Ropner Park is a free

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 ...

, located in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England. In June 1890 Major Robert Ropner offered a piece of land, known locally as Hartburn Fields to the people of Stockton which could be used as a public park, providing the local council would lay it out 'tastefully' and ‘keep it forever’. On 4 October 1893, Ropner Park was officially opened by the then Duke & Duchess of York. The ceremony involved the royals using an ornate key to open the Golden Gates. After a century of regular use by the people of Stockton, the park was refurbished and renovated to its former glory between 2004 and 2007 by Stockton Borough Council, thanks to a £2.65m grant from 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 ...

. The Park is a roughly square site, with 20th-century railings along its road boundaries and is typically Victorian in style, with rockeries and floral displays. It has a tree-lined avenue which leads to an ornamental fountain and a

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

with a veranda and also includes a new

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 ...

, based on the original design, a park ranger's office, bowling green,

quoits Quoits ( or ) is a traditional game which involves the throwing of metal, rope or rubber rings over a set distance, usually to land over or near a spike (sometimes called a hob, mott or pin). The game of quoits encompasses several distinct vari ...

green, tennis courts and a cafe, (run by the local charity, The Friends of Ropner Park). A large lake with islands dominates the lower part of the park and offers sanctuary to various species of

water fowl The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating on ...

and fish. Seasonal fairs and occasional organised events are staged at the park throughout the year and various bands feature most Sunday afternoons during the summer months.

Image gallery

File:Canada geese on Ropner Park Lake, Stockton on Tees.jpg , The lake File:Ropner Park gates - geograph.org.uk - 407767.jpg, Gates to the park File:South Lodge, Ropner Park, Stockton on Tees.jpg, South Lodge at the Hartburn Lane entrance of Ropner Park File:Restored fountain at Ropner Park - geograph.org.uk - 418401.jpg, Fountain in the park File:The jewel in the crown - geograph.org.uk - 407771.jpg, Flower display in the park File:Avenue of Trees, Ropner Park - geograph.org.uk - 982654.jpg, Avenue of trees in the park File:Ropner Park - geograph.org.uk - 407810.jpg, Lake File:The bandstand at Ropner Park - geograph.org.uk - 418410.jpg, The bandstand in the park

References

{{reflist Stockton-on-Tees Parks and open spaces in County Durham