More Information
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- South Yorkshire Community Rangers - EVENTS
- Edlington Pit Wood
- Warren House Park
Where: Warren House Park is situated between Instoneville and the town of Askern alongside the A19 Doncaster to Selby Road. Askern is seven miles north of Doncaster.
Size: 20 Hectares
Current Usage: Amenity Community Park for Informal Recreation
Former Usage: Askern Colliery and Coalite Plant
The town of Askern initially developed in the nineteenth century as a spa town then in 1911 the Askern Main Colliery was sunk to extract coal from the Barnsley Bed Warren House and the Flockton seams. As a consequence of this the population of the town expanded rapidly. The colliery became the hub of the town, which was in a relatively remote location surrounded by a few small agricultural settlements. Therefore the community was left feeling isolated when the colliery closed in 1991.
The derelict site was acquired by Yorkshire Forward and, with funding from English Partnerships National Coalfield Programme, restoration began in 2001. Warren House Park, named after the coal seam, was opened on Sunday 13 July 2003. The park was later transferred to the Land Restoration Trust in 2007 and at the same time the Doncaster Council, who has had a long association with Warren House Park, were appointed as managing partner.
Warren House Park is a popular and much used venue for informal recreation. It is approximately 20 hectares in size and located above the town of Askern with commanding views over the surrounding rural landscape. The park has a number of recreational facilities, including an equipped playground, a skate-park & teen-shelter, a basketball area, a measured kilometre circuit and two grass sports pitches all integrated within a wider area of landscaped public open space that includes mixed tree and shrub planting, amenity grassland and several public footpaths.
The rangers hold occasional children’s craft and environmental activities on the park and now that the trees are becoming established there will be more volunteer habitat management and creation activities available. If you would like to become involved as a volunteer or be part of a ‘Friends Group’ please contact the rangers on the number at the top of this page.
Warren House Park is a hive of activity at the moment with the main habitat management season coming to a close last month. 70% of the tree compartments have been coppiced, which basically means that the fast growing willow species have been taken down to ground level to allow other species such as Oak, Blackthorn, Hawthorn to gain more of a foothold.
However this is not the end of the willow trees, they will grow back and buds are already appearing on the coppiced stools (stumps). Because we coppiced the Willows during the winter months the tree was dormant which means that the tree will not die. When spring starts again, the sap will start to rise and a hormone called auxin will be produced which will make the tree start to produce shoots again.
Future work in the summer will include:
Winter work will include:
For more info on the work that is happening contact the South Yorkshire Community Ranger Team.
