an inner city suburb of Plymouth, Devon. Its position beside the River Plym estuary just short of the mouth led to its early settlement....

, a mile or so away. After heavy rainfall the culvert

Culvert

A culvert is a device used to channel water. It may be used to allow water to pass underneath a road, railway, or embankment. Culverts can be made of many different materials; steel, polyvinyl chloride and concrete are the most common...

s 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 the temporary inconvenience of pedestrians using the park as a short cut between Millbridge and the city centre.

The park, replete with a park-keeper's lodge, was formally opened to the public in 1903.

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 Victoria Park had 3 underground shelters constructed in it to protect the population during the Blitz

Plymouth Blitz

The Plymouth Blitz was a series of bombing raids carried out by the Nazi German Luftwaffe on the English city of Plymouth in the Second World War. The bombings launched on numerous British cities were known as the Blitz....

.