Unlike other parks such as Rainham Rec and Gillingham park that were created over 100 years ago, Cozenton Park was a relatively recent addition to the open spaces in the area. In the mid 1960s Gillingham Council identified the need to additional parks to cope with the expanding number of houses in the area. As a result, Cozenton Park was opened along with Wigmore Park and Kings Frith playing fields by the early 1970s.
The name Cozenton is derived from the former Cozenton Farm that owned the land until it was purchased by Gillingham Council. The local map below from 1959 shows the area now occupied by Cozenton Park as farmland associated with Cozenton Farm with none of the housing development off Berengrave Lane such as Cozenton Close, Holmoaks or High Elms in existence. Gillingham Borough Council acquired land from Cozenton Farm in 1962 for £18,160 and in total the park extends to around 18 acres.
Ordnance survey maps show the area as open fields in 1875 gradually converted to predominant orchard by 1952. The map shows a quarry off Bloors Lane which was the site of the Splashes Swimming Pool and Leisure Centre opened on 15th May 1990 and demolished in 2022. The building was demolished as the repairs needed were uneconomic. No mention of the cause of the repairs has been made public but it would be interesting to know if building on the old quarry had any connection to the structural problems with the building. The swimming pool has now been rebuilt as Cozenton Park Leisure centre opened in July 2024. There was a plant nursery used by Medway Council then Hadlow College but now planned to be allotments. A Wheel Park for skateboarding and BMX bicycles was built near the Leisure Centre in 2010.
With some further investigation I managed to find some newspaper articles with annoucements from Gillingham Borough Council about the development of the park. The first in the Kent Messenger from May 1969 was a tender calling for contractors to quote for clearing the orchards and grassing the park with a deadline of Monday 9th June 1969.
This tender process was successful as the next article in the Kent Evening Post from February 1970 was detailing that the work was being carried out but bemoaning the amount of time it was taking.
The park hosted the first Rainham Spectacular in May 1972 so the issues with the contractor formal opening was resolved before 1971. The nearby Cozenton Close didn't exist in 1963 but did in 1971 according to Kellys Directory.
These photos were from the 1973 Rainham Spectacular, photos thanks to Stephen Hales
