The Castle Roundhay Park Leeds Yorkshire

A folly built in 1812 by local master builder George Nettleton to give the appearance of a castle gate. It originally had a wooden roof and an upper room, and was used as a summerhouse, a sewing room for the Nicholson girls, and for social functions such as dinners. The DeLacy family of Pontefract Castle owned the area known as Roundhay in the thirteenth century, when it was a hunting park of around three square miles. The estate was purchased by the City of Leeds in 1872 and was opened as a public park by His Royal Highness Prince Arthur on the 19th of September the same year. The Lord Mayor of Leeds at that time, John Barran was made fun of in various publications for buying a White Elephant as at that time Roundhay was a long way from the city centre, and could only really be reached by one route the old turnpike road which dated from 1808. The purchase of the park was regarded as a reckless waste of ratepayers money critics even published a printed booklet The Big White Elephant in 1879. Roundhay Park now covers over 700 acres of parkland, lakes and woodland and is one of the largest urban parks in the world. The Park has a scented garden for the blind, National Plant Collections, Canal Gardens, the Monet and Alhambra Gardens, plus Tropical World also known as Butterfly Gardens and Butterfly World which attracts visitors all year round.45777493 N06 has added The Castle Roundhay Park Leeds Yorkshire at 2012 11 18 13 21 16 and tagged as leeds yorkshire

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