Hillsborough Park is a large () parkland area in
Hillsborough
Hillsborough may refer to:
Australia
*Hillsborough, New South Wales, a suburb of Lake Macquarie
Canada
*Hillsborough, New Brunswick
*Hillsborough Parish, New Brunswick
* Hillsborough, Nova Scotia, in Inverness County
*Hillsborough (electoral d ...
,
Sheffield,
South Yorkshire,
England. It is situated three miles north-westof the city centre. It owned by
Sheffield City Council and is one of the 13 designated "City Parks".
History
In 1890
Sheffield Corporpation paid £15,000 for 50 acres of parkland belonging to the
Hillsborough Hall
Hillsborough House, later called Hillsborough Hall, is a large, stone-built mansion constructed in the Adam style in the latter part of the 18th century. It stands 2½ miles north-west of the centre of Sheffield at grid reference in the suburb o ...
estate of J.W. Dixon junior which was being auctioned off. At that time the land lay outside the city boundary in the parish of
Ecclesfield. Initial development work utilised unemployed labour and included enlarging the lake making it suitable for boating, erecting new boundary walls and
public toilets as well as carrying out extensive drainage work. An impressive domed, circular bandstand was built just above the lake,
photograph on Picture Sheffield where open air concerts were given, the bandstand stood until the 1950s when it was demolished. In 1901 boundary extensions brought the park within the city and it was officially opened on August 8 1892.
[''"The Complete Hillsborough By Her People"'', Mick Drewry, Hillsborough Community Development Trust, , Pages 142-146 Gives history of park.][''"Sheffield Parks And Gardens"'', Douglas Hindmarch, Tempus Publishing, , Pages 60-63 Gives history of park.]
The Ecclesfield Farmers Agricultural Show continued to use the parks facilities in its early years after an agreement was made with the Corporation. The park hosted the
Great Yorkshire Show five times before it found a permanent site at
Harrogate in 1951, the last occasion being in 1923. The 66th edition of the show which was held at the park in 1903 drew 54,913 visitors who paid gate money of £3,497. During
World War II large areas of the park were used for wartime activities, allotments were created for food production, one area housed a
barrage balloon
A barrage balloon is a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe collision risk to aircraft, making the attacker's approach more difficult. Early barra ...
site while
air raid shelter
Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many ...
s were dug near Hawksley Avenue.
The park was the venue for The Sheffield Show from 1965, the show consisted of stalls, fair rides and music amongst other attractions and continued through the 1970s and 80s before it moved to
Graves Park
Graves Park is a large parkland area in the South of Sheffield, between the districts of Norton, Woodseats and Meadowhead. The park was developed by Alderman J. G. Graves between 1926 and 1936, to protect the thousand year old wood ...
. Sheffield Mayfest took place at the park from the early 2000s to 2012, it was similar to the Sheffield Show although more oriented towards young adults with pop acts such as
Blazin' Squad and
Lemar appearing. In 2018 Hillsborough park became the venue for the main stage of the
Tramlines Festival, an annual three day music event attended by more than 90,000 people over the weekend in July 2019.
[Louderthanwar.com](_blank)
Details of Tramlines Festival
The whole of the park and some of the surrounding streets fall within the Hillsborough Park Conservation Area, created in 1993 it highlights several areas of the park which are of special interest. These are the Grade II listed Hillsborough House, as well as the east and west lodges which are situated on Penistone Road and Middlewood Road respectively, both the lodges are Grade II listed and date from the early part of the 19th century.
The parks distinctive boundary walls and railings are mentioned as are the row of
Poplar trees on the south side of the park.
[Sheffield Council website](_blank)
Details of Conservation Area
Features
Hillsborough Park features a fishing lake, a bowling green with pavilion, a walled garden and a playground. The bowling green and pavilion (Hillsborough Pavilion) are undergoing regenerative work to extend the pavilion, to make it available for further use. Much work has been put into the walled garden to bring it to its present state with planting to replace dead plants.
The park has previously been home to
Sheffield F.C. and now hosts the home matches of
Hillsborough Hawks rugby league club. It is also the home of the Hallamshire Harriers Sheffield running club and the venue of Hillsborough
parkrun. There is a Civil War reenactment every year as well as the Sheffield Mayfest. Hillsborough Park has its own
tram stop on the Yellow Line of the
Sheffield Supertram.
2020 saw plans announced for three new facilities within the park. The Hillsborough All Wheeled Bike Park has been granted planning permission and is to be built next to the tennis courts close to Penistone Road, it is planned to be completed by spring 2021. Plans to convert the old
Hillsborough Park Coach House into a dementia friendly café by the
Age UK charity are also going forward after a grant from the
National Lottery Heritage Fund, this is planned to be completed by summer 2021, tenders have been opened for an hospitality operator to help run the new facility. Work started in September 2020 to upgrade the existing children's playground within the park. The six-week programme will see the installation of a new ‘Snakes Head’ slide and an activity trail. Subsequently the current embankment slide will be replaced by an embankment climbing feature, there will also be a new agility trail. Fundraising for Phase 2 of the work that will improve the rest of the playground will start soon in conjunction with the Friends of Hillsborough Park.
References
External links
Sheffield's Park, Woodlands & Countryside
{{Coord, 53.4080, -1.5014, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Hillsborough, South Yorkshire
Sheffield F.C.
Sports venues in Sheffield
1897 establishments in England
Parks in Sheffield