Stockwood Park
Stockwood Park | |
---|---|
Type | public park |
Location | Luton, Bedfordshire England |
Coordinates | 51°51′55″N 0°25′29″W / 51.865278°N 0.424722°W |
Area | about 100 hectares (one square kilometre) [1] |
Operated by | Luton Borough Council |
Status | Open all year |
Stockwood Park is a large
Golf Centre
Stockwood Park Golf Centre opened in 1973 but since early 2020 Luton Council have been developing plans to close the golf course and manage the area as part of the Stockwood Country Park. Throughout its life the centre has been very profitable to the council but, in no small part, due to the mismanagement of the site by Active Luton (a company set up by the council in 2005) the centre has seen a huge reduction in both usage and income over the years. Luton Council now see the golf centre as a non viable business and as such, its future is in serious doubt.
Museum
Stockwood Discovery Centre, in the 18th century stables of the former Stockwood House, has displays of rural crafts and trades. They are representative of life in Bedfordshire before the Industrial Revolution. The collection was amassed by T. W. Bagshawe.[citation needed]
History
The park was originally the estate and grounds to Stockwood House, which was demolished in 1964.[2]
When Stockwood House was built in 1740 by John Crawley, the grounds were laid out in a fashion befitting one of Bedfordshire’s leading landowners. The enclosed walled gardens provided shelter for growing fruit and vegetables for the house. One of the walled gardens now displays a series of gardens illustrating the changing styles of gardening through the ages.
Soon after the outbreak of World War II, the house was converted to a hospital catering for children suffering with hip diseases. The patients were transferred by converted single deck buses from the Bartholomews Hospital at Swanley in Kent. It was considered to be too dangerous in that area because it was on the edge of the balloon barrage. However Luton saw enemy activity due to the nearby motor works. Initially there was not any X-ray facility there, but one was added later and housed in the stable block. Before that installation, patients were taken by private car to nearby Luton and Dunstable hospital. The house was then named Alexandra Hospital for Children with Hip Disease.[3] The house, in a poor state, was demolished in 1964.
The park is sometimes used by Irish Travellers as a halting site.
Gardens
The
Clipped hedges and urns decorate the small formal Dutch garden, replicating those designed by William Kent for Alexander Pope’s garden at Twickenham and the Wilderness Garden at Great Linford Manor.
English 17th-century gardens were heavily influenced by Dutch, French and the Italian styles. The Italian Garden is centered on a well head that once stood in front of Stockwood House.
The
The Improvement Garden is a classical garden with sculptures full of allusions to ancient Greece and Rome.
See also
References
- ^ a b "Welcome to Luton.gov/uk Stockwood Park". web page. Luton Borough Council. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ "Bedford Today". bedfordtoday.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 June 2006.
- ^ "Barts Health - Barts Health NHS Trust homepage". bartsandthelondon.nhs.uk.
External links
Media related to Stockwood Park at Wikimedia Commons