Boston Park in Rotherham

 

An exposure of Rotherham Red sandstone in December 2011

When I first visited Rotherham more than 40 years ago, while visiting friends that I had met at Nottingham University, where I was studying for a degree in geology, I was shown the Grade II Listed Boston Park, Boston Castle and the surrounding Canklow Woods.

 

Boston Park in 1994

I was particularly impressed by the extensive exposure of Rotherham Red sandstone, the variety of Mexborough Rock that gives the historic buildings of Rotherham and many of its surrounding villages a locally distinctive character.

 

A promotional event by the South Yorkshire RIGS Group

Many years later, in 1994, when the recently formed South Yorkshire RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) Group selected a handful of sites for their first ‘promotional fortnight’ - to introduce the general public to the county’s geology – it was an obvious choice, along with Roche Abbey in Rotherham.

 

RIGS selection in South Yorkshire

A couple of years later, after the RIGS Group had undertaken surveys in Rotherham and Barnsley, to add to geological surveys previously completed in Sheffield – but with Doncaster not yet joining in with the initiative – Boston Park was selected as the only ‘5 Star Site’ and it was proposed by Rotherham MBC Forward Planning as Rotherham’s first geological nature reserve.

 

Boston Park in December 2011

This took into account the adjoining ancient woodland in Canklow Wood, with its Scheduled Monument, the Grade II Listed Boston Castle and the nearby Moorgate Cemetery – all of which together were considered to have very high heritage, aesthetic and educational value.

 

A bed of ironstone pellets

 

Apart from a spectacular rock face, where conglomeratic beds of ironstone pellets could clearly be seen, along with the large scale cross-bedding and various other sedimentary structures, I identified many points of geological interest in the park.

 

The doorway from the College of Jesus in 2009

In addition to the doorway from the College of Jesus, these included a basalt grindstone from an old windmill, which has been used as a base for the ‘directional pointer’, a crocketted finial left over from the restoration of All Saints church and borders to the various paths through the park marked out by lumps of white gypsum.

 

Gypsum border markers

For many years, I campaigned to get a leaflet produced – like the well received Anston Stones Wood Geological Trail – but changes to the staff in the forward planning department at Rotherham MBC led to a loss of interest in the geology of the town, with the South Yorkshire RIGS Group eventually grinding to a halt.

 

A closed and fenced off walkway left to deteriorate

Although Boston Castle has been since restored and reopened, albeit underused, Boston Park itself has been left to decay, with the closure of the bowling green and the removal of all of the flowerbeds. Various stone walls and steps have fallen into a state of considerable disrepair, areas are fenced off and many of the interesting features have been removed, buried or vandalised.

 

The vandalised directional pointer

With Rotherham MBC delegating their statutory responsibilities, with respect to geological conservation, to volunteers at the SAGT (Sheffield Area Geology Trust) – comprising mainly retired teachers and university academics who don’t even live in Rotherham and made no effort to contribute to the RIGS initiative - I gave up trying to put some good ideas into practice and the best exposure of Rotherham Red sandstone has just been left to become overgrown.

 

The site of the old bowls pavilion in August 2018