People's Park, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

A public park designed by Joseph Paxton assisted by Edward Milner which was completed in 1857.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

The park lies about 1.5 metres south-west of the centre of Halifax in an area which is largely residential. It is bounded by Park Road on the east side, which was laid out in 1856 with six pairs of villas designed by John Hogg (listed grade II). A wall along this side of the park is surmounted by ornamental cast-iron railings (late 20th-century reproduction of originals by Brooks of Brighouse removed during the Second World War), and this continues along the northern boundary with Hopwood Lane for a distance of c 120m, where there is an entrance, from which point there is a stone retaining wall. Sir Frances Crossley's house, Belle Vue (listed grade II*), is on Hopwood Road opposite the park and is now (2000) in use as offices. A stone wall separates the west side of the site from a college of education and from West House at the south-west corner of the site. The southern boundary is formed by King Cross Street, where there is a wall surmounted by cast-iron railings, and a fence around North Park and the rear elevation of swimming baths, which were built in 1859, form the boundary at the south-east corner. The site of roughly 5.5 hectares is on land which slopes down to the east.

REFERENCES Used by English Heritage

G Chadwick, The Park and the Town (1966), p 53-5

N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire The West Riding (1967), p 235

H Conway, People's Parks (1991), p 93-4

Colvin and Moggeridge, Restoration of The People's Park, Halifax (1992) [includes reproductions of 19th- and early 20th-century photographs, postcards and press reports]

Maps

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition surveyed 1848

OS 25" to 1 mile: 2nd edition published 1907

Archival items

Council minutes of various different Parks Committees are held in Halifax Library [extracts appear in Colvin and Moggeridge 1992]
 

Description written: January 1998

Amended: March 1999; May 2000

Edited: November 1999