Howard Park was designed by Henry Ernest Milner, Landscape Gardener of Crystal Palace, in 1887. It was one of the Jubilee gifts to Glossop in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
The park was part of a complex that included Wood’s Baths and Wood’s Hospital, the money for which was generously donated by the Woods family, who owned Howardtown Mills. The land was donated by Lord Howard of Glossop.
The park was built on land called ‘Barker’s Clough’. It had a gully, ‘Robin Hood’s Gutter’, which ran through the middle of the site with a steep sided ravine and water running through it, into a reservoir at the bottom; now the lake. Mr Milner incorporated the gully into the park with bridges and waterfalls. There was also a large lawn area with flowerbeds, a rockery, a bandstand, greenhouses and an American garden.
The park was going to be called ‘Victoria Park’ in honour of Queen Victoria, but when the park was opened on 16th June 1888, it was announced it was going to be called ‘Howard Park’. This was controversial decision at the time that was debated in the local newspapers.
The picture above shows the two stone Howard lions. In the distance is the Woods Memorial to Daniel and Samuel Wood, the donors of the park, baths and hospital. They had both sadly died in 1888, before any of the buildings were finished and the memorial was set up by public subscription in Howard Park in 1889. The memorial is topped with a statue of Commerce with a spindle, cogs and cotton bails.