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May 28, 2006

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You are here:   Local History > Gateshead's History > Gateshead Places > Saltwell Park


Saltwell Park
BY: Jenifer Maughan
Mon Jan 30, 2006 16:22

Saltwell Park, one of the largest and finest municipal Parks in the north of England, remains a very popular traditional park.

The Park was not the earliest public park in Gateshead. In 1857, in an editorial in the Gateshead Observer, Windmill Hills was suggested as the site of a public park. In May 1861, the owners of the Windmill Hills land, the boroughholders of Gateshead, approached the Town Council. Ten acres were offered on the understanding that they be made 'a place of agreeable resort and recreation for the public in general'. The land was formally handed over on the 18th November 1861. The main factories closed for the day and there was a general holiday in the town.

The intention was to add six acres from the Redheugh estate to the Windmill Hills Park. This, including tree-planting and palisading, was estimated to cost about £4,000. However, Henry Askew's asking price for the land alone was £4,000, so the project was abandoned. Over the next fifteen years there must have been a considerable change of attitude about the value to the borough of a park, as the Corporation was willing to pay more than eight times that sum for Saltwell Park.

On 12th August 1874, the Corporation appointed a committee to meet Sir Walter James to ask his terms of sale of the 14-acre Half Mile Field and either the field to the east of it or the Long Field on its western side. These fields were part of the extensive Shipcote Estate and in present day terms formed the area bounded by Alexandra Road, Whitehall Road, Rectory Road, Hyde Park Street, Saltwell Road, Dunsmuir Grove, Westfield Road and Westfield Terrace. The scheme eventually extended to the proposed purchase of about 40 acres of land, of which some would be sold and the remainder used as public park.

At the end of September 1874, J.W.Swinburne, the Town Clerk, wrote to George Spain (land agent to Sir Walter James) outlining the Corporation's scheme and requesting his comments. Spain replied that Sir Walter did not entirely approve of the scheme but was willing to select about 15 acres of land which he would sell for use as a park at £650 per acre. The committee was of the opinion that this figure must be a mistake as it represented more than was being asked for building land.

While the committee was attempting to negotiate with Sir William James public meetings were being held in Gateshead in support of the idea of a public park, and Sir Walter's offer gave rise to some adverse comment. On 22nd October 1874 the Town Clerk reported that Sir Walter had written to the daily papers declining to continue negotiations for the purchase by the Corporation of any part of Shipcote Estate due to 'language used against him at a public meeting'. A letter was hastily sent off to Sir Walter disclaiming any concurrence or connivance of the Corporation with the views expressed at the meeting.

At the same time the Town Clerk was instructed to write to William Wailes of Saltwell Towers, a prominent stained glass manufacturer, asking the terms on which he would be willing to sell four fields, part of the Saltwell Estate, and totalling nearly 37 acres. On 11th November, William Wailes replied, stating that he planned to use the western fields (18 acres) as sites for villa residence for which he would expect to receive £11,000. He could offer 15 acres to the Corporation at £9-9,500. His price for the whole of his land was £32,000, but if divided, £16,000 for the four fields and £17,000 for his house and its grounds.

Negotiations were still continuing with Sir William James, but at a meeting of 16th March 1875 between the Committee and Sir Walter James and George Spain, Sir Walter stated that he did not wish to compete with William Wailes, and recommended Wailes' land where the trees were already growing well. He offered to subscribe to any scheme decided on.

On 22nd March the Corporation decided to open negotiations with William Wailes. The committee recommended the purchase of the whole of the Dene and as much of the four fields as could be obtained based on a computation of the product of an annual 3d. rate. 'We would have been very glad to recommend the purchase of the entire property and have only refrained from doing so lest the burden of taxation upon the Borough should become excessive.' The Council considered the possibility of reselling 6 acres for housing development and drew up four possible schemes, the costs of each varying from £22,866 to £38,000.

The Parks Committee, as it was now called, recommended on 10th May that the whole of the property , with the exception of the mansion house and about 2 acres of land around it, should be purchased. Mr. Wailes was to be asked to enter into restrictive covenants to prevent the excepted land being used to the detriment of the park.

The committee 'ventured to trust that the offer of Sir Walter James to subscribe towards the cost of enclosing the land will be followed by other wealthy residents and landowners in Gateshead and its vicinity and by others whose interests are identified with the interests of Gateshead'.

In September 1875 the Local Government Board held an inquiry and in November sanctioned a loan of £35,000 to the Corporation to purchase the whole property. An agreement was reached with William Wailes whereby he was to lease the mansion house during his lifetime at £140 per annum, free from local rates, with power to sub-let.

In December 1875, John Hancock of Newcastle (1808-1890), the famous ornithologist and landscape gardener, who had planned a layout of the Town Moor in 1868 which was never fully realised, was asked to prepare a plan for Saltwell Park, but declined due to pressure of work. Edward Kemp of Birkenhead was retained at 4 guineas per day to lay out the ground plan, which was submitted in February 1876. Its lines are still broadly evident today .

Mr. Kemp proposed that there was to be a broad walk along the east side of the four fields; the principal entrance was to be in the north east side of the four fields with another entrance at the north west corner; a lodge was to be erected at the principal entrance; a bowling green, skating rink and croquet ground were to be laid out, with a 3 acre lake, refreshment room and a site for a drinking fountain.

