How many of you have memories of Graves Park ? Used to live a 20 minute walk down Derbyshire Lane from the Park...We used to drive the Parky's mad when we would let the rowing boats loose , then we would put potatoes in the exhausts of their cars ...LOL
I knew every inch of that Park because I used have have to walk it from Rowlinson when i had spent my bus fare and couldn't cadge 2p ...
Who can forget the sloping football pitches ?
The pitch and putt ?

Leave your memories here

Regards Canada Blade

Brude chose Graves park as a good venue for running off on one particular visit :mad:

That resulted in him being left in the car when we got home and fed considerably later than usual :rolleyes:

The way to a beagle's brain is through his stomach :hihi:


We found a loose dog (bedlington terrier kind of thing) there once and took it to the police station :(

Fishing with a hand line in the boating lake (which was strictly forbidden) and getting chased by the parkies.

Buying ice cream from the pavilion on a hot day.

Collecting conkers by throwing sticks up into the chestnut trees on Bunting Nook (the strangely-named lane which ran alongside Graves Park from Hemsworth Road to Matthews Lane)

Walking up through the ravine and the woods at the Woodseats end of the park. It seemed magical when we were young.

The paddling stream at the Woodseats entrance.

I was asked to design some furniture based on an animal for a college project, so whilst the rest of the class were copying stuff from books, I took my camera to visit the Heilan Coos up there :thumbsup:

Graves Park is still a fantastic place to visit. Until recently I used to take classes of children there to see the posts of the old packhorse bridge (road from London to Buxton I was told) and kids would visualise the highwaymen, horses and riders, carriages etc.
We used to measure the circumference of trees, do bark rubbings and look at leaf shapes and talk about seed dispersal etc.
We would do a treasure hunt around the 'Rose Gardens', have a picnic, visit the 'Rare Breeds' centre and walk back down the 'Ravine'. Rangers told the children the ravine was formed about a quarter of a million years ago and the children were really fascinated by the fact that they were looking at something so old.
There were some fantastic seats and sculpture created using fallen tree trunks and lots of species of water fowl etc to look at.
There is a story that 'birds never sing in Bunting Nook woods' - have you ever heard that one? Is it true? Why?
Didn't move to Sheffield until the late 60's, so I missed out on seeing the 'open air' theatre there - shame it wasn't maintained!
Yeah! Thanks for reminding us Canadablade - Graves Park is a fantastic asset to Sheffield.

My memory is of a group of us escaping from boring lessons at college and sitting in the Park with two litre bottles of v'cheap lager and cider, then trying to sink each other on boating lake.
Then trying to get on the bus home soaked through and half cut

Sooo many good memories, what happened? how did I get so boring?

:thumbsup: :) Every sunday afternoon a crowd of us would go up for a game of footy on the field just above the boating lake.
The girls would be sat on the benches chattin whilst us guys were playing lots used to go up and it would finish up about 20 a side lol. but we had fun. I had one of those Dansette trannys and we would all be gathered round it listening to the pop charts. Remember Alan Freeman. Hi there pop pickers:clap:

When i was little my grandma, mum, little sister and i would all walk from blackstock road up to graves park every sunday. For some strange reason i never remember it raining. It was always sunny. We would walk up and go around the animals holding our noses, then walk to the big house and i would get a feast icecream with my mum and my grandma and sister would get a twister.

We would walk and feed the ducks then walk down to the bowling bit and the bloke who had the little hut there would try to chat my nan up every weekend! We would watch all the lil old men play bowls then walk home.

Probably not much interest to anyone else but it always makes me all fuzzy when i remember how nice it was.

More recently i had some driving lessons up in the car park bit and once almost hit a goat that was wandering around and had excaped the animal bit.

Graves park, the most beautiful place in Sheffield- I grew up opposite that wonderful park and walked/played/cycled in and through it for decades.

Shameful how the Council funding let it decline (bonfires, boats and almost Tennis courts no more...)

Used to enjoy going through it on the way to/from school (Rolo)...

