South Hill Park
Latest News- South Hill Park set for £4.4 million restoration!
South Hill Park will receive a multi-million pound renovation following a successful National Lottery grant bid by Bracknell Forest Council.
The Council’s Parks & Countryside service has been awarded £209,000 design and development funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Big Lottery Fund’s national Parks for People programme.
Following on from previous consultation, the Council will work with residents and park users to finalise proposals to greatly improve the popular park before making a detailed bid for further funding to the lottery funds. This brings the project’s total cost to £4.4million and pays for three years of works on site and then 10 years of ongoing maintenance.
Major work is expected to include restoring the terrace garden including disabled access improvements; de-silting the southern lake; and conserving and enhancing woodland areas. New paths and access points are proposed and a more welcoming park entrance from the main car park will be created. Information for visitors around the park will also be improved. Smaller projects will include wildlife improvements, better facilities for young people, improving the landscaped features and restoring the amphitheatre.
For more information contact the new South Hill Park Project Officer using the details to the right of this page.
About South Hill Park
South Hill Park is a 9.6 hectare site which lies to the south of Bracknell town centre in the Birch Hill estate. The area to the south of Ringmead is owned and managed by Bracknell Forest Council, whilst the northern area is managed by Bracknell Town Council. Both lakes are owned and managed by the Thames Water Authority and act as balancing ponds for the town.
Conservation Management Plan – A Heritage Lottery Fund Project
In early 2005, Bracknell Forest Borough Council was successful in securing money from the Heritage Lottery Fund to prepare a restoration plan for the public park at South Hill Park.
The project carried out a major review before preparing the plan; this included consultation with a wide range of interested bodies and with the public. The council appointed Land Management Services Ltd (LMS), chartered landscape architects, to prepare the plan and carry out the consultation.
The Conservation Management Plan for South Hill Park has now been completed and the Summary document is available to download from the right of this page. This includes information on the history of the site, current issues and future options for the park.
Now an arts centre, the mansion at South Hill was originally built in 1760 by William Watts, ready for his retirement from service as a senior official of the Bengal government. It was originally a two storey Italian style building with a Baroque style front entrance and tower and included 30 acres of grounds.
It later passed through numerous hands until bought by Sir William Haytor in 1853. Towards the end of the 19th century, his son, Lord Haversham, totally rebuilt the house in brick and Bath stone as the building we see today, incorporating just one wing of the original house. Kelly's Directory of 1883 refers to South Hill as standing in a park of 800 acres, with four lakes and private terraced gardens, a dramatic change from its size in 1760.
During the 1930's, the house was converted into five luxury flats, before being occupied by the Royal Sea Bathing Hospital, evacuated from Margate, during the war. Since then it has seen further use as flats, BBC recording studios, offices, and laboratories before being opened as an arts centre in October 1973.
Today the house is a Grade II listed building and the site a Grade II Registered Park of Special Historic Interest. The Register of Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England was established, and is maintained by, English Heritage and now contains nearly 1450 sites. Its main purpose is to help ensure that the features and qualities which make these landscapes of national importance are safeguarded during ongoing management or if any change is being considered which could affect them. In this way, English Heritage hopes to increase awareness of their value and encourage those who own them or have a role in their protection and their future, to treat these special places with due care.
Although South Hill park is located in a residential housing area, it provides a valuable wildlife habitat and has been designated as a Wildlife Heritage Site. It contains a woodland with exotic species and birch woodland, parkland areas with formal lawns, two lakes and wetland areas. Over 130 plant species have been recorded at South Hill park, whilst the lakes are home to frogs, newts and waterfowl.
A range of events and activities for schools and the public take place at South Hill Park, ranging from pond dipping to bat watching.
South Hill Park is popular with locals and visitors who enjoy walking, picnicking, dog walking and general relaxation at this attractive site.
The park has a children's play area and a network of paths enables all visitors, including the mobility impaired, to explore the site easily.
The formal Italian garden may be found at the rear of the house.
South Hill Park house is now an arts centre and incorporates art galleries, a dance studio and the 330 seat Wilde theatre. July 1999 saw South Hill Park awarded £3m Lottery funding by the Arts Council and £1m by Bracknell Forest Borough Council to modernise its facilities. One of the main objectives was to make all aspects of the building wheelchair friendly.
South Hill Park is Bracknell's leading venue for large public events, such as the half marathon, environment fair and music festival. Further information on the music, drama, film, dance, literature, arts, crafts and exhibitions that take place there can be found at the official South Hill Park website.
There are a number of ways that you can access South Hill park, including a large car park off Ringmead and a bus stop approximately 300m away. Two adopted cycle routes also cross the site, which incorporates a series of flat surfaced paths.
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