And it is just over 100 years since the small open space called Duffy's Park – home since 1988 of the Halifax cenotaph – was first opened to the public.

Duffy's Park lies to the north of Halifax Parish Church, adjacent to King Street and Cripplegate. Until the mid-1890s this area looked very different, for it had been covered by a small houses, shops and pubs, linked by a warren of narrow streets, passages and yards.

These cramped dwellings had degenerated into slums and eventually Halifax Bor-ough Council stepped in and purchased them. Then they were demolished and for a few years the area remained a wasteland until the council landscaped the area in 1904.

A grassy area was laid out, surrounded by plants and shrubs, at a cost of £650, transforming the area into "an oasis of greenery in the industrial desert of Halifax".

Initially the park was enclosed and secured by gates but after a petition that it should be made open to the public, in August, 1907 Coun Joseph Hartley, chairman of the Mar-kets and Parks Committee, performed the official opening.

He said he hoped it would be "used as a playground for the children and a place where the old men could smoke and their wives sit and sew" and that it would be a "little oasis in the desert".

Councillor Hartley had lived in the area as a child and said he could remember when Beacon Hill was covered with wild narcissi and bluebells and when the old mill pond and corn mill had still been in existence close by.

Having unlocked the gates he handed the park key to Allan Jackson, of Woolshops, who had petitioned the council for the park to be opened to the local community.

Mr Jackson, a 43-year-old tobacconist, had voluntarily offered to be responsible for supervising the park. On the opening of the gates 100 children surged forwards on to the greensward, and threw their caps and hats in the air with great glee.

From its earliest days the park was known unofficially as Duffy's Park, perhaps because of the large number of Irish immigrants who had lived in the houses on the site.

At the time of the 1891 census, the family of a Michael and Harriett Duffy had lived there and Martin and Mary Duffy and their children lived in nearby Ratton Row.

The newspapers of 1907 described the name, Duffy's Park, as "vulgar" and there was an attempt to change it to Cripplegate Park. Apparently this failed and the nickname is always used today.

In the years which followed, the small park suffered considerably from vandalism. In those days there was still quite a large population in the neighbourhood and the area was used as a playground by youngsters.
As a result, the grass was soon worn away, the ground became bare and trees and shrubs were also destroyed.

Periodically, Halifax Corporation did its best to improve the park but when, in 1955, youths destroyed 32 young trees in a month, the council decided not to replace them.

In the early 1960s the open space was much enlarged to the west and the whole area completely relandscaped after the demolition of the old Moot Hall, houses in the adjacent Nelson Street and other property. This area is now mostly used for car parking.

• In 1988 the Halifax cenotaph was moved from the grounds of Belle Vue, the former Halifax Central Library, between Hopwood Land and Lister Lane, when Calderdale Council sold the mansion.


• Share your memories with other Courier readers. Write to Nostalgia, Evening Courier, PO Box 19, King Cross Street, Halifax, HX1 2SF, phone 01422 260208 or e-mail david.hanson@halifaxcourier.co.uk