Greenbank Park

Greenbank Park, Liverpool, England, with its focal point of the elegant, placid lake is situated in the south of the city close to the borders of Sefton Park. The area was the former home of the Rathbone family, philanthropists through two centuries. The family acquired nearby Greenbank House in 1788 as a holiday house and remained there until 1940. Gradually it became their permanent residence and a venue for many distinguished visitors to Liverpool who "had some special opinion to propagate or philanthropic scheme to advance". In 1897 Liverpool Corporation entered into an agreement with the Rathbone family to purchase the piece of land, part of which is now Greenbank Park for the sum of £13,000. The agreement required the corporation...