Sunny Vale Pleasure Gardens And Allen Brickworks

by Robert Baldwin
2 years ago
Near Hipperholme, GB

132 views

This spooky but tranquil route takes in the Walterclough Valley, home to two by-gone landmarks, the old Sunny Vale Pleasure Gardens and the old Henry Allen Brickworks, often referred to as 'Graffiti Village' due to the abundance of graffiti art to be found here.

The Sunny Vale Pleasure Garden opened in 1880 and closed in 1956 due to the increasing popularity of Blackpool. Now only the larger Upper lake (Alexandra Lake) remains. At peak it held 36 boats, some of which were coal and steam powered. 'Sunny Bunces' was built by Joseph Bunce, a market gardener from Buckinghamshire. He moved to Halifax to grow vegetables and the lake came with the land. He put a few boats on it and rented them out. Demand soon lead him to build out a full 'theme park' with Glacier Slide (hillside mat slide, like a helter skelter but straight), a Helter-skelter, boat swings, roller skating rink, Western themed cafe and mini railway. The steam train that pulled passengers around the lake was nicknamed Baby Bunce and was salvaged from Halifax Zoo after its closure in 1916 due to shortage of animal feed during 1st World War.

In 2014 a local police office by the name of PC Chris Madden approached the owners of Sunnyvale and secured a lease for its use, creating a classroom and transforming the site into an activity area.

Opening it's doors officially in 2016 the
Sunnyvale Fishery and Outdoor Activity Centre provides opportunities for climbing, archery and canoeing as well as education about subjects such as knife-crime and online safety

Chris was given the Queen’s Police Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours as recognition for his services to young people in the borough.

The old Henry Victor Allen brickworks is a substantial plot of abandoned buildings which closed in the late 1970s. Glazed brick manufacturers established by Henry Victor Allen (1887-1960) in 1905 in the Walterclough Valley. He converted an existing brickworks on the site to manufacture refractory bricks (porous bricks able to withstand high temperatures, generally used to line kilns, furnaces and fireplaces etc). Their Selfrac bricks were world famous. Available in 3 grades of heat resistance up to 2700 degrees Fahrenheit, they were used to line the inside of furnaces to stop the whole metal furnace from melting. Used extensively by the UK steel industry in places like Sheffield, the factory closed in the 70s with the collapse of British Steel manufacturing. The Selfrac bricks were made porous (the air bubbles inside helping to insulate) by mixing the clay with either sawdust or polystyrene balls which melted during blasting.