West View Park, Halifax

 

West View Park does what it says on the tin.  This is the view and it is due west towards Lancashire.  Like so many people, we tend to neglect our local attractions but are trying to get round them.

Certainly, with the lovely Autumn sun and the leaves turning, we will not find anything better farther afield.

 

The park is on the west edge of Halifax and was proposed by two local businessmen, Mr H C McCrea and Mr E Robinson, in around 1894. The Parks Committee Minutes do not refer to the design of the park; it is implied that the benefactors, McCrea and Robinson, undertook responsibility for the park's layout. In July 1896 the park was opened. We forget how much we owe our Victorian ancestors for establishing such lovely green spaces in our towns.

Most of its ambitious design is now lost but it is still ‘a nice place to be’ and traces of the original design can be found here and there.

And this brave soldier from the Boer War has looked out towards Lancashire since at least 1905.  Perhaps he anticipates a return of the War of the Roses.