Thompson Park

About

Thompson Park is a formal Edwardian park in Burnley, Lancashire. It was opened to the public in 1930. Located near the town centre, features include a boating lake, paddling pool, Italian gardens and a playground.

Largely ornamental by design, the park contains a large number of flower beds and a rose garden. Dogs are banned from entering the park. The land that the park occupies was part of the estate of Bank Hall.

Historically known as Bank Top, it was acquired by a colliery-owner, the Rev. John Hargreaves, who had built the hall on Colne Road by 1796. Later inherited by Charlotte Anne Hargreaves, it became the home of herself and her husband, General Sir James Yorke Scarlett, a hero of the Battle of Balaclava.

As the couple produced no children, the hall and shares in the executors of John Hargreaves' company passed to Charlotte's sister, Eleanor Mary, who was married to the Rev. William Thursby, and thus came under the control of the Thursby family. The company's Bank Hall Colliery, the town's largest and deepest coal mine, was developed from 1865 on land to the northeast of the park.

The lands of the estate gradually diminished as the town expanded. In 1878 Godley Lane, which curved...