{{Short description|Park in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{Use British English|date=January 2020}} {{coord|53.361|-1.542|display=title|region:GB_scale:5000}} thumb|Playground in Forge Dam Park '''Forge Dam Park''' is a park in Fulwood, in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Forge Dam Park is the fourth of the Grade II listed Porter Valley Parks, a connected series of parks (when travelling west from Sheffield city centre) along the course of the Porter Brook. The {{convert|49|acre|ha}} park is on the site of the Old Mayhouse Farm and Forge Dam. It was acquired by the J G Graves Charitable Trust in 1938.<ref name=":0">{{NHLE|num=1001502|desc=PORTER VALLEY PARKS, Non Civil Parish |date=30 March 2001|accessdate=11 January 2020}}</ref>
==History== In the 1700s, Sheffield's industry was focused on the manufacture of cutlery. To aid this, the Porter Brook was dammed diverting the water to a series of grinding mills. As the town expanded through the 19th century, the Porter valley was used for walks.<ref name=":0"/>
Sheffield Corporation (later Sheffield City Council), purchased {{convert|20|acre}} of land in the area in 1885 with the intention of building pleasure grounds as well as to improve local sanitation by building a new sewer. The new park was designed by William Goldring, who included features to improve the aesthetics of the walks, such as gravel paths, flower beds and stepping stones.<ref name=":0"/>
The series of parks and walks carried on expanding, and in 1938, the J. G. Graves Charitable Trust purchased {{convert|49|acre}}, and created the Forge Dam Park. A walk known as the Sheffield Round Walk, which circled Endcliffe Park, Bingham Park, Whiteley Woods, Forge Dam Park and Porter Clough, was completed around 1945.<ref name=":0"/>
==Park== In 1913, when the pleasure grounds were sold, they advertised "boating, fishing, bowling green, swings, tearooms, and motor boats"<ref>{{cite news |title=Partnerships, Investments, Shares |work=Sheffield Daily Telegraph |date=22 August 1913 |page=2}}</ref>
Today, the park is laid out a roughly rectangular space occupying approximately {{convert|23.5|acre}}. It is located between Quiet Lane, Whiteley Lane, Ivy Cottage Lane and fields to the south. The main entrance is located on Ivy Cottage Lane, with some informal parking along the road.<ref name=":0" />
In 1924 Patrick Abercrombie said of the parks, "The Porter Brook Parkway, consisting as it does of a string of contiguous open spaces, is the finest example to be found in this country of a radial park strip, an elongated open space, leading from a built-up part of the city direct into the country, the land occupied being a river valley and so for the greater part unsuitable for building."<ref name=":0" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Parks in Sheffield Category:Porter Brook