Australia in 1896 Lord Sheffield’s XI vs. Sheffield Park Cricket Club Lord Sheffield’s XI vs. Luckily on my visit, there were plenty of old artefacts and displays to commentate the occasion. Between 18 it was the home ground of Lord Sheffield’s XI and in 1896 his side played the touring Australian team in front of 25,000 spectators. Located at the back of Sheffield Park and Garden is the Sheffield Park Cricket Club, which was established in 1845. Sheffield Park House Sheffield Park and Garden Sheffield Park and Garden Sheffield Park and Garden Sheffield Park and Garden Sheffield Park and Garden The centrepiece of the landscape is the four original lakes that overlook the beautiful plants and trees. James Wyatt remodelled the house into the fashionable gothic style we see today with Capability Brown commissioned to landscape the garden.
In 1769, politician John Holroyd acquired the estate and was given the title Baron Sheffield in 1781. In August 1538, Thomas Howard, 3 rd Duke of Norfolk, entertained King Henry VIII in the Sheffield Park estate and by 1700 the Deer Park was formalised by Lord De La Warr who planted trees and created lawns. The gardens formed part of Sheffield Park House, which was a gothic country house that’s still in private ownership – and you can still see it when you walk around the gardens. Located near Uckfield and Haywards Heath in East Sussex, the stunning landscape garden was laid out in the 18 th century by Capability Brown and developed further in the early 20 th century by Arthur Gilstrap Soames – who owned it. I’ll now leave Sheffield Park station and head to Sheffield Park and Garden, which is owned by the National Trust. For a railway enthusiast like myself who has visited many of the UK’s heritage railways and loves model railways, this is a real treat! Sheffield Park Station Sheffield Park Station Sheffield Park StationĮngine at Sheffield Park Station Inside the Coach on Sheffield Park Station It’s every kid (and adults!) dream to see how rail travel looked back in the golden era of steam and to have the sheer excitement to travel in immaculately restored coaches. It really is a step back in time when you’re on the platform – from the booking office and luggage to adverts on the wall and the steam engines smoke billowing out of the funnel. The station now plays host to a shop, model railway, museum and the Bessemer Arms pub (named after Miss Bessemer who fought British Rail over the closure of the line claiming it to be illegal, and whose victory spurred the movement to save the line). The station first opened in August 1882, but closed in May 1955 when the line closed, before reopening on the heritage line in August 1960. The expedition I’m embarking on in this ‘Beyond London’ edition takes me to Sheffield Park station, which is the southern terminus on the Bluebell Railway and located on the southern bank of the River Ouse. A further extension to Kingscote re-opened in 1994, before the re-opening to East Grinstead in 2013.
In 1960, the stretch from Sheffield Park to Bluebell Halt was re-opened to the public with an extension to Horsted Keynes opening two years later.
The committee then recommended the stretch of line between Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes could be run as a tourist attraction using vintage locomotives and stock, with volunteers helping on the railway. The society’s name was changed to the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society whose aim was to reopen the whole line from East Grinstead to Culver Junction, but these plans didn’t come to fruition. Sheffield Park Station Sheffield Park Station However, on 15 March 1959, the future president of the society, Bernard Holden, met to form the Lewes and East Grinstead Railway Preservation Society with £940 raised in donations to start the society. Sheffield Park Stationīack in 1954, before the Beeching Axe, the branch line committee at British Railway proposed closing the line from East Grinstead to Culver Junction near Lewes, but despite local opposition, the line was officially closed on. My adventure begins on the Bluebell Railway, which is an 11-mile (17.7 km) heritage line managed by the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society running between East Grinstead and Sheffield Park with intermediate stations at Horsted Keynes and Kingscote. All aboard! My next journey outside London takes me to East Sussex as I take a trip by steam engine from East Grinstead to Sheffield Park station on the Bluebell Railway, before heading to Sheffield Park and Garden.
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