The
Unofficial WebsiteClifton Park
The Development of Clifton Park
Clifton Park is only a few minutes from the centre of the town and there can be few towns with so nice a park in such a convenient place. Previously in private ownership, the land was purchased by the Borough in 1891 after the death of its owner and opened to the public later that year by the Prince of Wales. It has remained a favourite ever since.
It contains the town Cenotaph, bandstand, children's paddling pool and play area. There are pleasant gardens, tennis courts, bowling greens, crazy golf, a small skatepark area and Clifton Park Museum (Visit onsite at Culture in Rotherham >> Museums >> Clifton Park Museum). There is a large children's play area and paddling pool (open summer only). There are a children's amusements - train, trampolines, slide, roller coaster (a charge for these). The amusements can be booked for school trips Tel. Philip Wheatley and Sons 07968 966407.
What has been lost? All the elm trees - Dutch Elm Disease got them. The donkeys - even when they weren't giving rides they were often in a little paddock just waiting for a fuss. The aviary - I think some vandals burnt it down or destroyed it and it was never replaced. If my memory isn't failing me I think that there was a little railway - but them that might have been another park. There used to be a very nice cafe but that is now closed but there is now a cafe in the Museum. Oh and the band concerts - the bandstand is still there and in the last few years has been brought back into use for Sunday afternoon concerts on some Sundays in the summer - See Events.
Unless they have been done up recently the public toilets were elderly and quite disgusting. Not quite as bad as the loos in Boston Park but the sort of lavatory that put the 'og' in bog. They are often closed which is not a lot of help. October 2004 - I strolled through the park today with the dog and both sets of bogs were firmly padlocked. There seems to be a portacabin near the children's play area which is a temporary loo but I'm not sure how often it is open. There are loos inside the Museum but its a good ten minutes hike from the play area to the Museum if Little Johnnie get caught short. I took a stroll around that end of the park in July 2006 and it looks as if the temporary loos are certainly open for longish hours in the summer.
Rotherham Show is held here every September - visit onsite at Recreation in Rotherham >> Rotherham Events >> Events Diary >> September Events for more details.
They were in the middle of replanting when I took this, so the gardens are not up to the usual high standards.
I have always believed, indeed I could have sworn, on the Bible if need be, that this was an oak tree. Well after fifty odd years I have found that it is not............. Well what sort of tree is it, you ask? I dunno. I've been told that it is a beech tree.
Car Parking off Clifton Lane by the Museum and off Doncaster Road near the children's play area. A parking charge has been introduced in summer 2007 to try and discourage commuters and shoppers from parking here leaving the spaces free for park users. A lot of the people who use the boeling greens and tennis courts are not best pleased.
There is an active Friends of Clifton Park Group. The aims and objectives of this group include working towards the restoration and, management and maintenance of the park, improvement of the facilities and promoting safe use of the park. Contact the Chair of the Friends Tel 01709 557783 or the Secretary Tel. 01709 373389.