Longley Park is a

public 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 re ...

within 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. The park lies between the suburbs of Longley and Firth Park, four km north of the city centre. It covers an area of just under 52 acres (21 hectares) and is the third largest public park in Sheffield.

Geography

The main entrance to the park lies on Crowder Road at although there are several other entrances around the perimeter. It is roughly triangular in shape and is bordered by Elm Lane, Longley Lane, Barnsley Road and Crowder Road. The park has a rolling landscape with hills and valleys, there are numerous copses of old trees. The Bagley Dike rises in a valley in the park and flows on the surface for a short distance before going underground via a man made culvert built in the 1930s to keep the dike away from the old open air swimming pool.

History

Longley Park was officially opened in 1929, it was created by

Sheffield City Council 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 ...

to serve the newly built Longley housing estate. The park was established on mostly undeveloped farming land and signs of the hedge boundaries of the ancient field system can still be seen. Crowder House, a large

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

which dated back to the 14th century, was the only dwelling on the land which was to become the park and this was demolished to make way for the new estate and park.''"Old Ordnance Survey Maps: Sheffield (Longley)"'' Gives details of Crowder House. The early 1930s saw the park undergo development of its facilities, with a sports pavilion, two

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

pitches,

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

green, six

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

courts and toilets being built . Much of the labour for this work was provided by the long term unemployed of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

who had used up their unemployment insurance. On 3 September 1938, a 125-foot (38-metre) by 40-foot (12-metre) outdoor swimming pool was opened in the park along with a 90-foot (27-metre) by 30-foot (9-metre) children's paddling pool. The pools, which were to become the parks major attractions for many years to come, were paid for by local businessman G.H. Lawrence, a razor blade manufacturer. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

part of the park was turned into allotments to allow local people to grow their own food. In the 1960s, a nine-hole

pitch and putt Pitch and putt is an amateur sport very similar to, and derived from, golf, where the hole length is typically up to and just 2–3 clubs are typically used. The game was organised and developed in Ireland during the early 20th century, befo ...

golf course was constructed in the park along with a putting green.''"A Home of Our Own, (Longley and Southey Estates)"'', Sylvia Aginotti, No ISBN Gives history of park.

Present day

In the 1980s the park suffered from

vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term f ...

with many of the facilities suffering damage and becoming rundown, the open air swimming pool was closed in 1987 and eventually filled in by the council after being extensively damaged by stolen cars being crashed into it. The golf course closed in the 1980s along with the putting green.

Redevelopment

The park has been redeveloped in recent years along with the nearby Parson Cross and Colley Parks as part of the Three Parks Programme. New facilities include play areas for toddlers and older children (officially opened by the Lord Mayor in February 2006), a replanting programme to replace some of the parks aging trees and shrubs. The park has had new drainage installed to prevent problems with boggy areas, new footpaths have been laid which are suitable for wheelchairs. The pavilion has been rebuilt and is now run and looked after by the parks bowling club. The tennis courts are no longer used and a car park has been built at the main entrance on Crowder Road on part of the old courts. Another area of the courts has been converted for

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

use. A new seating and picnic area has been constructed near the playgrounds and the whole area around the pavilion has new lighting. Two Bowling greens are still in use, and there is one full size football pitch and two

Five-a-side ''Five-A-Side'' is the debut album by the pop rock band Ace, released by Anchor Records in 1974. The album landed on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, reaching #11 in 1974. The single " How Long" reached #3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the ...

pitches.Sheffield City Council website.
Gives details of redevelopment and some history.

References

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