Monument record 3884/97 - Bassett's Close Recreation Ground, Westfield Road

{1} Recreation ground shown on 3rd ed. OS map. Would appear to be extant.

{2} In the medieval period part of Bassett’s Close was in an area of town called Buckwell End. It would have been divided up into tenements, or small parcels of land. Since Buckwell End is located some distance from the main core of the town, it is thought that it could have formed a second focus of settlement based around a manor belonging to the Earl of Leicester (Foard and Ballinger 2000). Buckwell End is also reputed to be the source of one of the five famous wells of Wellingborough, the Buck Well (Palmer and Palmer 1972).
In the 1803 map of the town, there were two different, but adjacent, plots of land that were known only as Bassett’s and used as orchard and pasture. They do not cover the whole of the area taken up by the modern park. The western part of what is now the park was an area known as Sliders Pitts, which may suggest that it had been quarried for the clay that this part of the town lies on in order to make bricks. Indeed, just to the north of Sliders Pitts is a small area of ground called Brick Kiln Ground. It has been suggested that Bassett’s Close got its name from a house called Bassett’s House, in the vicinity (Ibid 1972).
In a later map of 1838, one of the areas of land that had been called Bassett’s had been renamed Walnut Tree Close, suggesting that walnut trees had been planted here. There were actually enough trees that the walnuts were gathered annually for sale in the town.
Long before Bassett’s Close became a Municipal Park, the owners of the land often lent it to the public for special events. In the late 1880s, one of the earliest electrically floodlit football matches in the country was played here, although the uneven surface caused the ball to bounce at some odd angles during the game. This uneven surface may have been caused by quarrying for brick clay.
Sunday School tea parties were another popular event from the 1890s onwards when people would congregate in Bassett’s Close, although it was known at that time as Mr Watkins’ field. In some years up to a thousand children were present.
Wellingborough Council bought the land in 1904 and they rented it out, although the tenants still allowed public events to be held there. In 1912, the land became a public park and a bandstand was erected, in which a band played every Sunday afternoon or evening (the band would play in the afternoon at either Bassett’s Close or Castle Fields and in the evening at the other).
In World War II, the park was closed to the public and American troops were stationed there. Many of the soldiers were billeted in the houses around the park. Nissen huts were erected and their vehicles were parked under the trees for camouflage. The cobblestones at the West Street entrance of the park were reinforced with concrete, so that they could take the weight of the tanks that were brought into the park. Brick and concrete air raid shelters were built in the south of the park, in a scrubby area that may once have been exploited for brick-clay, and were for the use of residents who lived around there (Palmer 1979). A newspaper article from October 1945 states that Bassett’s Park was still requisitioned by the military at that point.

<1> Ballinger J., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Wellingborough (Industrial), (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN100290.

<2> Walker C., 2006, Documentary Research for Wellingborough Green Heritage Trail, 2.1 Bassetts Close (checked) (Report). SNN108005.

Record last edited

Jun 2 2016 1:31PM