The Park

Weston Park is one of the most complete examples in the country of the later work of Robert Marnock and was the first municipal park in Sheffield.

Historical importance

Weston Park was developed from the grounds of Weston Hall, a grand house built in the early 1800’s for Thomas Harrison, an eminent sawmaker. After his death the city council acquired the land in 1873 and commissioned Marnock to create a public park. Robert Marnock was one of the greatest park and garden designers of the 19c.

He perfected the ‘gardenesque’ style of landscape design, which features winding paths and trees scattered across grass lawns in an informal style. Many of these features are still clearly visible today. As well as Weston Park, Robert Marnock also designed many other parks in Sheffield including the Sheffield Botanical Gardens and High Hazels Park.

He went on to lay out gardens for the Royal Botanic Society in Regent’s Park in London, before becoming their first curator. He continued to work there right up to his retirement at the age of 79!

The park has been the venue for many famous events over the years

Monuments, Memorials and Structures

The park contains 7 different Grade ll listed structures, all of which provide a fascinating glimpse into Sheffield’s past.

Ebenezer Elliott (1781-1849)

Ebenezer Elliott was born in Rotherham and started writing poetry while working in the iron industry. Ebenezer was a non-conformist who hated injustice and had a real interest in the living condition of ordinary Sheffielders.

The great campaign in Elliott’s life was to expose the injustice of the 1804 Corn Laws and get them repealed. These laws, which put a tax on food, were especially hard on the poor. Ebenezer’s poetry on the Corn Laws made him famous with the nickname of the “Paupers poet”, and they are commonly known as the ‘Corn Law rhymes’. He wrote over 315 poems in his lifetime

After moving from Rotherham to Sheffield, he set up an iron and steel warehouse on Gibraltar Street, near Shalesmoor, whilst he lived in a villa in Upperthorpe.

Following his death, a public collection raised £600 to commission a statute by the Cornish sculptor N.N. Dunnard. It shows Elliott sitting on one of his favourite rocks in the Rivlen valley and was originally situated in the High Street.

Godfrey Sykes (1824 – 1865)

Born in 1824 in Malton, Godfrey Sykes began as an engraver at the Sheffield School of Art. His earliest work was a series of studies of local craftsmen and a frieze on the theme of labour for the local Mechanics' Institute in Surrey Street, this was set up largely through the efforts of Ebenezer Elliott.

In 1859 he moved to London where he supervised the decorative design of the Victoria and Albert museum in London. Sykes developed the “South Kensington Style” and his schemes for the Museum's South Court and Restaurant illustrate the idea of the reform of society through the reform of design.

The memorial in Weston Park is made of made of stone and terracotta and was designed by Godfrey’s pupil James Gamble and depicts youth, maturity and old age.

Bandstand

This is the only surviving Victorian bandstand in a Sheffield park. It is listed by English Heritage and was designed in 1874 by the Sheffield architects Flockton and Gibbs. It was not built until about 1900 and was paid for by the profits of the electric tramways. It was made by James Allen & Sons of Glasgow at the Elmbank Foundry as one of a pair commissioned for Sheffield parks, (the other was in Hillsborough Park), and it is referred to in their catalogue as a “model No. 9 bandstand”.

Its most interesting feature is the retractable sash windows which drop down below the floor. This unusual feature, as well as sheltering the musicians, also helps to project the sound from their instruments.

The bandstand in Weston Park was in regular use until the mid 1970’s.