Prospect Park is a public park in the western suburbs of Reading situated north of the Bath Road in the English county of Berkshire. It is the largest and most popular park in Reading, and includes a large regency style house, now known as Prospect Park Mansion House and previously as Prospect House. There are also sporting facilities and the Prospect Park Miniature Railway within the of parkland, and a restaurant in the Mansion House. The park is listed as Grade II in the English Heritage Register of Historic Parks and Gardens whilst the Mansion House is a Grade II listed building. History Origins Originally the site of Dirle's Farm, the land was part of the Calcot Park estate. By the middle of the 18th century, Calcot Park was the home of Frances Kendrick and her husband Benjamin Child, but after Frances's death Benjamin sold the bulk of the estate to John Blagrave, keeping only the eastern part that is now Prospect Park. In the 1760s, Benjamin turned the farmhouse of Dirle's Farm into a mansion. He named the park after its views over Reading; it was formerly known as Prospecthill Park. The Liebenrood family The present regency style house, known as The Mansion House (and originally named Prospect House), was built by John Liebenrood in the late 18th century. John Engelberts Liebenrood (1754-1821) was born in Germany in 1754. His birth name was John Engelberts Ziegenbein and he immigrated to England and obtained naturalisation in 1781. He lived with his great uncle John George Liebenrood, a very wealthy merchant in Purley. When his uncle died in 1795 he inherited his fortune and in accordance with the will changed his name to Liebenrood. In the following year he married Lucy Hancock whose brother was Rear Admiral John Hancock. Soon after his marriage John commissioned James Wright Sanderson, a pupil of James Wyatt to substantially remodel and enlarge a smaller existing building. The newspapers show that he and his wife Lucy were living in their new home by 1797. John became High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1806. Lucy was known to be a benefactor of the poor. He died in 1821 and Lucy continued to live at Prospect House until her death in 1829. They are both buried in St Mary's Church Purley. Their son George and daughter Lucy inherited the property but they did not live there. Instead it was