FIELDS WE PROTECT

Crow Wood Park includes a children’s play area, outdoor fitness equipment, bowling, tennis, basketball and a youth club. The remainder of the space is sloping grassland with a small woodland at the top. The park has an imposing memorial gateway dedicated to the soldiers who died in both world wars.

The park is on the site of Crow Wood House which was opened in 1917 as a temporary hospital for convalescing soldiers. On its closure in 1920 Sowerby Bridge Urban District Council raised £1,650 by public donation to buy the property together with an area of land as a memorial to residents of Sowerby Bridge who took part in World War I. The house was demolished to make way for recreation facilities and the park was opened in 1923 with the memorial gateway opening in 1929. Further land was acquired from the nearby Pye Nest Estate. The war memorial committee was wound up in 1936 having raised a total of £5,217.