The People's Park in Halifax

 

The terrace at the People's Park

Arriving at the People’s Park to continue my exploration of Halifax, the next 'building' on my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge were the Grade II listed gate piers which, as at the south-east entrance, appear to be built using Elland Flags sandstone and not the Rough Rock. 

 

Gate piers at the south entrance

 

Entering the park, I didn’t see any information about its history, but it is considered to be one of the finest surviving examples of a 'Joseph Paxton, park, which was created in 1857 and was donated to the people of Halifax by Sir Francis Crossley of John Crossley and Sons - the largest manufacturer of carpets in the world, based at the complex of mills at Dean Clough. 

 

The southern steps to the terrace

 

Approaching the southern steps of the western terrace, which was not part of my Photo Challenge, I was reminded of the upper terrace (1854) at Crystal Palace Park, which was designed by Paxton when the Crystal Palace was relocated there from Hyde Park in 1851. 

 

A Carrara marble urn

 

On a lesser scale, the use of balustrades and large pediments with Grade II* listed white Carrara marble urns and statues by the sculptor Francesco Bienaimé - Hercules, Venus, Diana, Telemachus, Sophocles, a Neapolitan music girl, a dancing girl (after Canova) and the now missing Apollo – are presumably based on Paxton’s earlier work. 

 

Statues on the terrace

As seen with many marble statues, monuments and memorials that have been placed outside and subjected to the British climate, the statues at the People’s Park have not weathered very well and some of them have lost their sharp details and sometimes part of their arms. 

 

A detail of the Neapolitan music girl

Continuing along the terrace, the Grade II* listed Crossley Pavilion was designed by G.H. Stokes, who was articled to Sir George Gilbert Scott before joining Paxton at the Chatsworth Estate, where Historic England (HE) state that Dorset House and The Square in Beeley are possibly attributed to him. 

 

Views of the Crossley Pavilion

 

It is built in a Classical style using sandstone from the Elland Flags, with screen walls, fountain pools, mask and shell fountains and decorated keystones. The large apse in the rear of the pavilion contains a seated figure of Sir Francis Crossley, carved in white Carrara marble by Joseph Duham, which is surrounded by iron railings. 

 

Sculptural details on the Crossley Pavilion

 

The People’s Park is a Grade II* listed park and garden and much of the northern end is landscaped with large blocks of gritstone to form a large rockery, the sides of the path from Hopwood Lane and alongside the serpentine pond on the east side of the park. 

 

Views of gritstone blocks used for landscaping

 

I managed to obtain a small piece of gritstone, which is coarse grained and undoubtedly from the Rough Rock, which underlies the park. It is quite likely that the gritstone was obtained during the landscaping of the park and, as seen at the Rock Garden at Chatsworth House, Paxton had by now mastered the movement of extremely large blocks of stone. 

 

A piece of Rough Rock from the rockery

The next ‘listed building’ on my Photo Challenge was a sundial that is one of two that HE  listed in the park, but which the southern one seems to have been removed. Dated 1858, it is made with fine/medium grained sandstone that is again very probably from the Elland Flags, with its inscription recording that it was a gift from Alderman Matthew Smith in 1873.

 

The north sundial

Although not part of my Photo Challenge, the Grade II* listed fountain (c.1856), with a Carrara marble statue and dolphins, was relocated from the Winter Garden at Somerleyton Hall in Suffolk c.1914 and replaced Paxton’s original fountain, which was a series of jets in concentric circles. 

 

The fountain

 

The drinking fountain, which is Grade II listed for group value is dated by HE as probably later C19 and the inscription records that it was a gift by J. Thorp, which research indicates was the Quaker Joseph Thorp - the president of the Temperance League - and that it was donated in 1857. 

 

The drinking fountain

 

After taking photos of the south and north bridges, I finished my very brief walk around the People’s Park to photograph the gate piers at the north-east entrance, before heading off to find the last two buildings on my Photo Challenge. 

 

The gate piers at the north-east entrance