The Lung of Rotherham — how campaign brought about town’s first park

“Living, as we do, in an age when manufactories are springing into existence so profusely and when the atmosphere in the vicinity of every large town is rendered impure by the serpentine and cloud like volumes of smoke which ascend from huge chimneys that have reared their heads aloft in all directions, it becomes almost necessary to provide some place for recreation — some sequestered spot to which one can retire from the noise and bustle of the town, the workshop and the office to win from the balmy quietude of the pleasant country its fresh and invigorating air.”