- Colne Road/Keighley Road, Oakworth, Keighley, BD22 7PB
- Open 24 hours a day, all year round
- Bowling green
- Children's play area
- Multi use games area
Holden Park, Oakworth, United Kingdom
Quick description
A truly unique park, with grottoes and caves twining around the bowling green and open parkland and woodlands beyond.
What’s there?
Holden Park (known locally as Oakworth Park) is truely unique, with grottoes and caves twining around the bowling green, just beyond the entrance to the park. With lots of nooks and crannies to explore, the park transforms from magical caves to open parkland, then into woodlands beyond. The park has to be visited to have its distinctiveness properly appreciated.
Caves and grottoes
Like something from a storybook, it’s home to secret caves and grottoes, mysterious pathways, and woodland to run wild in.
Play areas
At the edge of the bowling green is a brightly coloured, enclosed play area equipped with various items to accommodate the needs of younger visitors. On the recreational field, there is wooden child-friendly play equipment.
Bowling green
Well-maintained bowling green and clubhouse.
Multi-use sports pitch
A fenced-in multi-use sports area can be used for various games, including basketball and 5-a-side football.
Woodland and wildflower area
North of the park, you’ll find around 5 acres of well-established woodland, a gently sloping green pasture, and a wildflower area.
History
Isaac Holden
Isaac Holden was a Scottish inventor and textile industrialist known for his work both in developing the square motion wool-combing machine and as a radical Liberal Member of Parliament.
After establishing a wool-combing business in revolutionary France in 1864, Holden opened the massive Alton Mills Industrial complex in Bradford. By the 1870s, his factories in England and France were the largest wool combers in the world. Holden became enormously wealthy and celebrated his success by building a large Italianate mansion, Oakworth House, in Oakworth near Keighley. Behind the house was a vast complex of hothouses including a 2-acre winter garden.
After he died in 1907, Holden’s mansion Oakworth House burned down. In 1927 its grounds were given by the family to the people of Oakworth as a public park. It is called Holden Park, and at the entrance of the park, there is a bronze bust of Isaac Holden on a plinth with the inscription – ‘Erected by the Inhabitants of Oakworth as a Token of Affectionate Respect for Sir Isaac Holden 1807-1897.’
Natural history
The woodland serves as a habitat for various wildlife, with frequent sightings of deer, owls, and bats. It’s a thriving ecosystem where these creatures coexist, adding a touch of natural wonder to the serene environment.