Daisy Nook is a

country park A country park is a natural area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment. United Kingdom History In the United Kingdom, the term ''country park'' has a special meaning. There are around 250 recognised cou ...

Failsworth Failsworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and south-west of Oldham. The orbital M60 motorway skirts it to the east. The population at the 2011 census was ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, England, which runs through the Medlock Valley.

History

The name Daisy Nook came from a book by

Benjamin Brierley Benjamin Brierley (often known as Ben Brierley) (26 June 1825 – 18 January 1896) was an English weaver, who took up writing in Lancashire dialect. He became a prolific journalist. Life He was born in the Rocks area of Failsworth, Lancashire ...

titled 'A day out' or 'A Summer Ramble'. Brierley asked his friend Charles Potter, an

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, w ...

Artist, to draw an imaginary place called Daisy Nook. Potter came to nearby Waterhouses to complete his drawing - and from then on the area was known as Daisy Nook. Brierley's description of Daisy Nook was 'Two Banks seemed to have opened to receive a group of neat whitewashed cottages and after filling them with happiness, surrounded them with a curtain of trees, to shelter them from the outside world. Most of the cottages have gardens attached, growing flowers and vegetables, and there a small orchard displaying its ripening apples'. Most of Daisy Nook now belongs to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

after it was left to them by the late James Lublam, J.P. 'in order that the fields and woods be kept as a pleasure area'. The park is maintained by Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council. Daisy Nook hosts an annual Easter Fair along Stannybrook Road - depicted by Lowry in one of his paintings.

Crime Lake

Crime Lake is halfway between Woodhouses and the Visitors' Centre and forms part of the Country Park. It resulted from canal works at the time of construction in 1794. As built, the canal severed the course of a brook and a culvert was made below the canal to accommodate this. A landslip blocked this and the waters were impounded on the offside of the canal. The new lake and canal became one and the lake was officially known as Crime Bank Reservoir, but it is far better known by its later name of Crime Lake. The name 'Crime' may have come from a local word for "meadow" or a local name for a particular meadow, rather than anything untoward. The lake attracts visitors due to its scenery and wildlife.

Hollinwood Branch Canal

Daisy Nook is centred on the disused Hollinwood Branch Canal. The canal ran from Fairfield in nearby Droylsden to Hollinwood and opened in 1797. It runs through Daisy Nook, Woodhouses and Failsworth before entering Hollinwood in Oldham. The canal also has a branch which ran to Bardsley in Oldham, known as the

Fairbottom Branch Canal The Fairbottom Branch Canal was a canal near Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester, England. Route The canal left the Hollinwood Branch Canal at Fairbottom Junction immediately above lock 22. It was just over one mile long (1.82 km) and ...

. The canal and series of aqueducts are the centre of a campaign to restore the waterway by the Hollinwood Canal Society, which is run by local residents and waterway enthusiasts.

Painting of the park by L. S. Lowry

On 8 June 2007 a 1946 work by

L. S. Lowry Laurence Stephen Lowry ( ; 1 November 1887 – 23 February 1976) was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Lancashire (where he lived and worked for more than 40 years) as well as Salford and its vicinity ...

entitled "Good Friday, Daisy Nook" was sold for £3,772,000, the highest price paid for one of his paintings at auction. The painting depicts the park in party mood a year after

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

References

External links

Ashton-under-Lyne's website featuring photos and information on Daisy Nook.

* ttp://www.hollinwoodcanal.co.uk/ Website of the Hollinwood Canal Society, a group dedicated to reopening and restoring the Hollinwood Branch Canal which runs through the park.
Events and activities at Daisy Nook by Oldham Council, updated on a regular basis.
{{coord, 53.505, N, 2.123, W, type:landmark, display=title Parks and commons in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Country parks in Greater Manchester Failsworth