Created between 1854 and 1866, they have gained Grade II* listed status, as well as being part of the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

The Marsh Improvement Act 1844 then gave the local authority the power to acquire and then build on the area, as well as Southampton Common.

[3] West Park and East Park (including the area on which the Civic Centre has been built) were the West and East Magdalens (also known as the Marlands), lands granted for the maintenance of the leprosy hospital of St Mary Magdalene.

The establishment of a new boundary occurred when the southern portion of Palmerston Road was constructed in the middle of the 18th century, alongside the Salisbury and Southampton Canal.

[5] It originally sat atop a highly decorated pedestal made of bath stone.

It was built in 1971, due to the significant increase in protesters on the recently pedestrianised High Street.

As the High Street was still legally a highway, these protesters were arrested, charged and found guilty.

To mitigate issues surrounding free speech, the council agreed to construct a speaker's corner in one of the parks, out the way of the shops on the High Street.

[11] In the 1850s Edmund Kell, a local councillor wanted a water fountain to be built in Southampton, with the hope to reduce drunkenness.

[13] There is a 7 ft statue made of Carrara marble[14] dedicated to him, erected four years after his death in 1869.

The statue faces the Southampton Civic Centre, with the Clock Tower playing his ‘Our God, Our Help in Ages Past’ at 8:00, 12:00 and 16:00 daily.

[16] The statue was placed there in 1861 and is made from Carrara marble, it sits upon a rubislaw granite plinth.

These framed structures are named on the base of the sculpture, with it framing the Cenotaph (though this is blocked by the Issac Watts statue), the Southampton Civic Centre clock tower and the Spire on what was formerly St Peters Church, opposite the Mayflower Theatre.