Description:
A fenced playground with safety surfaces. Equipment consists of swings, slides, Climbing units, spring toys and seating (note all equipment is checked regularly and is inspected annually by an independent expert)
There is a model boat club based in the park which was established in the early 20th century.
There is a café in the park open to the public for refreshments during the spring and summer months.
There is park seating throughout the park and picnic tables situated on small grassed areas by the lake.
There is a designated football pitch used for local league football.
The Park has a group of local people (known as friends of Paddy Freeman’s Park and Castle Farm Playing Fields) who meet regularly to discuss maintenance, events and future development of the park.
Patrick (Paddy) Freeman and family arrived form Gateshead (Windmills hills) around 1795 to farm and mill in High Heaton but shortly after 1862, following Sir William Armstrong’s enclosure of Jesmond Dene, they moved away.
After 1883, northeast lodge was built to house Dene employees at a time when only fields existed beyond the gates to the park. Newton Road (named after Sir Henry Newton) had recently opened to allow access to Gosforth colliery from Heaton. In 1928 that part of the road along side of the park was renamed Freeman Road.
Paddy Freeman’s lake originated as a duck pond which was attached to their High Heaton farm, situated to the south of the park. The pond was enlarged to its present size and made user- friendly in 1890. There was an island in the lake but this was later removed.
The Paddy Freeman’s farm building were demolished between the wars as a prelude to surrounding residential development and for many years High Heaton Tennis club occupied the site, until the Anscomb Gardens site (off Jesmond Park West) was built in the1960s.
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