Brickfields Country Park facts for kids
Brickfields Country Park is a cool park in Aldershot, Hampshire. It's known as one of the smallest country parks in Britain! Rushmoor Borough Council looks after it.
This park, located off Boxalls Lane in Aldershot, used to be a Victorian brick factory and a place where people dug for clay. Even though it's less than eight acres (about the size of five football fields), it's packed with nature. In the middle of the park, there's a big pond that's home to lots of different animals and plants. Over 586 types of living things have been found here! The park also hosts a fun family summer event each year, put on by the Friends of Brickfields Country Park.
You can find the car park off Boxalls Lane, Aldershot, GU11 3QJ.
Park History
The story of Brickfields Country Park goes way back to about 1175. At that time, monks from Waverley Abbey were given 31 acres of this land to graze their sheep. Later, they rented another 29 acres nearby. For about 300 years, a monk and seven helpers worked the land.
After the monasteries were closed down in England, Robert White of Aldershot bought the land. The two areas, 31 acres and 29 acres, became one big farm of 60 acres. A major landowner named John Faunteleroy worked this farm until the early 1600s. By about 1650, the Boxall family owned the land.
From Brickworks to Park
When the British Army arrived in Aldershot in 1854, they needed a lot of bricks! They wanted to build barracks (places for soldiers to live) and houses for the quickly growing town. The clay for these bricks came from several pits in the area. One of these pits was dug by the new Aldershot Brick and Tile Works on Boxalls Lane.
The Victorian brick factory and drying ovens were used until about 1940. They were located near where the Brickfields housing estate is today. After the brickworks closed, the area was used for making concrete and storing things. Later, it became a rubbish dump.
A New Beginning
In 1983, work began to transform this old wasteland into a beautiful country park for the people of Aldershot. The pond was made bigger and designed to be fed by a special drain in the park.
Brickfields Country Park officially opened on June 7, 1985. Councillor Colin Balchin, who was the Mayor of Rushmoor, opened it. The park got its name, Brickfields Country Park, after a public competition.
