(Gala Park)
At the beginning of the 20th century Captain Ian and Lady Forbes were tenants at Herbertshire Castle and were keen to be involved with the local community. They allowed the Boys’ Brigade parades to take place in front of the house and open-air concerts were performed there to raise money for local causes. In August 1906 the very first Denny and Dunipace Co-operative Children’s Gala Day was held in the grounds and over 2,000 children attended! The Co-op supplied milk and pastries. The main features were a long parade, followed by games such as football. Punch and Judy shows were popular, as was a display by a team from the Camelon Gymnasium. The galas were destined to continue for several decades. In 1930 Denny Town Council acquired a large part of the parklands and in 1931 commenced the construction of a large council estate. A small area was set aside in 1933 for a playing field and in 1935 a set of six swings was erected there.
The galas continued between the wars, as did the annual agricultural shows. During the Second World War the shows had to be put on hold and the galas were much reduced in scale. Concerts were held in the park in aid of war funds. German prisoners of war from the camp at Castle Rankine erected a dais at Herbertshire Castle Park in June 1946 for the crowning of Elizabeth Sneddon as Denny’s Victory Queen and in 1948 the Town Council constructed a band stand/platform. Denny Town Council also acquired the land around the old castle for further house building and in September 1950 the remains of Herbertshire Castle were removed with the help of explosives.
Construction of the housing scheme began again in 1950 and the streets were named after trees. There were few of the original trees left, though a large Spanish chestnut was one of them. The parkland to the east of the castle was retained and made into a public park; its diminished size meaning that the last agricultural show was held there in 1952. A footbridge was constructed over the River Carron to connect the housing schemes to either side and was opened in June 1955.
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The galas took place at the south-east corner of the enlarged park, near to Denny Bridge. Castle Hill provided a natural amphitheatre for the ceremonies. In 1986 the hill was re-scarped so that a new football field and a running/cycling track could be installed. The top of the hill had been planted with trees in the late 1970s
New playground equipment was installed which included swings, a roundabout (known locally as a “witch’s hat”) and a tall chute. The hard surface made the latter a little dangerous and when a young boy fell off it onto the tarmac he received injuries to his head. The chute was then dismantled and fixed into the nearby hill slope so that the slide was only a few feet above the ground (Gillies 2018, 128).
National Grid Reference
NS 806 832
Falkirk Local History Society 