Four miles north of Nottingham city centre and three miles north-east of junction 26 of the M1 motorway, Rise Park is a residential suburb made up of roughly 1,500 homes. The majority are privately owned houses and bungalows, with a small number of three-storey low-rise flats scattered through the estate. A bus terminus near the local shops provides frequent connections to the city centre, Arnold and Bulwell, and the market town of Hucknall is close by.
History and Development
Before the estate existed, the land was occupied by Rise Farm, known as Bulwellrise Farm until around 1900. The farmhouse once stood on what would now be the south-east corner of Haverhill Crescent, and the southern boundary of the farm ran along the line of Rise Park Road, Langbank Avenue and Bracadale Road. Construction of the estate began in the early 1960s, working upward from the lower western ground and spreading east, with the final phases completed in the early 1970s. Along the western edge ran a railway line that closed in the mid-1960s; that corridor is now a tree-lined footpath. To the north lies Bestwood Country Park, and to the east is a further housing estate built in the late 1970s on the former site of Home Farm.
Schools and Local Facilities
South of the main estate, Rise Park Primary and Nursery School originally opened in September 1970 as separate infant and junior schools on land that had belonged to Top Valley Farm. Top Valley Academy followed in September 1973 on the same former farmland. Demand proved so high that mobile classrooms were installed before Stanstead School opened in 1977 to help manage numbers. The local shopping parade was announced in 1966, built in 1969 and included a post office, grocer, hairdresser, a branch of Martin the Newsagents and a Mace general store. At the eastern end stood the Charles II pub, its upper walls bearing two large murals of the former king, who had connections to the area in the 1600s. A Grandways supermarket opened in 1977, was taken over by Kwik Save in 1991 and was later demolished to make way for McCracken Close in the 2010s. A church opened beside the shopping area in 1968 and remains part of the local scene today.