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A public park including the grounds of a grade 1 listed, 18th century country house, Heaton Hall. The park is now owned by Manchester City Council.
More information can be found at: http://www.manchester.gov.uk/heatonpark
HEATON PARK
LOCATION
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
GALLERY
In 1772 Sir Thomas Egerton built Heaton Hall as a new home for himself designed by James Wyatt. Wyatt also designed some of the other buildings around the park. Sir Thomas also employed William Eames, to create a landscape to show off his new mansion. This was reworked in the early 19th century by John Webb.
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Heaton Park remained in the Egerton family until 1902 when the 5th Earl of Wilton sold it to the Manchester Corporation for £230,000. The Corporation provided many public facilities and it quickly became a popular park.
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During the First World War Heaton Park was used as a major military camp for the Pals Battalions recruited by civic leaders in Manchester shortly after the outbreak of the war.
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During the Second World War, two "prefab" housing estates and an infants school were built in the south of the park, the houses providing much-needed homes until they were demolished in the 1960s.
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At the end of the 20th century the park was restored in partnership with the Heritage Lottery Fund to recreate the Eames and Webb landscape around the Hall and to restore four of the Wyatt designed listed buildings.
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(Ordnance Survey, 2015a; Manchester City Council, 2015)
Heaton Park is located 4 miles north of Manchester City Centre.
Three vegetation typologies have been selected at this site >>>>>>>
Woodland
Ornamental
Planting
Woodland
Edge
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ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
Geology: The bedrock is the The Chester Pebble Beds Formation, which is sandstones containing pebbles and conglomerates. The superficial geology is sand and gravel (glacial deposits). As these are coarse textured, the porosity of the site is relatively low. (British Geological Survey, 2015).
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Topography: The height of land within the site varies from 70m to 105m. The gradual slope means water is drained south towards the boating lake (see image). Drainage will be explored in more detail for each of the specific typology sites.
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Soil: Heaton Park is located on freely draining and slightly acid sandy soils. They have a low fertility and carbon content, and drainage is directed to the groundwater. Habitats associated with this soil include: acid dry pastures, acid deciduous and coniferous woodland and the potential for lowland heath (Cranfield University, 2015).
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Climate: Average temperatures range from 1°C in winter to 20°C in summer, there is less sunlight than the UK average. Average monthly rainfall varies from 60mm in summer to 120mm in winter, slightly higher than the UK average (Met Office, 2015).
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Classification: Heaton Park is listed Grade two on the English Heritage Register of Parks and there are nine listed structures in the park.
