The Parks of Sheffield - A History

There is a plethora of information in-print and on-line relating to the parks of Sheffield. One of the most fulsome is the thread on the Sheffield History Forum that has information on the 13 city parks, 20 district parks and 50 local parks that are contained in the Sheffield boundaries. As I have no inclination to embark on duplicating content I have to advise readers to refer to this thread. 

The Sheffield Daily Telegraph had this report in it's edition dated 2nd August 1873. There is an article on Dr Gatty on Wikipedia. Norfolk Park in Sheffield - known today as Norfolk Heritage Park - was one of the first free public parks in the country. The laying out of the Park  commenced in 1841, and it was opened in 1848. Other parks in the city opened after this date and this provides the backdrop to this article. Victorian society was a rigid society that was class conscious to an extreme and classes were separated in all aspects of life. The provisions of public parks demand financing and on-going maintenance. It is evident in the introduction that certain people in Sheffield believed that "if parks are to be provided for the working classes, the working classes ought to pay for them."

The writer of this article to grave exception to this assertion and reminded readers that it was the working classes who had the parks taken off them by Acts of Parliaments and the machinations of corrupt officials and guardians of the public interest. And it all happened within the space of one generation!

"I cannot but remember such things were

That were most precious to me"

Sources

Wikipedia

Sheffield Daily Telegraph dated 2nd August 1873

Sheffield History Forum  

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This page was last updated on 02/11/23 08:39