Forge Dam Park is a park in Fulwood, in the city of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Forge Dam Park is the fourth of the Grade II listed Porter Valley Parks, a connected series of parks (when travelling west from Sheffield city centre) along the course of the Porter Brook. The park is on the site of the Old Mayhouse Farm and Forge Dam. It was acquired by the J G Graves Charitable Trust in 1938.

History

In the 1700s,

's industry was focused on the manufacture of

cutlery Cutlery (also referred to as silverware, flatware, or tableware), includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. The city of Sheffie ...

. To aid this, the

Porter Brook The Porter Brook is a river which flows through the City of Sheffield, England, descending over from its source on Burbage Moor to the west of the city to its mouth where it joins the River Sheaf in a culvert beneath Sheffield railway statio ...

was

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

med diverting the water to a series of

grinding mills A mill is a device, often a structure, machine or kitchen appliance, that breaks solid materials into smaller pieces by grinding, crushing, or cutting. Such comminution is an important unit operation in many processes. There are many different t ...

. As the town expanded through the 19th century, the Porter valley was used for walks.

Sheffield Corporation Sheffield City Council is the city council for the metropolitan borough of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors. It is currently under No Overall Contr ...

(later Sheffield City Council), purchased of land in the area in 1885 with the intention of building pleasure grounds as well as to improve local sanitation by building a new sewer. The new park was designed by

William Goldring William Goldring (May 1854 – 26 February 1919) was a landscape architect, and naturalist. Goldring arrived in Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1875) where he was in charge of the Herbaceous Department at the world-famous botanical garden. He served ...

, who included features to improve the aesthetics of the walks, such as gravel paths, flower beds and stepping stones. The series of parks and walks carried on expanding, and in 1938, the J. G. Graves Charitable Trust purchased , and created the Forge Dam Park. A walk known as the

Sheffield Round Walk The Sheffield Round Walk is a walk through the south west of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Starting from Hunters Bar, it travels along the Porter valley to Ringinglow. It then descends through the Limb valley and Ecclesall Woods to Abb ...

, which circled

Endcliffe Park Endcliffe Park is a large park in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The park was opened in 1887 to commemorate the Jubilee of Queen Victoria. When travelling West from the city centre it is the first in a series of parks and gre ...

, Bingham Park, Whiteley Woods, Forge Dam Park and Porter Clough, was completed around 1945.

Park

In 1913, when the pleasure grounds were sold, they advertised "boating, fishing, bowling green, swings, tearooms, and motor boats" Today, the park is laid out a roughly rectangular space occupying approximately . It is located between Quiet Lane, Whiteley Lane, Ivy Cottage Lane and fields to the south. The main entrance is located on Ivy Cottage Lane, with some informal parking along the road. In 1924

Patrick Abercrombie Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie (; 6 June 1879 – 23 March 1957) was an English regional and town planner. Abercrombie was an academic during most of his career, and prepared one city plan and several regional studies prior to the Second World ...

said of the parks, "The Porter Brook Parkway, consisting as it does of a string of contiguous open spaces, is the finest example to be found in this country of a radial park strip, an elongated open space, leading from a built-up part of the city direct into the country, the land occupied being a river valley and so for the greater part unsuitable for building."

References

{{Reflist Parks in Sheffield Porter Brook