A Walk Through Clifton Park

 

Clifton Park Museum

Arriving at the entrance to Clifton Park on Clifton Lane, having already investigated the geology and geomorphology of Listerdale, Herringthorpe Wood and Wickersley Road, I stopped to take a photograph of the Grade II* Listed Clifton Park Museum – the former home of Joshua Walker, which was once known as Clifton House.

 

The Roman column from Templeborough

The museum once had an excellent geology gallery, which included specimens from an extensive collection of minerals that I catalogued, but this fundamental science barely features in its exhibits nowadays. The last time I visited, the displays had been reduced even further but, being closed due to COVID-19, I didn't get an opportunity to see their current state and I just took a few photos of the Roman remains from Templeborough.

 

Roman remains from Templeborough

 

The cafe, however, was still open for takeaways and I took advantage of this by buying a coffee, before heading down to the Rock Garden, where I relaxed in the afternoon sunshine – having had a good long walk over varied topography without stopping.

 

An information panel at the Rock Garden

 

The Rock Garden was constructed in 1951, as an extension to the existing Memorial Garden, with 800 tonnes of Permian dolomitic limestone and 100 tonnes of York stone crazy paving. It originally featured waterfalls that cascaded down the rocks from the top of the garden, which then flowed down two streams into a pond at the bottom.

 

The Rock Garden

When I first visited Rotherham more than 40 years ago, the Rock Garden was in a dilapidated state and it remained this way until 2009, when it was restored with Jurassic Ancaster limestone during the £4.5 million refurbishment of Clifton Park.

 

The Rock Garden

Clifton Park is set on an escarpment of the Rotherham Red variety of the Mexborough Rock and, although there are no exposures in the park itself, the Rock Garden is just one of many stone features that could be used for an interesting geology lesson - including the large glacial erratics that have been used for landscaping around the paddling pool.

 

A geological map of the area around Clifton Park

These features, and the general refurbishment of the park, provided enough subject matter for an article in the German stone trade journal Stone Plus, before its demise shortly after the global recession at this time, which was then reproduced in Down to Earth.

 

An article for Stone Plus

 

Although I have seen Rotherham MBC’s interest in geology wane over the years, which I highlighted after my visit to Boston Park the previous month, I did obtain a small grant to implement a lesson plan with the Art, Design and Technology Faculty at Brinsworth Academy. Unfortunately, however, I could not complete this within the financial year because I was offered a job in Dublin with the Geological Survey of Ireland.

 

The Memorial Gardens

I continued my short walk through Clifton Park by taking the path from the Rock Garden down to the Memorial Garden behind the Grade II Listed Cenotaph, where the latest addition has been the memorial to the WWII casualties in 2015.

 

The monument to the casualties of WWII

Finally, although I have photographed it several times, I took advantage of the late afternoon sunshine to have another look at the Cenotaph. This is made with the renowned Bolton Woods sandstone from near Bradford, with a broad base comprising steps of grey granite quarried from the Cornubian batholith in south-west England and Greenmoor Rock paving from Shepley.

 

The Cenotaph

Leaving Clifton Park, I turned round to photograph the fine set of main entrance gates, also built in Bolton Woods sandstone, before walking down Wharncliffe Street to catch my bus back to Treeton – to end a very productive day.

 

The main gates at Clifton Park