Hirst Park - Ashington
Hirst Park - Ashington
Hirst Park is located in the heart of the historic Northumberland town of Ashington. Explore the park and you will find loads of activities for the whole family to enjoy.
The park features a play park, splash park, a woodland, relaxing gardens, bowling greens, tennis courts, community pavilion and lovely areas of greenery.
A £2.7 million National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery Community Fund grant has now started, restoring Hirst Park to its former glory. This grant, also supported by Ashington Town Council and Ashington Leisure Partnership, will see a brand new play area and restoration work on the green houses and park buildings.
Opening times and facilities
The park is open between 8:30am and dusk, seven days a week.
- Play areas: Equipment to neighbourhood equipped area for play (NEAP) standard is provided within the flower park. It is divided into three zones: toddler, mid-range and teenage activities.
- Bowling greens: two county standard greens, including one with an organic management regime.
- Formal gardens and gates: the formal gardens consist of lawn, flower beds and herbaceous borders.
- Community pavilion: the pavilion is home to the neighbourhood service park-keeping team.
- Trees: there are more 200 specimens in the park, covering a range of species, including some of the last remaining elms in the urban area.
Toilets
There are public toilets in the Bowling Pavilion which is open when the park keeper is on site. The nearest additional public toilets are approximately 300m west of the park.
Water Feature
The water play feature is operational 8am-6pm 7 days a week.
A guided tour of Hirst Park
If you explore the fun features at Hirst Park in Ashington you will find a play park, water splash park, multi-use games area, tennis courts, bowling greens, gardens to relax in and a community allotment.
Find Hirst Park, Ashington
Address: Hirst Park, Ashington, NE63 9BA
The park is situated in the busy town of Ashington in Northumberland and can be accessed from a number of main streets from the town centre. There are four entrances in total, two of which are both vehicular and pedestrian. All park entrances are DDA compliant.
The nearest bus stops are located on Hawthorn Road and Ashington bus station is a five minute walk. Car parking is available at the park, accessible from Fourth Avenue.
Additional information
Hirst Park now has its own Development Officer who is arranging a series of activities in the park.
For enquiries about Hirst Park, contact Northumberland County Council on 0345 600 6400.
Drone use
Launching drones from County Council land is only allowed with the consent of the Council and where a formal license agreement has been signed. The council reserves the right to refuse consent and where consent is granted will require evidence of your Civil Aviation Training Certificate and public liability insurance.
Hirst Park Revival project
An exciting multi-million pound scheme has started to restore the historic Ashington park to its former glory.
Northumberland County Council successfully secured £2.29million National Lottery funding to rejuvenate Hirst Park, create a new play area and restore the greenhouses and buildings.
The grant, awarded through The National Lottery Heritage Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund, is supported by contributions from the County Council, as well as Ashington town council and Ashington Leisure Partnership, bringing the total project value to £2.7 million.
Work has now started on the main £1.9 million improvement scheme and will include:
- Planting of trees, shrubs and flowers throughout the park
- A new children's play area (including a water feature)
- A performance area on the former site of the Woodhorn disaster memorial
- A new formal garden
- The creation of a horticultural training building and growing area to be operated in partnership with Northumberland College.
- A new community allotment to be operated by the Full Circle Food Project.
- Repairs to gates and fences
- Improvements to paths, tennis courts, outdoor games areas.
History of Hirst Park
Originally opened in 1915, Hirst Park was developed by the former Ashington Urban District Council as a 'green oasis' in a rapidly expanding coal mining neighbourhood. Since then it has been lovingly used by generations of local people enjoying its green open spaces, flower beds and recreational facilities such as tennis courts, bowling greens and children's play areas.
The park is known locally as The Flower Park, in reference to the vibrant floral displays of days gone by,
Hirst Park Memories
Do you want to learn more about the history of the park and share your own memories? Click here to visit Hirst Park Memories website.
Hirst park also has events for people to attend. If you want to find out about community events being held in Hirst park click here.
Football legends
Football legends Jackie Milburn and Jack and Bobby Charlton all played on Hirst Park's football pitches.
England football star Jack Charlton, OBE, was spotted playing at Hirst by scouts from Leeds United. He said: "The football pitches where we played were created on the ash tip from the colliery and these were our first training grounds - our very own Wembley. The park was a precious place where me and Bobby learned our craft, training and playing for fun, before going on to join Leeds and Manchester United and then playing in the world-cup winning England side in 1966. Hirst Park made it all possible for us and we would play all day if we could… and we often did."
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