Friarwood Valley Gardens Pinhole Camera

Witness the giant pinhole in Friarwood Valley Gardens! The camera will be operational in the former summer house/aviary, giving the chance to see live images of the gardens, projected through the pinhole.

A brief outline will be given of liquorice growing in Pontefract’s Valley Gardens.

Visit Friarwood Valley Gardens where the friends group have planted the Rose Gardens, and added a children’s playground and unique tree carvings.

Friarwood Valley Gardens is a public Grade II listed Historic Park on the site of a medieval Dominican Friary and liquorice cultivation; it became a public park in 1950.

The pinhole camera building has been around since at least 1840 and was built in the Georgian period in the extended gardens of Ropergate House. Former uses include it reputedly being used as a male card school retreat, then a packing shed for the on site market gardens, and an aviary in the public park.

A brief history will be given of liquorice growing, market gardeners and the summerhouse in the Valley Gardens by Dr Colin White; then Bob Clayden, Pinhole Wizard, will give a hands-on demonstration of the pinhole camera in this remarkable building.

Booking is not necessary.