Management Plan for Firth Park - MP4-Interreg
Management Plan for Firth Park - MP4-Interreg
Management Plan for Firth Park - MP4-Interreg
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A 2.6 HISTORY & DEVELOPMENT<br />
Fig 8 The Clock Tower<br />
<strong>Firth</strong> park is one of the city’s historical parks with direct links back to the development of<br />
Sheffield it is important that this management plan recognises this and the future<br />
development of the park uses this as one of its key principals. The management plan must<br />
seek to protect the heritage of the park whilst meeting the 21-century needs of the<br />
community. The first start centre has set new standards in services and this need to be<br />
built on in other areas of the park and in community engagement to make the park a<br />
successful local facility.<br />
2.6.1 THE PARK HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT<br />
The <strong>Park</strong> comprises what was part of the grounds of a large house known as Page Hall. It<br />
was the first park in the city to be donated by the public benefactor Mark <strong>Firth</strong> and was<br />
opened in 1875 by the Prince and Princess of Wales. It was one of the most memorable<br />
events in the town’s history, well documented in the local newspaper. Early accounts from<br />
the 1900’s describe the quality and popularity of the park at the time. It contained such<br />
features as the gateway, refreshment house, small lake, pond and fountain, bandstand,<br />
rock outcrops, woodland, shrubbery’s, gymnasium and recreation ground. It was a<br />
popular venue <strong>for</strong> cricket and football and attracted large numbers of visitors particularly<br />
<strong>for</strong>m Brightside, Attercliffe and Pitsmoor. The number of visitors on Good Friday 1931 was<br />
estimated at 30 000.<br />
2.6.2 The <strong>Park</strong> in 1890: ‘Picturesque character’<br />
When Mark <strong>Firth</strong> acquired part of the Page Hall estate in 1874, he undoubtedly had a farreaching<br />
vision <strong>for</strong> this part of the town. Situated two miles to the north and outside the<br />
town boundary, the character of the area, then part of the Ecclesfield parish, was rural.<br />
Local architects, Messrs. Flockton and Abbott, were commissioned to design the park. It<br />
occupied some 38 acres. About a quarter of the park was wooded and the undulating<br />
slopes and varied topography provided what would later be described as ‘picturesque<br />
15
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