In early 1876 the Park was prepared for opening; the hedges enclosing the four fields were rooted out and the whole area ploughed by a steam plough; the Town Surveyor ordered one dozen of metal plates marked "please keep off the grass"; and police supervision of the Park was arranged. A formal opening was planned for Whit Monday, 1876, but this decision was rescinded, and it seems that the Park was never officially opened.

In its early years, Saltwell Park showed signs of becoming transformed into a zoo. In June 1877, there were in the Park grounds 3 swans, 47 ducks, 4 peacocks and 1 peahen, 8 pheasants, 3 hens, 1 bantam cock and 1 bantam hen. In 1880 the Chief Constable of Gateshead, John Elliott paid for the construction of an aviary, supplied birds, and in the same year he had built a monkey house and provided monkeys. These, however, were not a success and in October 1880 the male monkeys were ordered to be removed 'forthwith'. In 1882 Lord Ravensworth presented two deer to the Park and it may have been one of these which involved the Corporation in litigation and expenses of £650 when a visitor to the Park in 1889 was gored by a stag. Further trouble is apparent in 1890, when the Park's raccoon was presented to the London Zoo and it was resolved that in future 'no vicious animal' would be allowed in the Park.

A bandstand was one of the earliest buildings to be erected in the Park. This was planned in July 1876, and the Abbot Memorial School and the Workhouse bands were invited to play there. In April 1883 the bandstand was moved to a new site near the refreshment house, but a new bandstand was opened in May 1895. (This was moved to an island in the lake in 1909, and to the Grove in 1921. It can now be seen at Beamish Museum). The bands giving concerts in the Park in May and June 1896 were the 5th Volunteer Battalion D.L.I., Gateshead Borough Brass Band, and the Railway Servants' Brass Band.

The lake, one of the main features of Saltwell Park, was formed in 1880. Bore-holes were made through the site and in August 1880 a tender for the construction of a 4 acre lake with island rockery was accepted. The lake was completed by the end of the year and Joseph Wilson Swan was asked to advise on the lighting of the lake by gas or electricity, but no action appears to have been taken on this. Skating on the frozen lake began in December 1880. In 1886 the Gateshead Model Yacht Club began to use part of the lake, and this led to endless disputes with users of rowing boats. These had been in use for some years and various other forms of water transport were tried with varying degrees of success. In May 1891 'a canoe had been obtained on hire but as yet had not proved a success as it had already capsized thrice'. More successful was the motor-boat, the John Maccoy, which began to ply the lake in 1909.

Other amenities began to make their appearance in various parts of the Park. A maze was opened in 1877, and the first bowling green was turfed in 1878. In June 1883, H.D.Longstaffe, a noted local antiquary, proposed that the fourteenth century Teams Bridge, then being replaced, should be re-erected in the Park, but the committee did not agree to this. A tennis lawn was laid down in 1884. A quoit ground was added in 1886. A refreshment house , which was let to tenants during the summer, had been opened in 1878, but it was never an outstanding success. In 1912 the tenant complained that 'the great craze of trippers is now to go to Whitley Bay with the result that we are getting less of them each year much as we try to induce them'.

Throughout much of this period, parts of Saltwell Park were being used as grazing ground for farm animals. In 1877, for example, a Mr. Hall of Gosforth Hall farm was pasturing 77 sheep in the Park, and this continued until at least 1906. The Park had become the ideal site for various local events, in addition to the regular band concerts. There was a firework display by Pain's in 1883, and a visit from Newsome's Circus in 1886. Gateshead Flower Show was regularly held in the Park. In September 1886 the intrepid Professor Baldwin offered to make a balloon ascent from the Park, but his offer was declined.

The Park was not without its troubles. In January 1894 'The Committee's attention was called to the improper behaviour of young men occupying seats in the Park who by use of foul language and filthy remarks are a public disgrace, ladies especially being the butt of their coarse innuendoes and Sunday afternoon the time of their greatest activity'. Two plain clothes policemen were put on duty in the Park.

The South African War Memorial of 1906 commemorates the lives of those Gateshead people who died in the war of 1899.

Over the years various schemes for the enlargement of the Park had been proposed. A suggestion that Heathfield and its grounds should be bought and added to the Park was put forward in 1896, but no action was taken. Part of Ferndene Estate was offered in 1902. Finally in 1920 Saltwell Grove Estate, adjoining the Park on the south, was bought and opened to the public. In May 1922, George L. Collins offered to sell South Dene Towers; the Corporation's offer of £6,800 was not sufficient, although the estate was finally bought in 1938.

During the Second World War, the value of Saltwell Park was decisively demonstrated. At the request of the government, a programme of 'Holidays at Home' was begun, which, commencing in the summer of 1942, provided various entertainments such as bowls and tennis tournaments, concerts and children's sports, most of which took place within Saltwell Park.

Sources for the information above include
Gateshead M.B.C. Parks Committee. Report on Saltwell Park. June 1980. L711.558

Gateshead Local History Society Bulletins, Nos 11 and 16. L906

Green, Fiona A guide to the Historic Parks and Gardens of Tyne and Wear. Tyne and Wear Specialist Conservation Team. 1995. Available from many of Gateshead's Libraries. Sale copies also available.













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