Stamford Park is a park in

Stalybridge Stalybridge () is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 23,731 at the 2011 Census. Historic counties of England, Historically divided between Cheshire and Lancashire, it is east of Manchester city centre and no ...

, Tameside,

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

. The park was Grade II listed with Historic England in 1986.

History

The site on which the park lays was owned by the Earl of Stamford in 1668 and was part of a deer park. During the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

the population of the area was in poor health and began to demand a park to enjoy on their day off. In 1856 a letter was sent to the Ashton Reporter requesting the cotton mill workers raise money for a park. Fundraising began and in 1872 Highfield House and grounds was purchased, the Earl donated adjacent land and Stamford Park was opened officially on 12 July 1873. The Lord and Lady Stamford arrived for the opening and the towns of Ashton, Stalybridge and Dukinfield were decorated out in

bunting Bunting may refer to: Animals Birds * Bunting (bird) or Emberizidae, a family of Eurasian and African passerine birds * New World buntings or ''Passerina'', a genus of American passerine birds in the family Cardinalidae * Blue bunting, a species ...

and flags. A crowd of up to 80,000 watched the opening ceremony.https://www.tameside.gov.uk/parks/stamford/history The park continued to expand for the next two decades with the purchase of further land, a reservoir was purchased which was turned into the boating lake in the South and a fishing lake in the North. The Coronation Gates were installed in the 1950s to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Landmarks

The park contains two Grade II listed features; the first is

Stocks Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law describing ...

which are inscribed "John Wood Constable 1730", made of stone they were formerly located outside Ashton-under-Lyne

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...

and were given by Isaac Watts Boulton J.P. The second is a stone

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

inscribed with "Erected by Thos. Walker, John Knight, Robert Lees, Constables 1793".

Facilities

The park contains floral and shrub beds, a grassed area used for games, picnics and other informal activities, "The Dingle" woodland area, a children's play area, a water fountain, bowling greens, a multi-use games area for football, basketball, cricket and other sports. A Parkrun takes place in the grounds every Saturday morning. There is a conservatory and an aviary. During the summer months the

boating lake A boating lake is a lake used for recreational boating. Such lakes are often in parks and can be artificially made. Some boating lakes are used for model boats. References External links * Lakes by type Lakes A lake is an area ...

is in use and there is a land train and trampolines.https://www.tameside.gov.uk/stamfordpark

References

{{commons category, Stamford Park, Tameside Parks and open spaces in Greater Manchester