Littleboroughs Hare Hill Park

Hare Hill Park and House

What is now Hare hill Park was for very many years the land and gardens of Hare Hill House. Now being fully restored and adapted to Community use the History of the House is a valuable Start

Use this link for HARE HILL PARK

HARE HILL HOUSE

The house is believed to have been developed from an existing small farm house/weavers’ cottage in 1774/5 by the Newall family and four generations went on to call it home. The House was given a major make over around 1870 with a mansard roof added which enabled a number of new rooms on the second floor and the striking bay window was built onto the west facing wall. Externally, a large conservatory and hot house were added to the right of the house.

Under Local Council Control

In 1901 the house was leased to the recently formed Littleborough Urban

District Council (LUDC), along with a large area of land for the annual sum of £323 19s 8d. Shortly afterwards. the council added a library in 1903 with a £2,600 grant from Andrew Carnegie and developed the surrounding land as a public park with tennis courts, a bowling green and a boating lake. The land also accommodated the new Central Board School also opened in 1903. LUDC adapted the house to include a number of offices, a council chamber, a residence for a park keeper and caretaker. After local authority reorganisations with LUDC ceasing to exist in 1974 the house continued to be used by the local authority until 2010.

Moorhouse Trust and more Volunteers

With Rochdale Council moving out of Hare Hill House its future was in the balance so the experienced Moorend Trust was asked if it could work with volunteers to develop the house for community use. By 2012 Moorland Trust and local volunteers had taken on the project and started to raise money and public interest in Hare Hill House.

The information on Hare Hill Coach House is a summary of that provided by local historian Iain Bowden - received with thanks)

Since then, hard work has been rewarded by a revitalised local asset with additional information Booklet No 5 in the Industrial History series pictured right.

HARE HILL PARK

The attractive park and bowling green are an important green space which, including the Cricket Ground stretches from the old gas works site in the west to Town House in the east.

The park was originally created by the Newall’s, a prominent local family in the Victorian era as part of their Hare Hill House. It sits snugly in the very heart of the Littleborough community. The family’s beneficiaries sold the house and gardens to Littleborough Urban District Council in 1900. Hare Hill Park is a traditional Victorian Park with many original features. It has a wide range of leisure facilities, and is also home to the Littleborough Library. Whilst owned and managed by Rochdale Borough Council the park also hugely benefits from have the volunteer group “Friends of Hare Hill Park” who have been instrumental in returning the park to its former glory. They have attracted over £250,000 for its restoration which means that many original features can be appreciated by visitors today (this paragraph is based on the information available from https://www.rochdale.gov.uk/directory-record/736/hare-hill-park-green-flag-award-littleborough

Some features have changed over the years with some losses such as the Boating Lake, Putting Area and Tennis Courts but these hve been replaced by either new leisure facilities or attractive gardens. New wooden features have also appeared around the park. The best way to describe the park is through illustrations of the park over the years.