Highfield Country Park
Encyclopedia
Levenshulme
Levenshulme is an urban area of the City of Manchester, in North West England. It borders Longsight, Gorton, Burnage, Heaton Chapel and Reddish, and is approximately halfway between Stockport and Manchester City Centre on the A6 road. The A6 bisects Levenshulme. The Manchester to London railway...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, that stretches to the east of Broom Avenue across to the rear of Reddish Golf Course and to the junction of Longford Road, Reddish
Reddish
Reddish is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. It is north of Stockport and southeast of Manchester...
and Nelstrop Road, Levenshulme.
Prior to 2004 the park was jointly maintained by Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council is the local government authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of 96 councillors, three for each of the 32 electoral wards of Manchester. Currently the council is controlled by the Labour Party and is led by...
and a group of volunteers called The Friends of Highfield Park. In July 2004 the park came to the attention of the Prudential Grass Roots campaign (run by the BTCV
BTCV
BTCV is a British charitable organisation that works to facilitate environmental conservation through practical tasks undertaken by volunteers...
conservation charity). Over a 12 month period the park was transformed from a dreary, vandalised wasteland into a country park with a picnic area and mapped out country walks.
In November 2007, Highfield Country Park, along with Boggart Hole Clough
Boggart Hole Clough
Boggart Hole Clough is a large urban park in Blackley, a district of Manchester, England. It occupies an area of approximately , part of an ancient woodland, with picturesque cloughs varying from steep ravines to sloping gullies. Clough is a local dialect word for a steep sided, wooded valley...
in Charlestown, was declared a Local Nature Reserve
Local Nature Reserve
Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...
, providing a protected habitat for many animal and plant species.
History of the site
The land was used to extract clay for the manufacture of bricks for the building industry.The clay pit
Clay pit
A clay pit is a quarry or mine for the extraction of clay, which is generally used for manufacturing pottery, bricks or Portland cement.The brickyard or brickworks is often located alongside the clay pit to reduce the transport costs of the raw material. These days pottery producers are often not...
and brickworks
Brickworks
A brickworks also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock often with a quarry for clay on site....
existed at the turn of the 20th century, and by the 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
was being operated by the Jackson Brick Company.
In the 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
it was designated as a country park
Country park
A country park is an area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment.-History:In the United Kingdom the term 'Country Park' has a special meaning. There are over 400 Country Parks in England alone . Most Country Parks were designated in the 1970s, under the...
by the council
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
, but at the time it was little more than a landfill
Landfill
A landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...
site and sometime site of the UCP
United Cattle Products
United Cattle Products was a chain of shops and restaurants in the north of England which specialised in tripe dishes. In the 1950s there were 146 restaurants.-External links:...
tripe
Tripe
Tripe is a type of edible offal from the stomachs of various farm animals.-Beef tripe:...
factory, Levenshulme Dye and Bleach works, High Field Farm, and Jackson's brickworks. The latter's clay pit was much used by local children as a play area known as "The Brickie".
“The excavations were dotted with numerous ponds & small lakes, and it is likely that some children were badly injured while playing there”