Prospect Park, Reading

Prospect Park is both a public park and a historic house in the western suburbs of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is at gbmapping|SU690725.

Prospect Park was originally the site of Dirle's Farm and part of the estate of Calcot Park. The farm was turned into a mansion in the 1760s, by Benjamin Child, widower of the famous 'Berkshire Lady', Frances Kendrick, whom he had first met there some years before. He named it after its views over Reading.

The present regency style house, known as the Mansion House, was built by John Liebenrood in the following century. It is a Grade II listed building, currently used as a restaurant. The park was bought by the Reading Corporation in 1901.

The park hit national headlines in May 2005, when it was the scene of the murder of 16-year-old Mary Ann Leneghan, by an armed gang of six (five black, the other an illegal Kosovan Albanian immigrant), four of whom were on probation at the time. [cite news
first = Chris
last = Summers
title = The night terror came to town
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4664492.stm
publisher = BBC News
date = 2006-03-20
accessdate = 2007-12-20 ] .

References

External links

* [http://www.reading.gov.uk/environmentandplanning/parksandopenspaces/parksandopenspaceslist/General.asp?id=SX9452-A77F91E0 Reading Borough Council: Prospect Park]
* [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/legends/berkslady01.html Royal Berkshire History: The Legend of the 'Berkshire Lady']