Cotteridge Park Heritage
The Friends of Cotteridge Park received a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The grant enabled the volunteers to find out more about the history and geology of the park, to record oral histories and enhance the park’s historic arboretum.
Take a look at our interactive map and timeline.
We collected lots of brilliant photos, maps and stories about the park and we put these online. We also produced a paper map — which you can pick up in the Shed, the park’s new building, when it’s open. To add your own park stories and photos please get in touch by email.
Cotteridge Park Rocks
Large boulders were found when the park was laid out in the early 20th century. Louis Barrow (Chief Engineer at the Cadbury Factory and a geologist) had them excavated and put on display. Even Professor Lapworth (of Lapworth Museum of Geology), visited the park to see them. We know that the rocks are a feature of the drift geology of this region. These ‘glacial erratics’ travelled via a glacier from north Wales up to 400,000 years ago - they were left behind when the ice melted. We’ve discovered they were formed from a volcano about 450 million years ago!
You can read more about the project in our leaflet Cotteridge Park Rocks.
Explore the layers in our interactive google map:
What was where?
Over the century and a bit that the park has been here there have been lots of changes to what’s here.
Many of those changes were due to cuts in funding but others in response to changes to the way we live.
There used to be grass tennis courts and a putting green. A bandstand and 2 pavilions as well as a bowling green and a Sons of Rest building.
During the Second World War the park was used for allotments and as a barrage balloon and air raid shelter site.
Browse the map and click on the icons for photos, stories and information about the park.
You can see short videos about what used to be here on our youtube channel.
There are also NFC (near field communication posts) around the park which can link to some mobile phones.