Following efforts by the Ipswich Corporation to find land for a public park in 1848 W.C. Fonnereau leased 13 acres (53,000 m2) to the corporation from 1851 who developed the arboretum in the same year that the park was visited by Prince Albert.[1] By 1895 the mansion was owned by Felix Cobbold who offered to give it to the corporation on condition that the corporation purchased the rest of the grounds. A deal was concluded and the park opened to the public on 11 April 1895.[2]