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photo © S.C.Rogers
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The Friends of Edgar’s Field Park is a group founded about five years ago with the support of local City Councillors. Its Constitution confirms that it is open to all and it currently has more than 15 active members, mostly resident in Handbridge. It is dedicated to the wellbeing of Edgar’s Field and works with the Council to promote this as well as physically helping to maintain the park and acting as a voice for local people. The group holds regular monthly evening working meetings throughout the summer while two volunteers completely clear the whole park of litter every Sunday morning. In addition, we have ad-hoc work sessions depending on volunteers’ availability and park needs. Significant improvements to the appearance of the park and a reduction in antisocial behaviour have been acknowledged by local residents since the group started its work.
Edgar’s Field is a public park in Chester’s suburb of Handbridge with an area of about one hectare. It is located on the southern bank of the River Dee close to the Old Dee Bridge less than 1km from Chester City Centre. As well as being an important local community park for adults and children of all ages, it has major interest for visitors to the city. Unfortunately, because of a long history of neglect, mainly through financial constraints, both these aspects have been underutilised and a step-change in the park’s appearance and facilities is now underway to make better use of its enormous potential.
Originally, the park was the site of a Roman quarry used to provide stone to build the walls of the fortress of Deva in the first century AD. It still has two large Triassic sandstone outcrops that display a number of significant and easily accessible geological features. Because of this, it has been designated as a Regionally Important Geodiversity Site. One of the outcrops displays the UK’s only in-situ Roman shrine to the goddess Minerva, which is of national importance. Historical aspects of the park are enhanced by its connection to the Saxon king, Edgar as well as its closeness to the River Dee’s salmon fisheries and landmarks including the Weir (11th century), the Old Dee Bridge (14th century), Chester Castle (11th century) and the Grosvenor Bridge (19th century), which can all be seen from it.
Although there has already been some improvement over the past few years, it is unfortunately the case that even local residents are not fully aware of the important heritage of Edgar’s Field. The Friends group has worked with other local groups such as the local Women’s Institute, the Handbridge Community Association and the Handbridge History Group to improve this. For locals and visitors to Chester, the current situation is poor because there are no welcome or interpretation signs at the entrance to the park or anywhere inside it. This will be much improved in Spring 2010 as part of the project to refurbish the children's playground.
The poor quality, age and bad condition of the children’s playground in Edgar’s Field has been a concern for many years. Even when it was new, the playground seems to have been very uninspiring by today’s standards being a climbing frame, a slide and four swings inside an ugly rectangular wire mesh fence. Given its condition, it is surprising that it gets as much use as it does. The City Council and the Friends group considered ways in which the existing area might be improved or at least made more attractive but concluded that a complete replacement was the best solution. This was made possible following a successful application to WREN in 2008 who allocated a large sum of money for this. In Spring 2010, the playground is being completely refurbished, relocated slightly nearer the entrance and given a more interesting and attractive shape and layout. This will also have the advantage of freeing a larger single grassed area in the centre of the park for ball games for older children.
Although the Friends believe that creating a park that is beneficial for visitors to Chester is important, we give our top priority to the needs of local residents. When the First Duke of Westminster gave Edgar’s Field in trust to Chester Corporation in 1892, he did so in particular for the use and enjoyment of the inhabitants of Handbridge. Mindful of this, we gave our full support to the project to improve the children’s play area because we feel that this will be an important first step in making the park a more welcoming place and that this will lead to much greater usage by local people. Handbridge has a community nursery, a primary school and two large secondary schools. A large number of children of all ages walk through the park and play in it in the evening. We are convinced that the new scheme will add considerably to the use of the park and the enjoyment of local children.
With its historical and geological features, Edgar’s Field is a valuable educational resource. This was enhanced when Cheshire RIGS and others sponsored the preparation of Education Packs for Key Stages 2 and 3. The Friends group was able to give only modest assistance to this but has been pleased to note an increase in the number of school trips arriving in the park to study these aspects.
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