Distance Covered: 4 miles Time to Complete Walk 3 hours
Suitable for dog walking: No
Waterton Park is a great open place for walks just outside Wakefield. Walk through the woods with a detour to a watchtower, then through fields and via a canal towpath to Waterton Park Hotel. Skirt through a golf course back into woods to visit Charles Watertons grave. A great family walk.
From the car park head back out and turn right
Soon you come to the watchtower to your right which is an interesting detour.
Head back to the path turning right to keep on the woodland path. The path has regular stones which keeps you on the right track
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Head along the path which arrives at a canal towpath
Head along the towpath until you come to some steps. Climb up the steps and turn right over a bridge
Head back up the road and head right onto a public path which meanders through the golf course, initially through an archway
Briefly keep on the path near the golf course heading back into the woods by following a path to your left.
At a fork in the path head left down to the lakeside
Keep on the woodland path until you come to a path near a log heading to your right. This path takes you to Charles Watertons grave which is well worth the detour
When you come to two fell logs head to the right and you will find the grave
Head back to the two logs and then back up to the main path and turn right and keep right to head up the path to a series of boardwalks
Head along the boardwalks beside the wall
Soon you emerge into the open- keep on this path until you come to a gap in the wall on your right
Turn a sharp right heading across the open field
Head onto another boardwalk and over a small boardwalk bridge
Keep to the left of the field heading up and through a gate
At a fork in the path keep right and then right again at a junction
Head back to the car park which is on your left with the cafe and toilets next to the car park
Waterton Park is a unique ancient site in Yorkshire. ‘The Watertons [a leading noble family] lived there for centuries and they’re mentioned in Shakespeare’s play Richard II,’ says Sarah Charlesworth, Historic England’s Listing Team Leader for Northern England. ‘Charles Waterton came along and altered the landscape to the one that we see today, and that’s now been protected.’
Waterton Park was the first known example of a landscape designed to protect wildlife. At a time when parkland in England was often used for game shooting, Charles transformed the park into a haven for local wildlife. Built on the site of a former moated Medieval hall, Walton Hall (which sits in the park and is now part of Waterton Park Hotel) was built in 1767 on an island within a 26-acre lake. Charles was born at Walton Hall and inherited the property in 1805.
‘Charles was a pioneering naturalist, environmentalist and philanthropist – and an explorer. He went all over South America and made a number of very interesting observations,’ says John Smith, Chair of the Friends of Waterton’s Wall. ‘For example one was curare – a poison extracted from plants that he brought back to this country and was used in anaesthesia until very recently. We’re talking about someone who made a substantial contribution to medical science. He was a pioneering environmentalist and realised on his return from South America that people working in the soap works (predominantly men) looked sick, and he was concerned that the fumes from the factory were having an adverse impact on the environment. He took the owners of the soap works to court to stop them emitting the fumes, and won. He was a philanthropist and William Makepeace Thackeray wrote a wonderful eulogy for Charles Waterton, who I think was viewed as being eccentric, but Makepeace basically said if eccentricity means you’re kind to fellow human beings and respect nature, then maybe that’s a sort of eccentricity we all should share.’
Charles was also a renowned taxidermist who developed a new technique using mercuric chloride as a preservative, which he taught to the influential John Edmonstone whilst in Guyana, who in turn taught the technique to Charles Darwin.
‘He was a really pioneering naturalist, adventurer and scientist and held unusual beliefs for that time – progressive beliefs that we take for granted as modern concepts today,’ says Sarah. ‘He was big on fighting pollution, he was big on seeing a balance of harmony between wildlife and humans, and he really wanted to protect native wildlife, and in particular he had a love of birds. Once he’d inherited the estate he set about creating what became this nature reserve.’
To avoid the disturbance of native wildlife Charles prevented neighbouring keepers and their dogs from entering during nesting season, banned fishing in the lake between late autumn and early May, and forbade shooting. He also created new habitats. Then in 1821 he built a stone boundary wall (which took five years to complete and has been recently listed at Grade II). ‘It was three miles long and varying in height at a level at which a fox cannot jump, and he realised that inside this boundary wall was actually a great place for birdlife and other wildlife to remain protected from foxes, other predators and human beings. Although poachers never really went away,’ says John. ‘It became established as the first nature park or nature reserve in the world.’ One winter Charles recorded 5,000 wildfowl sheltering on his lake, and over the years he noted 123 bird species in the park.
‘Charles opened up the reserve for local people to visit,’ says Sarah. ‘He also let patients from the mental health asylum nearby come for wellbeing visits. This is really progressive stuff because this is the early 1820s. He’s really ahead of his time and just a fascinating character.’
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