We used to knock around in Graves Park in the late 70's & early 80's.Poaching in the boating lake with a handline,and the park patrol used to chase us on his motorbike,and sat on the benches in the pavilion smoking,and it was freezing!!
We used to sink the rowing boat round the back,then climb over the fence and run off!
Does anyone remember Charlie(i think it was),who manned the hut?
Does anyone know Rupert,Woody,Nipper,C.O.,Skin,Robbo??

We used to knock around in Graves Park in the late 70's & early 80's.Poaching in the boating lake with a handline,and the park patrol used to chase us on his motorbike,and sat on the benches in the pavilion smoking,and it was freezing!!
We used to sink the rowing boat round the back,then climb over the fence and run off!
Does anyone remember Charlie(i think it was),who manned the hut?
Does anyone know Rupert,Woody,Nipper,C.O.,Skin,Robbo??

i was there aswell also used to wag school there .
woody is in aystralia he's on friends reunited, robbo lives on hazelbarrow crescent jordanthorpe, skin i saw on woodseats in wetherspoons at christmas .
robbo's son jordan is a united player currently on loan at dundee united.

How many of you have memories of Graves Park ? Used to live a 20 minute walk down Derbyshire Lane from the Park...We used to drive the Parky's mad when we would let the rowing boats loose , then we would put potatoes in the exhausts of their cars ...LOL
I knew every inch of that Park because I used have have to walk it from Rowlinson when i had spent my bus fare and couldn't cadge 2p ...
Who can forget the sloping football pitches ?
The pitch and putt ?

Leave your memories here

Regards Canada Blade

how old are you cb?. i went to rowlinson i'm 49 in june.

i was there aswell also used to wag school there .
woody is in aystralia he's on friends reunited, robbo lives on hazelbarrow crescent jordanthorpe, skin i saw on woodseats in wetherspoons at christmas .
robbo's son jordan is a united player currently on loan at dundee united.

I might know u then if you know them!I used to knock around with Skin mainly,we lived on same street.

Graves Park is still a fantastic place to visit. Until recently I used to take classes of children there to see the posts of the old packhorse bridge (road from London to Buxton I was told) and kids would visualise the highwaymen, horses and riders, carriages etc.

Where exactly are these posts please?

Those posts are dotted about the place (Dyche lane was part of the old route)- near the bottom of the 'flying field' and on the path below the Charles Ashmore car park.

They're usually hidden in overgrown greenery.

used to live on the corner of Little Norton Lane, with a path down to Charles Ashmore Road, From 1948 to 1961 cant remember a day we were not in Graves Park. My childhood was spent there, can remember watching the local lads play footie, above the boating lake and ice skating on it in the winter. What wonderful memories l have of that place.

My mother would take me and my sister for walks in Graves Park when I was a child. (we only lived on 't'Valley) We spent a lot of time there as it was our nearest park.

I remember being about three, and having a football that I took with me to play with. We went by the pond, and dropped it. It rolled into the water. A boy, who was a bit older tried to get it back for me, using his fishing tackle. He fell in the water, as did his rod. :( I don't think he got it back! :(

Graves Park in the late 1940's and early 50's was a wonderful place to play tennis.The courts were well maintained. If the courts were not all in use, the park keeper would allow you to stay on the court until the next group arrived to play.I remember playing there for several hours a day during the summer school vacations.The park was also a beautiful place for a stroll with a girlfriend.I have not seen the park for well over 50 years ,I wonder how it looks now.

Is it my imagination, but on the Chesterfield Road/ Meadowhead side, wasn't there some kind of overgrown concrete amphitheatre ??

We used to knock around in Graves Park in the late 70's & early 80's.Poaching in the boating lake with a handline,and the park patrol used to chase us on his motorbike,and sat on the benches in the pavilion smoking,and it was freezing!!
We used to sink the rowing boat round the back,then climb over the fence and run off!
Does anyone remember Charlie(i think it was),who manned the hut?
Does anyone know Rupert,Woody,Nipper,C.O.,Skin,Robbo??

'LOL' :hihi: 'Park Patrol 'I was one of them (for 17 yr), if the truth be known we had as much fun chasing you,
as you had :hihi:.

Them of us whom are still on the job 'only 4' (now Rangers) often reminisce them good old days.

Troubles on the Graves Park area run (all parkland etc in S8/7) was always mild compared with some of the other area runs, if I got that area I always knew I was in for a easy day or night (we did shifts then).

