Arrowe Park

Arrowe Park

Arrowe Park in autumn
Type Public park
Location Upton, Merseyside
Coordinates 53°22′03″N 3°06′03″W / 53.367455°N 3.100934°W / 53.367455; -3.100934Coordinates: 53°22′03″N 3°06′03″W / 53.367455°N 3.100934°W / 53.367455; -3.100934
Area 425 acres (1.72 km2)[1]
Created 1926
Operated by Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Open All year

Arrowe Park (also known as Arrowe Country Park) is a village and an area of parkland, woodland and leisure facilities to the west of Birkenhead within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, England. The park comprises approximately 425 acres (172 ha) of land.[1]

History

Arrowe Hall.

In 1807, Liverpool shipowner and slave trader John Shaw bought Arrowe House Farm and the surrounding land.[2] On his death in 1829 it came into the ownership of his nephew, John Ralph Nicholson Shaw, who built Arrowe Hall in 1835 and had the grounds landscaped to form a country estate, with parkland, a lake and workers' cottages. Arrowe Hall may have been designed by John Cunningham, who certainly made additions.[3] The Hall was extended on several occasions in the later 19th century.[4]

The property was handed down to Captain Otho Shaw, a world traveller and collector, who housed numerous items there.[5]

Arrowe Hall and Park were acquired by Lord Leverhulme in 1908, who subsequently sold the estate to Birkenhead Corporation in 1926.[1]

In 1929, the 3rd World Scout Jamboree was held at Arrowe Park, with over 50,000 scouts and 320,000 visitors. There is a monument in the park which commemorates this event.

On 1 April 1974, ownership was transferred from Birkenhead Corporation to the nascent Metropolitan Borough of Wirral local authority.

Description

Arrowe Park Golf Club has an area of 150 acres (61 ha) within the park and consists of a clubhouse and an eighteen hole course. Elsewhere in the park itself, there is a pitch and putt course, tennis courts, bowling greens, football pitches and a children's play area. The "Cherry Orchard" public house was built in 1994. Arrowe Brook flows along the western edge of the park, from south to north, alongside a path. The brook also incorporates Arrowe Park Lake.

Arrowe Hall, a Grade II listed mansion built in the Elizabethan style, is within the park. The building was sold by the local council in 1997[6] and now houses a private care centre.

Arrowe Park Hospital was built on 15-acre (6.1 ha) of parkland and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1982.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Brocklebank, Ralph T. (2003), Birkenhead, An Illustrated History, Breedon Books, p. 112, ISBN 1-85983-350-0
  2. ↑ "Irby resident, Greg Dawson, tells readers of local links with the Liverpool slave trade". Heswall Magazine. June 2013. pp16-17. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "Basic Site Details - Arrow Hall". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  4. ↑ Roberts, Stephen J. (2002), A History of Wirral, ISBN 978-1-86077-512-3
  5. ↑ Owen, John, Arrowe Park and Arrowe Hall, retrieved 14 June 2009
  6. ↑ Arrowe Hall sale, Wirral Globe, 3 February 1997, retrieved 24 December 2007

Bibliography

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