The Felling Park's Journey Thro' Time

Love Parks Week

14-23 July 2017

Holly Hill..a grassy area shown on this map

became this, when it was discovered that stone lay beneath

When the quarry was exhausted the hole was filled in and it became a pocket of land which could not be built on. There was a number of exhausted quarries in Felling and they became a cricket pitch, a cemetery, a nature park or in this case, a recreation park. A park was an obvious choice anyway when Felling Council built their Council Offices on the land next door. This was a great showpiece place for the Council's Parks Dept, sloping as it does towards the then main road linking Newcastle with Sunderland.
And what a showpiece it was..

To the left, on this picture, the land flattens out and at one time there was a bandstand there.

When life was simpler, when houses were not centrally heated and there were no TVs or computers a park was used more than it can be expected to be used now. Kids certainly use swings, slides and roundabouts but they do not use, but do abuse, a showpiece park as this was and will be again soon

The Felling Heritage Group , in 2014, did some work in the Park to bring it some way towards what it was

as it was the venue for the culmination of a march to recognise the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I

This pic was taken today, 18 July 2017.
The Friends of Felling Park and Town Centre Group are now working to bring new life to the park, again.  It's a big job and they need more volunteers. If interested, click this Friends link