Photographs Of Newcastle: Gosforth Central Park

The park is situated north of the City in the South Gosforth Ward and lies between Moor Road North and Church Road. At a cost of £10,000 Central Park was created in 1932 out of seven acres of land previously occupied by Sanderson Nursery. This is still remembered by the little lane running north from Gosforth Shopping Centre towards Church Road known as Garden Street.

The Park was opened to the public by the Chairman of the Gosforth Urban District Council (UDC) on the 6th August 1932. The south Bowling Green was laid out and opened by Mrs. Blenkinsop, wife of the UDC Chairman on the 15th June 1934.

Later in 1934 more land belonging to the Roman Catholic authorities which adjoined the park abutting onto Church Road and Moor Road North was acquired. Maxwell Hart Limited, of Manchester was awarded a contract to lay an additional north Bowling Green for £680. Play area facilities were available from the 1st May 1937, but the UDC dispensed with an opening ceremony.

17th October 2024

I was in the area with a little time to spare so paid an early morning visit to the park. The sun hadn't risen in every corner of the park.

Nature Area.

A new area since my last visit

War Memorial.

Gosforth War Memorial Pillar was erected in front of the new Gosforth Memorial Welfare Centre (not listed) on Church Road. These two First World War memorials formed the local community’s monument to the local servicemen who died in the First World War. The Welfare Centre was opened by Mrs CA Cochrane on 28 January 1925, whilst the pillar was unveiled as part of the ceremony by the Duke of Northumberland.

The memorial pillar cost £152, raised as part of the general War Memorial Fund in a campaign led by the Gosforth War Memorial Committee. The pillar commemorates 274 local servicemen who died in the First World War: their names are recorded on brass plaques inside the Welfare Centre. A later dedication to commemorate the town’s Second World War losses was unveiled in 1949. The memorial was moved from its original location and now stands in the centre of Gosforth Central Park on the site of the old bandstand. Raised here on a three-stepped brick base, the local authority has recently replaced these steps with stone.

The memorial stands approximately 4m tall and built of red Carlisle sandstone, it takes the form of a broad octagonal pillar with a moulded capstone. The pillar stands on a large plinth, square on plan. The plinth is raised on a stepped base. The whole is enclosed by metal railings.

The principal dedicatory inscription, recorded on a bronze plaque fixed to the front face of the plinth, reads THIS COLUMN AND ADJACENT BUILDING/ WERE ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION/ TO THE MEMORY OF THE MEN OF GOSFORTH/ WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR/ 1914 – 1918/ THEIR NAMES ARE INSCRIBED ON A TABLET/ IN THE VESTIBULE OF THE BUILDING.

The later bronze plaque fixed to the rear of the plinth reads THE HALL TO THE WEST OF THIS STONE/ ERECTED WITH PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION/ WAS DEDICATED ON REMEMBRANCE DAY/ THE 6TH NOVEMBER 1949/ AS A MEMORIAL/ TO THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES/ WHILST SERVING IN H.M. FORCES/ AND THE MERCHANT NAVY/ IN THE 1939-1945 WAR.

Grade 2 Listed. Source: Sitelines