Heritage Lottery Fund and Gateshead Council and is now host to around 2 million visitors per year.[2]
The park is split broadly into three sections. Saltwell Grove, the southern section, is an area of grassed open space with a bandstand to the western corner. The central area contains the centrepiece of the park – Wailes's former home, the Grade II listed Saltwell Towers and its surrounding belvedere walls. These have been fully restored and are now a visitor centre. There are also three war memorials, a yew-tree maze, a dene and an area containing several species of caged animals known as Pet's Corner. The largest section of the park is the Northern Fields section which contains a four-acre boating lake with a wooded island at its centre, as well as three bowling greens and two pavilions.
Saltwell Park has been presented with numerous awards in recent years, including being named "Britain's Best Park" in 2005 and Civic Trust Park of the Year in 2006. It has won a
While Wailes was building Saltwell Towers, Gateshead was expanding and industrialising. The resultant air pollution, poor social conditions and general shortage of clean drinking water in the town led to concern about public health and gave rise to calls for the creation of public parks.[7] One such call was made in 1857 when the editorial of the local newspaper, the Gateshead Observer, demanded that a park be built at Windmill Hills. In 1861, the owners of ten acres of land at Windmill Hills approached the town council and offered the land free of charge so long as it was used as a place of recreation for the people of Gateshead. The land was formally conveyed on 18 November 1861 and the opening of the first public park in Gateshead was celebrated by the closing of workplaces and a day of holiday in the town.[8]
Gateshead Council subsequently considered other sites for a second park, but it was discouraged by the high prices being asked by the estate owners at Redheugh and Shipcote. The Shipcote estate was owned by Sir Walter James, who was approached by a council park committee in 1874 and asked how much would be required to purchase at least part of his estate. Whilst negotiations were ongoing, James' offer to sell part of his estate at £650 per acre was met by fierce criticism from members of the public and the council began to seek an alternative to the Shipcote proposal. The town clerk wrote to William Wailes to ask if he would be willing to sell his 37 acres (15 ha) Saltwellside estate. On 11 November 1874, Wailes replied that the council could have his entire estate for £32,000,[nb 1] and in March 1875 James told the park committee that he did not wish to compete with Wailes but that he would offer a subscription if the council went ahead at Saltwellgate. Later that month the park committee formally opened talks with Wailes and, after various proposals were considered and rejected, in September 1875 the council decided to buy the entire Saltwellgate estate for an increased total price of £35,000 after securing a loan for the full amount from the Local Government Board. The agreement was formalised two months later and included a provision to lease Saltwell Towers back to Wailes for the remainder of his life.[8]
Having obtained the Saltwellgate estate, the council contacted local
guineas a day until his plans were submitted and approved in February 1876. Kemp's plans were implemented over a period of years by borough surveyor James Bowyer at a cost of around £11,000. Original plans to officially open the park on Whit Monday 1876 were not realised, and the park was never officially opened, but nonetheless, public usage began in late 1876.[8][9]
Design and layout
Saltwell Park is located within a residential area around 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) south of Gateshead town centre on land which slopes towards the Team Valley in the west.[10] It is a broad rectangle with boundaries at East and West Park Roads, Saltwell View and Saltwell Road South.[10] The original site purchased from Wailes was joined by the gardens of a late 19th century villa at East Park Road known as Saltwell Grove (or "The Grove") after these were purchased by Gateshead Council in 1920.[9][11] The park today constitutes around 55 acres (22 ha) of land in total.[12][13]
The park is split into three sections – southern, central and northern areas – and the entire park is bordered by perimeter shrubs, plants and trees. The southern Saltwell Grove area is demarcated from the central section by an old stone wall running in a west–east direction which formed the park's original southern boundary and is, according to a Gateshead Council document, an "important feature in the history and development of the park".[9][14] This section consists largely of open space, meandering pathways skirting the perimeter, a bandstand and some flowerbeds. Entrances to this section of the park are to the west at Saltwell Road and to the extreme south-east corner.[14]
The central section comprises Saltwell Towers and its grounds and is some 17 acres (6.9 ha) in total area.[8] Saltwell Towers is located in the middle of the central section of the park and it is surrounded to the south by its accompanying walls, walkways and ha-ha. An enclosed rose garden lies to the east of the building and to the west there is a maze and a dene through which a stream runs into a lily-pond at an entrance to the park at Saltwell Road South. The approach from the southern section is a large grassed area replete with paths which wind towards a footbridge to the Towers, which is used for general leisure activities and picnicking and is home to a stone-built war memorial. The entrance to the footbridge is the site of a bronze war memorial which sits in the centre of a roundabout surrounded by bedding flowers.[14] The footbridge was built in 2003 and is also a war memorial.[15]
The northern section of the park constitutes 19 acres (7.7 ha) of land[8] and can be accessed either by external entrances at the north-eastern corner of the park and West Park Road or internally from the central section through the dene or from Pets Corner. The north-eastern entrance consists of a pair of imposing gateposts and the view from this access point sweeps across the entire northern section of the park.[16] The eastern perimeter of this section is a terraced walkway known as the Broadwalk with adjacent, banked bedded planting. A central path from the Broadwalk splits a large grassed area almost neatly in half and leads to a lake and two child's play areas.[9] A path circles the perimeter of the lake and seating is placed at the fringe of the lake at various points.[17] To the south of the lake are three bowling greens and to the north are tennis courts.[14] These cannot be seen from the lake due to a screen of plants.[9] The plants within the screen are typical of those bedded throughout the park, which include French marigolds, roses, tulips, phlomis, sedum and silver dust.[18]