In praise of Heswall's Dawstone Park at 90 - and the volunteers who develop and maintain this important green space

Above: a gallery of pictures

Dawstone Park is celebrating its 90th birthday.

Fair enough, it may not be a centenary, but it's an opportunity nevertheless to remember how important the park is to the environment and community, and to praise the council, the Heswall Society and volunteers who have done so much to protect, develop and maintain it.

Opened in 1931, Dawstone Park has a special place at the heart of Heswall, standing as it does between the Lower Village and Heswall town, and offering far-reaching views over the Dee Estuary to the hills of North Wales.

In May of that year, just before the park opened, it was observed that, "no effort has been spared to retain the truly rural aspect of the situation, mainly to provide a rural sanctuary of seclusion for the elder people, in the midst of bricks and mortar, and also the provision of a small open space, free from danger, for the younger children to enjoy their pastimes."

In an article for the Heswall Society dating back to 2012, Barry Adams described how the Edge family settled on the then common land which covers both the existing area of the park, and also the land to the north east where the first houses in Dawstone Road were built.

"The tithe map of 1851 shows Samuel Edge occupying the Dawstone Park area, and William Edge the north easterly land. The map shows a number of buildings on the site of Dawstone Park, consistent with its use as a smallholding. The tithe map was produced as part of the Enclosures Acts which consolidated the ownership of common and waste land, and caused new roads to be built.

"One of these roads was Dawstone Road, which took its name from a hamlet called Dawstone, part of the Parish of Heswall cum Oldfield. The house called Dawstone at the top of Brow Lane is believed to originally have been a small farm. Brow Lane was a route from the Lower Village across Heswall Heath to reach Pensby and Liverpool. The name Dawstone may have derived from the Old English words dal (a division) and stan (stone), possibly representing a boundary stone to mark the division of land.

"In 1924 the War Memorial was unveiled at the junction of Dawstone Road and the Mount. At this time the land was occupied by Thomas Swift, the son of Joseph Swift who had married Alice Edge. The buildings on the site were becoming derelict, and the Parish Council decided to convert the land, which was now in their ownership, into a park. In November 1930 they issued Joseph Swift with an eviction order that required him and his son to vacate the land within three months.

"It is a poignant reminder of events still to come that the Chairman of the Parish Council, Major H Kerr Wilson, must have surveyed the land from the War Memorial, not knowing that his Spitfire pilot son would be added to its World War Two list of names, after he was killed in in France in 1940.

"Work on the park commenced on 23rd February 1931. The old buildings were demolished and the good stone used to build the walls adjoining School Hill and Dawstone Road, and the rockeries - constructed where the land sloped the most steeply - must have consumed the rest.

"A well was filled in, and the whole site landscaped. Twelve seats were provided, and paths laid. Seven labourers, two masons, and a joiner were employed over a period of 13 weeks, at a total cost of approximately £380 pounds including materials."

Earlier this century, as local authority budgets came under pressure and places like Dawstone Park were perhaps taken for granted, it began to fall into decline.

In 2015, Wirral Council's Wirral South Constituency Committee identified Dawstone Park as part of its priority to improve local environments and, with the help of The Heswall Society, the Friends of Dawstone Park group was formed. Among its stated aims was the winning of Green Flag status - an award which would recognise the park as amongst the country's best run and maintained green spaces.

Dawstone Park was given a grant of £15,000.

The Friends put it to good use and were as good as their word - a Green Flag would be raised in Dawstone Park the following year.

Today, Dawstone Park remains an oasis of charm and calm.

Many thanks to everyone who made - and continues to make - it possible.