About
Oxenhope Rose Garden is a prominent public space at the corner of Hebden Bridge Road and Station Road (Muffin Corner).
The garden was completed in 1974 and is a formal space with a cherry tree-lined stone boundary and benches overlooking a central lawn, previously containing flowerbeds planted with rose bushes.
Oxenhope Village Council maintain the Rose Garden under a 99-year lease from Bradford Council, following a Community Asset Transfer.
Recent History & Improvement
In 2018 the Village Council secured funding of just over £9,500 from the Ovenden Wind Farm Fund to begin improvement works within the Rose Garden. Funding was subsequently used to provide new bench seating, a welcome to Oxenhope information sign, new entrances and repairs to stone walls. Fruit bushes, herbs and bulbs were planted with improvements to borders, including removal of overgrown shrubbery and planting of additional cherry trees.
A new Norway Spruce ‘Christmas tree’ was planted at the top of the site to replace the former tree at the Station Road end of the garden, which was leaning badly and deemed to be dangerous (removed with consent, by the Village Council). The new tree was funded through voluntary donation by a local family and is now semi-mature.
The Village Council has continued to progress incremental improvements, in line with a vision for the Rose Garden formed through discussion and consultation, including with residents. 2024 expenditure included footpath resurfacing (£8,765), Christmas lights removal, testing and replacement (£2,600) and Cherry tree maintenance works, in addition to routine grounds maintenance and grass cutting.
Rose Garden Improvement (Next Phase)
The centre of the Rose Garden is characterised by a group planting of conifers (currently approximately 5 metres in height with some leaning badly). These are domineering to the space of the whole garden, providing little decorative amenity or horticultural interest and, as a non-native species, are out of character with the Rose Garden design.
As an interim measure, this central group had been retained by the Village Council since acquiring the site. The intention was to utilise the feature as a temporary central focus for the village Christmas light display, until such time as the replacement Christmas tree reached sufficient maturity. Christmas lIghts were subsequently installed in the ‘new’ Norway Spruce tree in readiness for the 2024-25 festive season.
In recent years the central conifers have been pruned and trimmed to create a more conical shape, but the impact of this work was short lived. Professional advice received has suggested that these trees cannot simply be trimmed back again.
The Village Council has discussed the issue with specialists and with officers at Bradford Council and last year made an application to remove the conifers at an appropriate time. These trees were never intended to provide a permanent feature in the garden and they are incapable of providing a sustainable and visually attractive feature.
To date no decision has been made as to what will replace the central conifers once removed. Whilst there was strong support for some form of hard standing and event space expressed in previous village wide consultation on Rose Garden improvement, the Village Council intends to further explore options and preferences with residents, before making any final decision.
The Village Council has absolutely not ruled out replacement of the central planting with an appropriate tree (or trees), more suitable for the setting, in due course.
Whilst replacement with a suitable native tree is one option, there are other suggested uses for this space including paving, feature planted beds, a water feature or even a bandstand.
Other ideas and suggestions are very welcome and all views will be considered further at a future meeting of the Village Council (date to be advised).
A few images of the land before establishment of the Ornamental Garden (click on a thumbnail to open a gallery).
If you have any other images of the area, particularly from the early 70’s, please do let us know.
Background
The Rose Garden at Muffin Corner gives an important first impression of Oxenhope to many visitors and is a valuable open green space, in the centre of the village.
The land for the Rose Garden was donated to the former Keighley Borough Council in 1968 by a local family, the Greenwoods, on the basis that the land be used as an Ornamental Garden for the benefit of villagers. Keighley Council did the work in 1972. It was originally very attractive and was laid out as a lawn with rose beds and with a border of 12 Cherry trees and with several other deciduous trees on the western boundary.
Over successive years the standard of maintenance by Bradford Council had reduced dramatically and sadly the Rose Garden was in a pretty sorry state when acquired by the Village Council.
Vision
Oxenhope Village Council’s original vision for the future of the Rose Garden:-
- Remove the dangerous Norway Spruce Tree early in 2017 immediately after the season’s Christmas Light show.
- Open up the Rose Garden by removing the peripheral conifers.
- Prune the Cherry trees to maintain current heights.
- Fill the bare areas with more Cherry Trees.
- Stock the perimeter beds with low height perennial flowering shrubs.
- The central flower bed is a group of differing Cedar varieties in a central bed. It is proposed to retain this group and trim it into a more conical shape, whilst maintaining the current height. This will then be used as a central focus for the Christmas Light display, on an interim basis until such time as further improvements and alterations are developed and agreed.
- Possibly create new chipped bark pathways across the central area to link the existing entrances diagonally across the Garden.
