Holden Park is the only park in the village of

Oakworth Oakworth is a village in West Yorkshire, England, near Keighley, by the River Worth. The name "Oakworth" indicates that the village was first established in a heavily wooded area. Oakworth railway station is on the route of the Keighley and ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

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 ...

. The park is also known locally as Oakworth Park.

History

The park was the former grounds of Sir Isaac Holden's house (Oakworth House) and garden. Oakworth house was a large Italianate

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

built from 1864–74 by architect George Smith at a cost of £80,000 for Sir Isaac Holden. The house replaced a smaller house on the site built by Joseph Sugden. In 1907, ten years after Sir Isaac's death in 1897, the house was partially destroyed in a fire and was demolished. Holden Park was opened by Francis Illingworth in 1925 and in 1927 was given to the people of Oakworth by the family of Sir Isaac Holden. The stone portico to the house remains to this day but the glasshouses or

winter garden A winter garden is a kind of garden maintained in wintertime. History The origin of the winter garden dates back to the 17th to 19th centuries where European nobility would construct large conservatories that would house tropical and subtro ...

s have been removed and all that remains of the winter gardens are the caves and grotto created by Holden. A

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

was constructed on the site of the house. In April 2004 the Friends of Holden Park group was formed, consisting mostly of local people with the aim of preserving and protecting the remaining features of the park with support from the local community. In 2011 the summerhouse, known locally as the 'bear house' was restored by The Friends of Holden Park with monies from CNet's grassroots fund. In 2012 a new blue plaque to Sir Isaac Holden was unveiled on the portico by Sir Paul Holden (Bart.)—Sir Isaac's great grandson at a fun day to celebrate the

Queen's diamond jubilee The year 2012 marked the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II being the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. The only diamond jubilee celebration for any of Elizabeth's predecessors was in 1897, for the 60th an ...

Landmarks

The park contains the local war memorial, a stone portico entrance—the only surviving remnant of Oakworth House; and Holden's summer house, made from a steel framework and hypertufa shaped to look like wooden branches. Past the grottoes and caves there is a large grassed area that used to be the

vegetable garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...

for the house and was later a

putting green A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

, and above this are the woods, with many paths originally laid out by Holden. File:Entrance to Holden Park - Oakworth - geograph.org.uk - 518871.jpg , Park entrance File:Holden Park - Oakworth - geograph.org.uk - 518888.jpg , Stone portico entrance File:War Memorial - Holden Park - geograph.org.uk - 518892.jpg , War Memorial File:Crown Green Bowling, Holden Park - geograph.org.uk - 882704.jpg , Crown Green Bowling File:Elevated walkway, Holden Park - geograph.org.uk - 882709.jpg , Elevated walkway

References

External links

Oakworth Village website
(with information about the Friends of Holden Park) {{City of Bradford Parks and commons in Bradford

History

Landmarks

See also

References

External links