Ay them old Triumph thunderbirds & Boni's, :(.

Whats ur name? I'v probably got it in my old report book ???
'only kidding' ;)

I couldn't spell then ether :blush:

Is it my imagination, but on the Chesterfield Road/ Meadowhead side, wasn't there some kind of overgrown concrete amphitheatre ??


'Yes' :):):)

There was a nine hole golf course in the park when I was a kid. Par 3 was about 150 yards. You could rent a couple of clubs and a ball for about sixpence. great fun.

We used to go to Graves Park a lot when I was little and walk round the animals on a Sunday afternoon. Learnt a lot as well about the place because my great-grandad was park keeper there at some point (during the war I believe), so my grandad has told me a few tales of the place. Went a lot last year during summer as well, nice place for an afternoon walk so I expect when the weather picks up I'll be there again :)

Graves Park Flickr group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/gravesparksheffield/)

We used to do our cross country running in Graves park from school(Rowlinson), i remember there was a little shed a few of us used to hide in as we ran past to have a smoke and wait for the rest to get back and join in again :hihi:, also, did a lot of my "courting" as they say in that park :D

No-one has mentioned sledging. Hundreds of us used to sledge at the Woodseats end of Graves Park every winter.

Is it my imagination, but on the Chesterfield Road/ Meadowhead side, wasn't there some kind of overgrown concrete amphitheatre ??

It isn't concrete.

The amphitheatre was a disused quary that was adapted for outdoor plays. It is still there more or less opposite Morrisons.

It was not used that much due to the midges.

Does anyone remember Supertramp peforming a free concert in the park around 1970?.

We used to do our cross country running in Graves park from school(Rowlinson), i remember there was a little shed a few of us used to hide in as we ran past to have a smoke and wait for the rest to get back and join in again :hihi:, also, did a lot of my "courting" as they say in that park :D

also did the same cross country , left rowlinson in 1975.

As an ex Norton lad, I too have very fond memories of Graves Park.

The usual things, football and cricket until it went dark. Fishing in the boating lake with the shouts of "Parky" before running away. The Sheffield Show, and firework displays. And then some less usual things. Anybody else remember ice-skating on the middle lake, we did this a couple of times. Free tennis and pitch'n putt in the summer before uni, fantastic. Visits to the nurseries (yes it did happen), and exploring some derelict buldings.

I remember collapsing after a game of football one hot summer day, shirtless and with our bottles of warm water, when my best friend turned to me and just said, "Aren't we lucky to have all this on our doorstep?"

It's good to see so many here from the St.Lukes thread. We obviously know the value of this parkland for future generations. I know it's not as appreciated by the current generation, with their playstations etc, as it was by us. But I am pretty certain with the arrival of peak-oil that this asset will become even more valuable.

It is just a great place to watch a "village" cricket match on a sunny afternoon.

Pity there isn't somewhere to buy a pint of beer though.

It isn't concrete.

The amphitheatre was a disused quary that was adapted for outdoor plays. It is still there more or less opposite Morrisons.

It was not used that much due to the midges.

Does anyone remember Supertramp peforming a free concert in the park around 1970?.

I remember one of my old English teachers, Dave Dawson, taking us there one summer day and we had a drama lesson on that stage - I have looked for it recently and can't find it - I thought it had been dismantled - I must have another look - it seemed huge at the time - I bet it would seem quite small now - maybr that's why I can't find it!!

I remember one of my old English teachers, Dave Dawson, taking us there one summer day and we had a drama lesson on that stage - I have looked for it recently and can't find it - I thought it had been dismantled - I must have another look - it seemed huge at the time - I bet it would seem quite small now - maybr that's why I can't find it!!

If you cross the road at the lights outside Morrisons and walk down the path into the park (just below the lights) you come across the remains of the amphitheatre within about 100 yards. I have not been there for some time but it was a bit chewed up. It was used as an old landfill and has been dug up quite a bit by bottle hunters.

Good luck and watch out for midges.

thanks for that - I will have a look tomorrow - bring back a few memories!!

