Bingley St Ives
Bingley St Ives, also called St Ives Estate, is a 550-acre country park between Bingley and Harden in West Yorkshire. It is owned by Bradford Council and open all year. The park is Grade II listed and is an Accredited Country Park. It hosts the Bingley St Ives Golf Club, the Sports Turf Research Institute, Bradford Independent Care Group, Bingley Angling Club and Aire Valley Archers. About 300,000 people visit each year.
People have lived here since ancient times. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, the land passed to Walter Paslew and later to the Laycock and Milner families. The St Ives mansion was built in 1616. In 1635 the Ferrands bought the estate. In 1858 Harden Grange and St Ives were named the same. There are stories of a link to General Fairfax in the Civil War. The Ferrand family’s name later became Busfeild Ferrand. The estate was bought by Bingley Urban District Council in 1929. A granite obelisk near Coppice Pond honors William Busfeild Ferrand, a former MP.
Important features include Coppice Pond, once a water supply for a mill, now used for fishing and bird watching, with a bird hide and a duck feeding pier. The estate also has Baxter’s Pond (restored in 2003), Crayfish Pond, Round Pond and Upper and Lower Ponds connected by streams. St Ives Mansion House was a nursing home and is now apartments. Nearby are a riding centre, a children’s play area and toilets. The main offices of the Sports Turf Research Institute are on site. There is a sculpture trail of chainsaw carvings around the woods, especially Bell Bank Wood near the east entrance. The east car park fits 56 cars and four horse boxes.
The 18-hole golf course was designed by Dr Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones. It started as nine holes in 1931 and was extended to 18 in 1935.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 13:19 (CET).