Clifton Park and Museum is a

city park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...

and municipal

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

located in Clifton Park,

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

, South Yorkshire, England. Clifton Park Museum is located in Clifton House and is one of several publicly owned museums and visitor attractions administered by the

Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham The Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham is a metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. It is named after its largest town, Rotherham, but also spans the outlying towns of Maltby, South Yorkshire, Maltby, Swinton, South Yorkshire, Swinton, ...

. The house is the headquarters of Heritage Services, which also includes the York and Lancaster

Regimental Museum In countries whose armies are organised on a regimental basis, such as the army of the United Kingdom, a regimental museum is a military museum dedicated to the history of a specific army regiment. List of regimental museums in the UK In addition ...

and Archives and Local Studies. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. Clifton Park is a visitor attraction with facilities including a skate park, rockery, memorial park and children's play areas. It is also Grade II listed with

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

History

Clifton House was designed by John Carr of York for Joshua Walker, an industrialist involved in the manufacture of iron and steel, and completed in 1784. The grounds of the house now comprising the park originally had

walled gardens A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate c ...

, pleasure grounds, and a fishpond, however they have mostly been lost due to later park changes. The house and park were purchased by the Municipal Borough of Rotherham in 1891 and the museum was first opened to the public later that year with the majority of its exhibits loaned by local people. It was administered by the Borough Librarian with a succession of honorary

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

s until the 1970s. In 1974 the soot blackened stonework was cleaned and the museum building was extended when a roof was placed over the original open courtyard.

Clifton Park Museum

In 2003 the museum closed for a major refurbishment of the building and displays, partly funded by the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

. During this time it was twice shortlisted for the

Gulbenkian Prize Gulbenkian Prize is a series of prizes awarded annually by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The main Gulbenkian Prize was established in 1976 as the Gulbenkian Science Prize awarded to Portuguese individuals and organizations. Starting 2012, th ...

for Museum of the Year in 2003 and 2004, for its innovative outreach programmes, despite the building being closed to the public. The refurbishment cost £3 million in total and included major repairs to the roof, heating systems, stonework, windows and electrical systems. In addition to new displays, improved public facilities included a study room, a cafeteria and a gift shop. A

lift Lift or LIFT may refer to: Physical devices * Elevator, or lift, a device used for raising and lowering people or goods ** Paternoster lift, a type of lift using a continuous chain of cars which do not stop ** Patient lift, or Hoyer lift, mobil ...

was also installed to make the building fully accessible to disabled visitors. The interior was redecorated using the exact colour scheme as used when the building was a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

country house in the 18th century. Clifton Park Museum re-opened to the public on 29 January 2005.

York and Lancaster Regimental Museum

The York and Lancaster Regimental Museum is a separate museum located inside Clifton Park Museum and covers the history of the Regiment and its precursors the 65th and 84th Regiments of Foot. The displays have uniforms, equipment and guns from all periods of the history.

Collections

The museum collections include local social and industrial history, archaeology, natural sciences, coins and medals and fine and decorative arts. These include Roman remains from

Templeborough Templeborough (historically Templebrough) is a suburb of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The suburb falls within the Brinsworth and Catcliffe ward of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. The area takes its name from the remains of the ...

, and Nelson, a stuffed Cape Lion. The museum is noted for its particularly fine collection of

Rockingham Pottery The Rockingham Pottery was a 19th-century manufacturer of porcelain of international repute, supplying fine wares and ornamental pieces to royalty and the aristocracy in Britain and overseas, as well as manufacturing porcelain and earthenwar ...

, including one of only two specimens of porcelain 'Rhinoceros Vase', which were created as showcases of the work of the pottery.

Clifton Park

The park in which the museum sits is Grade II listed with

so too are the gate piers at one of the entrances. Clifton Park was opened on 25 June 1891 by the Prince of Wales, later

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

. Between 1891 and 1893 changes were made to the grounds to add footpaths, entrances and facilities resulting in the original walled kitchen garden being demolished. In the 1830s a commemorative beech tree was planted for

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

's coronation. In 1900 the main entrance was added, the Cenotaph was added in 1922, and the Memorial Gardens in 1948. The park was given a

award with a value of £7.6m and between 2009 and 2011 new features such as the water play area was added. A new walled garden was built and has plots maintained by a variety of different groups. The memorial garden has

floral A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

displays and a central fountain which is engraved with the names of Rotherham's

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

holders. The rock garden includes a waterfall and ponds. A new garden house and courtyard was built and offers event spaces and toilets. The house garden has Japanese maples, bamboos and a yellow weigelia.

Facilities

In addition to the museum there is a landtrain, children's play area, mini golf, crazy golf, a sand pit, a wet splash area, a rock garden, a memorial garden, a skate park, a fun park, a bowling green, tennis courts, picnicking, walking and a

bandstand A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an orname ...

. A

Parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...

takes place in the park every Saturday morning.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Clifton Park Museum
Official Museum Website

Official Park website
Tourist attractions in Rotherham Buildings and structures in Rotherham Museums in South Yorkshire Local museums in South Yorkshire Decorative arts museums in England Ceramics museums in the United Kingdom Museums established in 1891 1891 establishments in England Regimental museums in England Parks and open spaces in South Yorkshire