Fitzgerald's Park Cork City - Arboricultural Assessment

Fitzgerald’s Park is one of Cork City’s most iconic parks. It is located approximately 1.5 km west of the city centre between the Cork County Cricket Club and The Shakey Bridge. The area of the park is approximately 5.1 hectares and it is open to the public during the designated opening hours. The park was opened as a public recreation area initially in 1903 after the Cork International Exhibition which was a world fair showcasing the city’s economy. The park is named after Edward Fitzgerald, the organizer of the exhibition and Lord Mayor of Cork from 1901 to 1903. The current park layout includes an art gallery, museum building, a cafe, the sky garden, sculptures and memorial structures, walking paths, a playground, seating areas and a central pond with a fountain.

Tree-space undertook an inventory of the trees in the park and assessed their condition both structurally and physiologically. Tree species identification in the park was challenging and over sixty-four different tree species were identified. Some trees were identified to the genus level only and the species of two trees could not be identified. One of the most impressive trees in the park is a western red cedar (Thuja plicata) located close to the cafe. The diameter of the trunk at breast height was approximately 1.45 m. The tree has a natural lean and has formed a series of L shaped stems at the crown spring. The morphology of the stems has created a natural seating area which users of the park take regular advantage of. One of the other most impressive specimens in the park was an open grown Griselinia littoralis. The species is normally used for hedging in Ireland but when left to mature naturally it can become an impressive landscape feature. The girth of the specimen was 2 m measured at 0.5 m from ground level, the tree was a very good example of it species.