Cordell: How much does the job pay? powerzen battery charger But it was the civic spaces of the 19th century, the new parks and gardens such as Birkenhead in Liverpool, the seaside promenades and pleasure piers, and the revamped royal parks in London, that brought a more general demand for seating for an exploding urban population. Fortunately this coincided with new techniques for large-scale production in cast iron, resulting in that default item of garden furniture, the "park bench".