Miller Park, Preston

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Miller park fountain and statue of the 14th Earl of Derby

Miller Park is a public parkland and gardens located on the banks of the river Ribble in Preston, Lancashire in north west England. The park is one of two city centre Victorian era parklands in Preston, the other being its sister and neighbour the larger Avenham Park.

The park is laid out in Victorian symmetrical formal style, with a fountain and a statue of Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, occupying pride of space.

The park has many full-sized trees including Horse-chestnut and oak trees. The park has many attractive flower beds which are maintained by the employees of Preston City Council's Parks Department.

The land has been preserved as parkland because building work would be difficult on the embankment of the river which floods from time to time. The park was designed by Edward Milner and covers 10.22 acres (41,000 m²).

The park is bounded to the west by an embankment carrying the main West Coast Main Line, and to the east by another embankment which carried a railway line until the 1970s. It is overlooked by council offices spread between the former Park Hotel and an adjacent (and rather ugly) concrete office block.

Apart from this office block, the appearance of the park has hardly changed since it was first laid out; the only other modern construction, a brick toilet block, was demolished in March 2006. An 1889 map[1] still provides an accurate representation of the park's layout.