Locke Park Tower Locke Park

Locke Park Tower is a Grade II* listed memorial and observation tower located in Locke Park, Barnsley. It was built between 1875 and 1877 by architect Richard Phené Spiers, who was commissioned by Sarah McCreery to design the structure as both a memorial to her sister Phoebe Locke and as a public observatory for the people of Barnsley.

The tower is constructed in cream Ancaster stone from Sleaford and red Mansfield stone, with terracotta detailing, an oak lantern, and a copper roof. It stands approximately 70 feet tall and comprises four stages arranged around a central circular staircase.

The design is built on a circular stepped stone podium. The ground floor features a peristyle of 14 unfluted stone columns with terracotta Ionic capitals supporting a deep entablature with red stone frieze. The cella wall has a rendered band at its base with banded rustication of cream stone above, featuring some replacement stones in red. The north-west facing doorway opens into the park and has a moulded architrave with floral roundels and a projecting cornice; it is currently fitted with a modern steel security door. Narrow stair windows punctuate the wall, one blocked with steel sheeting and another with vertical metal bars. A marble tablet set into the south-east wall in a moulded stone frame inscribed in memory of Phoebe Locke and recording the donation of the additional twenty acres by Sarah McCreery in 1877 is badly weathered but still legible.

The first-floor balcony parapet features floral and monogrammed terracotta panels set between stone piers. The second stage displays banded rustication with a doorway aligned with the ground-floor entrance. Above this runs an entablature with red stone frieze and cream stone cornice forming the base of the third stage. The third stage takes the form of an ashlar drum with a red stone band at capital level, decorated with eight Corinthian pilasters supporting a deep entablature. The frieze is richly decorated with festoons, lions' heads, and passion flowers, with egg-and-dart and dentil-course mouldings to the cornice. The fourth stage is a wooden arcaded lantern with supporting brackets beneath a conical copper-clad roof with finial; the original weather vane, which bore Sarah McCreery's monogram, is missing.

The interior contains a spiral stone staircase with iron handrails on both the inner and outer sides of the spiral and an iron handrail at the stair head with twisted metal balusters. Exposed beams run beneath the third-stage balcony ceiling, which has moulded timber cornices and tongue-and-groove boarding. The stairwell has a radiating timber boarded ceiling, now painted white. The interior of the lantern was originally painted blue with stencilled gold stars.

The tower was commissioned following Sarah McCreery's decision in 1874 to donate a further twenty acres to Locke Park in memory of her sister Phoebe, who had died in 1866. Phoebe Locke was the widow of Joseph Locke, the renowned railway engineer and apprentice of George Stephenson. Joseph Locke was educated at Barnsley Grammar School and served as engineer to the Grand Junction Railway; he lived from 1805 to 1860. The original Locke Park had been established in 1861 following Phoebe's donation of land to Barnsley.

Richard Phené Spiers was a leading architectural figure of the later nineteenth century, serving as Master of Architecture at the Royal Academy Schools and recognised as a respected scholar. The total cost of the land and tower exceeded £11,000. Excavation of the foundations commenced in 1875 under the contractors Messrs Robinson and Son of Barnsley. The foundations were excavated to a depth of 9 feet with a diameter of 41 feet and consisted of solid concrete interlaced with rows of strong pit wire.

Spiers also oversaw the layout of the additional parkland. A sketch plan dated 8 February 1875 shows his design for serpentine paths with a more formal symmetrical layout to the south-east corner incorporating the tower and flights of steps down to a terrace, which gave an axial emphasis to the overall composition. The additions to the park were officially opened on Tuesday, 7 August 1877.