Wibsey Parks

On Whitmonday (a term not often used these days but actually the day following the Christian festival of Pentecost, and now superceded by the late spring bank holiday) 1885 the official opening of Wibsey Park & Recreation Grounds took place.

This was the culmination of some five years of local activity which in 1881 resulted in the Inclosure Act for the waste and commons of Wibsey and Wibsey Low Moor; and much later the creation of the North Bierley cemetery off Abb Scott Lane.

Inclosures such as this one required a special Act of Parliament, and the Inclosure Commissioners stipulated certain conditions in the Act which had to be adhered to. Incidentally, the North Bierley Inclosure Act of 1881 is one of the latest in the country, much common land having been enclosed earlier, even from the 14th century. The long, stone walls to be seen in the Yorkshire Dales are often the result of enclosures.

But Wibsey didn't have so much pasture or agricultural land: it was developing into a busy industrial area. Nevertheless, the proposal for the enclosure (both in/ enclosure seem to be acceptable) allocated about 100 acres, or about one quarter of the divisible waste, for public use. This included 30 acres for a recreation ground on a suitable portion of Wibsey Slack; about the same area in Low Moor which became Harold Park; open spaces of 5-10 acres at Odsal and at Oakenshaw for 'the playing of orderly games'.

The remaining about-to-be enclosed land would be partly for new roads, and finally some would be sold to raise funds to meet the expenses of the enclosure. The North Bierley Local Board, of which Wibsey formed a part, asked for another 20 acres near Odsal for a cemetery. There was some resistance and controversy about this but the Commissioners insisted. People don't often think of a cemetery as an 'amenity', but an area like the burgeoning town of Bradford — and Wibsey - needed such a place.

To be continued...

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