West Bank Park has a very special heritage. It is based on the site of the old Backhouse Nurseries, once known as ‘The Kew of the North’. The James Backhouse and Son Nursery was world famous. Within it there were prize-winning orchid houses and a rockery which people travelled for miles to see.
James Backhouse was a Quaker missionary who lived in West Bank House within the grounds of the park. In 1831 he travelled to Australia, where he visited every penal colony, helping to improve prison conditions and encouraging more humane treatment for the convicts. He was also responsible for introducing Quakerism to Australia.
As an extraordinarily talented botanist he collected and studied plants and he sent specimens back to his nursery in York as well as well as to Kew Gardens.
The majority of the park (formal gardens, bowling greens, etc) was established as a public park in July 1938. The remaining areas of the park, primarily within the woodland, were bought by York Corporation in 1945 from the Hamilton Family when Lady Hamilton died. The Hamilton family had owned the site since 1921 when they bought it from the Backhouse family.
For more information about the park, you can buy our booklet ‘West Bank Park: More than just a park – a collection of Articles and memories’ for £5.
To purchase a copy, email us at friendsofwestbankpark@gmail.com
You can find out more about James Backhouse in this publication by York Museums Trust: https://www.yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Acomb-HH-Digital-Magazine-FINAL.pdf
West Bank Park 