Hillsborough Park is a large () parkland area in Hillsborough,

Sheffield Sheffield is a 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 historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is situated three miles north-westof the city centre. It owned 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 Con ...

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 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 Ecclesfield is a village and civil parish in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) north of Sheffield City Centre. Ecclesfield civil parish had a population of 32,073 at the 2011 Census. Ecclesfield wards ...

. Initial development work utilised unemployed labour and included enlarging the lake making it suitable for boating, erecting new boundary walls and

public toilet A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...

s 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 The Great Yorkshire Show (GYS) is an agricultural show which takes place on the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate, North Yorkshire in the North of England annually from the second Tuesday of July until the following Thursday. It is organi ...

five times before it found a permanent site at

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa w ...

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 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 opposing ...

large areas of the park were used for wartime activities, allotments were created for food production, one area housed a barrage balloon site while air raid shelters 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 Woodseats is a district of Sheffield, South Yorkshire in the Graves Park ward. Historically, Norton Woodseats () was a village that ...

. 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 Blazin' Squad were an English hip hop group. The group had seven top ten hits, including " Crossroads", a cover version of the Bone Thugs-n-Harmony original. Jon O'Brien of AllMusic called them the "self-proclaimed pioneers of ' chav' cultur ...

and

Lemar Lemar Obika (born 4 April 1978), known as Lemar, is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. Initially rising to fame after finishing third on the first series of British talent show ''Fame Academy'', he was later signed to Sony BMG ...

appearing. In 2018 Hillsborough park became the venue for the main stage of the

Tramlines Festival The Tramlines Festival is an annual music festival held in Sheffield, UK. The festival was originally free to attend, but now requires tickets. The line-up consists of national and local artists. The festival was curated and organised by a pan ...

, an annual three day music event attended by more than 90,000 people over the weekend in July 2019.Louderthanwar.com
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
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. Sheffield Football Club is an English football club from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, although now based in nearby Dronfield, across the county boundary in Derbyshire. They currently compete in the . Founded in October 1857,

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 Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...

. There is a Civil War reenactment every year as well as the Sheffield Mayfest. Hillsborough Park has its own

tram stop A tram stop, tram station, streetcar stop, or light rail station is a place designated for a tram, streetcar, or light rail vehicle to stop so passengers can board or alight it. Generally, tram stops share most characteristics of bus stops, ...

on the Yellow Line of the

Sheffield Supertram The Sheffield Supertram is a tram and tram-train network covering Sheffield and Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. The infrastructure is owned by the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE), with Stagecoach responsible for t ...

. 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 Age UK is a registered charity in the United Kingdom, formed on 25 February 2009, and launched on 1 April 2009, which combined the operations of the previously separate charities Age Concern England and Help the Aged to form the UK's largest ch ...

charity are also going forward after a grant from the

National Lottery Heritage 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 ...

, 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