Harvies Park

[meekan]

Does anybody know the history of Harvies Park?
I remember it as a football park but what was it before that?
Why was it called that? Who was it named after?
It came up in a conversation I had.

[Hughie]

Seems to have been named after a local councillor. I too remember it with the goal posts, Eglinton's school team played their home games there. And, preliminaries to the school sports such as long jump, shot putt and javelin. The air-raid shelter there has been mentioned a few times.

[George Ardrossan]

Meekan and Hughie

Harvey Gardens was built on Harvey's Park, Ardrossan around the 1970s as shown in the photos below taken in 2002.



I think Harvey Gardens is named after William Harvey who was Provost of Ardrossan from 1941 to 1946. Harvey Street, not far away, is probably named after John Harvey who was Provost of Ardrossan from 1905 to 1908.

George

[Penny Tray]

I suspect that Harvey's Park was simply a field, probably used for grazing. I was sure I had actually read about it being used for this purpose but can't recollect where. Like others, I remember it as an air-raid shelter location; football pitch; school sports venue, and general play area.

[meekan]

During the discussion I had, the gentleman seemed to remember someone was seriously hurt while heavy machinery was preparing the football park. He seemed to think the park was named after him. He says that the said casualty was a caretaker at the Park Church in Glasgow Street. Which begged the question from me as to what the field was used for before.

[Robert Cook]

I Remember playing pick-up fitba games there in the early 50s. Once while making a tunnel into the sand behind the houses on Eglinton rd. A woman came out to caution us that a wean had done the same thing the day before and the tunnel had collapsed onto him and he was taken to hospital. I don't know if she was just trying to scare us or whether it was fact. Has anyone else ever heard of an injury or death ococcuring in the sand area of the Park.

Robert

[George Ardrossan]

Robert

I don't know about a death in the sand at Harvey's Park but there was a sandpit death not very far away at Eglinton School in 1899 as told in this sad story from the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald of 8 September 1899.

ARDROSSAN BOY DIES IN SANDPIT WHILE AT SCHOOL

One of the saddest incidents it has fallen to us to record for some time, happened in a sandpit in the vicinity of Eglinton School, Ardrossan yesterday (7 September 1899). It seems that during the play-hour in the forenoon, a number of boys were at play in a sandpit to the rear of the school when the sides collapsed and four of the boys were buried in the sand. Three were extricated, little the worse. The first that the fourth was a-missing did not transpire till the evening. He proved to be a lame lad, thirteen years of age, son of a carpenter of Glasgow Street. The first official intimation the Police had of the occurrence was the recovery of the body in the evening. The lamentable occurrence created a profound sensation in the town and much sympathy is felt for the bereaved parents. It transpires that quite a number of boys were at play in the sandpit. It has been a favourite resort for some time and numerous holes had been dug in the face. Yesterday, the idea of the boys was to connect all the holes by a tunnel. This idea they were following out when the back fell in. Several other boys were running along the banks before the collapse took place but many of them, as well as some of those engaged in tunnelling, had cleared out on perceiving several rents in the surface showing a fall to be imminent. The three boys who were partially buried were from Barr Lane, Princes Lane and Church Place. One boy was missed from his place in class by his teacher but his playmates, on being questioned, stated their belief that he had gone home with another. Failing to go home at dinner time would appear to have been not altogether unusual with him but when he did not put in an appearance after school hours, his mother dispatched a younger brother in search for him. Enquiry at the teacher revealed the fact that he had not been in his place in the afternoon and the possibility that he may be entombed in the pit dawned on the anxious minds of those more immediately interested. The boy was recovered in the evening under some eight feet of sand. The pit in which the deplorable accident occurred is that from which the sand used in filling up the old quarry in Eglinton Street has been taken. Large quantities of sand have also been taken out recently by builders.

George

[George Ardrossan]

During the discussion I had, the gentleman seemed to remember someone was seriously hurt while heavy machinery was preparing the football park. He seemed to think the park was named after him.

Meekan

You might well be right about the naming of Harvey's Park. There is no book or website that states with certainty why streets are so-called so we can only guess. William Harvey was Provost of Ardrossan from 1941 to 1946 so my guess is that the street is named after him.

Other Ardrossan streets that share their name with local councillors are Aitken Place, Anderson Terrace, Barr Street, Barrie Terrace, Beggs Terrace, Currie Court, Fullerton Square, Harvey Street, McDowall Avenue, McDowall Place, McKellar Avenue, McMillan Drive and Young Street.

George

[Hughie]

Only sand I recall in Harvey's park was in the long jump area which was just below the high point of Dalry Road, before it crossed the railway line.

I do recall playing in the sand at Eglinton school. The area was directly across the Ardrossan / Largs railway line from Ardrossan's gas works. There was a fair bit of banter at times between students and the young men (all under 20years old as I recall) unloading the railway wagons of the coal to make the gas and bi-products - my eldest brother, Jim was one of those young men.

I remember a cat fight between my sister Susan and her friend on the sand which prompted those un-shirted young men shovelling coal to a fever pitch of excitement.

So many memories!

Consider contributing and sharing yours.

[Penny Tray]

I Remember playing pick-up fitba games there in the early 50s. Once while making a tunnel into the sand behind the houses on Eglinton rd. A woman came out to caution us that a wean had done the same thing the day before and the tunnel had collapsed onto him and he was taken to hospital. I don't know if she was just trying to scare us or whether it was fact. Has anyone else ever heard of an injury or death ococcuring in the sand area of the Park.

Robert

I have previously posted as follows:-

There's something running in my mind too that in our time there was maybe a similar accident to the 1899 one but over in the nearby Harvie's Park, and that Billy McCrindle who lived in Dalry Road had a narrow escape?????

Robert,

The Billy McCrindle I refer to was about the same age as yourself. When you lived in Rowanside Terrace he was about four houses to the left from your back garden.

[Penny Tray]

During the discussion I had, the gentleman seemed to remember someone was seriously hurt while heavy machinery was preparing the football park. He seemed to think the park was named after him. He says that the said casualty was a caretaker at the Park Church in Glasgow Street. Which begged the question from me as to what the field was used for before.

That's an interesting theory and searching for iformation to prove or disprove it, I see that a JOHN HARVEY lived at No. 10 Alpine Terrace, which was directly opposite the entrance to Harvey's Park. He died on the 31st of October 1909, and yet 28 years later his widow, Jane, was still listed in the Ayrshire Postal Directory as living at that address, and indicator PERHAPS, that JOHN died much earlier that might reasonably have beeen expected, possibly as the consequence of an accident.

Unfortunately, the 1 and 2 November 1909 editions of the Glasgow Herald, where any story of an accident in the PARK resulting in death might have been reported, are unavailable.

I wonder if the intimation of John's death in the 5 November 1909 edition of the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald, which I don't have ready access to, gave any indication whether or not his passing was "the result of an accident".

[meekan]

[You might well be right about the naming of Harvey's Park. There is no book or website that states with certainty why streets are so-called so we can only guess. William Harvey was Provost of Ardrossan from 1941 to 1946

George[/quote]

1941/46 would certainly be with in this gentleman's memory of events. I wonder if William Harvey had a connection with the Park church?

PT's find of a William Harvey in Alpine Terrace is interesting though my contact is too young to remember that but accident may just have been a story handed down. I suppose a lot would depend on when the football park was created. Is there any old maps around then that would indicate before and after the park being created?