I was stung by a bee walking by that lake so i went over to the tea room and they put some blue on and that was the end of that. In winter the boating pond was frozen over and I found a pair of ice skates in our cellar, the type made of wood with a metal runner and a screw at the heel, so i tried my hand but all i got was a bloody nose trying some fancy stuff in front of a girl I fancied.

i live on woodseats and my biggest memories are when the snowed arrived and we all used to go down to the bottom half where the playground is and sledge on the banking, end up in the railings or the stream then have to work your way back up to the top to go again.

Sheffield is one of the great cities of the world when it comes to parkland, believe me I've lived in many cities and countries and from that point of view Sheffielders are lucky. Millhouses was my favourite watching the cricket. I learned to swim there, not in the pool but in the river, just below the small waterfall, I was walking on the bottom and suddenly it disappeared and I felt myself floating so I dog paddled to the side. I was doing the crawl, breast stroke in no time in that river then I found a penny and went into the big pool and jumped off the high board and landed on my back. I can still feel the pain now, well not quite but it stung for a while, my dad called me a daft bxxxxr, he worked at the Beauchief works scythe grinding before the war and was transferred to Little London Tysacks at the beginning of WW2. The grinders never wore protective glasses because they would have been thought of as big girls so my mother would extract the bits of metal from his eyes with a sharpened matchstick and a handkerchief. He never felt a thing, Stones bitter was the best anesthetic around then.

I lived at Woodseats, walked up from Helmton Road through Bluebell Wood, through the farmyard(can't do that now).
In the 60's we would meet in front of the cafe and play football every night and Sunday afternoons. My mates were Roger Buckley, Barry Falcon, Paul Foxton and Dave Smith and too many more to mention, Dave Munks and Mick Hill(ex Sheff Utd) used to join in sometimes, it was great.
But then I discovered beer and women.
I don't know if it's me or not but when you go back to view the places you used to frequent they always look smaller.
It would be great to see my old mates.

spent loads of time in graves as a kid and probably even more now with my son playing sunday league etc,still a great place, i fished in the lakes and swam in the "boater" myself and my best mate had the unfortunate experience of trying to help the poor grandad who's granddaughter drowned back in 1982,never ever want to repeat that.

Is it my imagination, but on the Chesterfield Road/ Meadowhead side, wasn't there some kind of overgrown concrete amphitheatre ??yes there was ,we thought it was an open air theatre when we were kids and used to have pretend concerts and copy all the Aerican musicals. I had a stage with long stone terraces leading up behind it, the walls were huge rock faces.We had some wonderful times there, we would run down to the path across the ravine to the "seven hills" and play cowboys and indians,Tarzan etc, what innocent fun we had, there was always a gang of us of all ages. I the winter we would sledge down the ravine and skate on the ponds,all free,healthy and in those days, quite safe. We all lived on the surrounding roads,there was no Gleadless Valley estate just woods and higher up miles of fields,a kids paradise

We used to take ropes and play mountain climbing in the quarry(theater).
We played war and cowboys and indians, it must have been the same place, we called it horsehoe canyon.

:thumbsup: :) Every sunday afternoon a crowd of us would go up for a game of footy on the field just above the boating lake.
The girls would be sat on the benches chattin whilst us guys were playing lots used to go up and it would finish up about 20 a side lol. but we had fun. I had one of those Dansette trannys and we would all be gathered round it listening to the pop charts. Remember Alan Freeman. Hi there pop pickers:clap:
In 64-65 i worked in the cafe mostly selling ice cream from the double doors at the end from an old walls fridge.The lady who ran the place was Mrs.grouncil (not sure of spelling) who also had the cafe by the bus stop at the top of Derbyshire lane and ran the soft drink bar at the esquire club on leadmill rd.I worked at all three venues but loved graves park especially all the passing girls in the summer and listening to the home service on a Sunday afternoon via a single waveband tranny.Happy days indeed.

My memories relate to playing football and cricket there and the most vivid recollection is of playing cricket for Pauldens in the Sugg Thursday league on a pitch that didn't merely slope but had a hump in the middle! Standing at the crease at the top end I could only just see the fast bowler's head at t'other end, until he hove into view at a fearsome pace and demolished the stumps. If he had bowled downhill he'd have decapitated someone I'm sure!!