Rivacre Valley is an area of parkland and woodland in
Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south-eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. In the 2021 Unite ...
,
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
, England. Named after the Rivacre
Brook
Brook may refer to:
Computing
*Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C
*Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler
*BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming
People
* Brook (surname)
*People with the given name Brook, ...
which runs through a valley in this area, the park is an established wildlife habitat and local
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...
. The park is over
and comprises meadow and several areas of woodland. Church Wood, to the north west, is separated from the rest of the park by a golf course. The site also features an
orienteering
Orienteering is a group of sports that involve using a map and compass to navigation, navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specia ...
course.
History
Rivacre Valley was most well known for having an outdoor swimming pool until the 1980s, with large ornamental gardens, cafe, children's playground and fountains, situated along the Rivacre Brook itself. Opened in 1934, Rivacre Baths had a main pool and a smaller shallow pool arranged in a 'T' shape. The attraction was particularly popular between the 1950s and 1970s. By the 1980s its popularity had declined due to competition from the year-round indoor heated swimming pools at the nearby EPIC
leisure centre
A leisure centre, sports centre, or recreation centre is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and provided by the local government authority, where people can engage in a variety of sports and exercise, and keep fit.
Typical facilit ...
and the
Northgate Arena Northgate or North Gate may refer to:
Historical structures
* Northgate, Chester, part of the city wall, in Cheshire, England
* St Michael at the North Gate, a church in Oxford, England
* Taipei North Gate
Places Australia
* Northgate, Queen ...
in
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...
. In a bad state of repair, Rivacre Baths finally closed in early 1981 and was demolished in 1985.
The site is now part of the nature reserve.
See also
*
List of parks and open spaces in Cheshire
This is a list of parks and open spaces in the ceremonial county of Cheshire. It includes urban parks, country parks, islands, woodlands, commons, lakes, walking trails, local nature reserves and other green spaces that are open to the public. Sm ...
References
{{Cheshire-geo-stub
Parks and open spaces in Cheshire
Areas of Ellesmere Port