Now I have always been fascinated by that patch of land, where the Kingsway meets Wilmlsow Road.
It is a small plot surrounded by fast flowing traffic and has always seemed a planner’s after thought, more so as the volume of cars, buses and lorries has increased over the last four decades, and the place is dwarfed by the cinema complex to the south and the supermarket to the east. *
Once, and we are talking the 1970s, I would sometimes take myself off and sit in the park, partly hidden by the dense bushes and trees along the Parrs Wood Lane side.
At the time I was particularly intrigued by the entrance pillars on the north side, and still wonder if they were once replicated at the other entrances.
The historian in me also speculated on when the park was built, and as you do, I occasionally made a note to go looking in the archive.
But then as so often happens I came across the story, which is not quite what I had expected, and was a sideways discovery, while researching the pubs of Didsbury. **
The park dates from 1928, and was an attempt to challenge the growing presence of cars and lorries in what had once been a quiet bit of land, dominated by the 18th century estate of Parrs Wood.
All of that changed, with the construction of the Kingsway which was opened in 1923, and the Corporation bus garage which was ready for business just three years later.
And so, in 1928 “the Royal Manchester Institution after some months of preparation and consultation with the Parks Committee announced at its annual meeting, that its scheme for the development of the corner of land where Kingsway meets Wilmlsow Road will be effected.
The scheme is to make out of the triangular plot of land a small garden which will be welcome to visitors of the city with some display of green”. ***
The design had been modified, and “the fountain will be replaced by glass and the low stone wall by posts.”
Aerial photographs from 1927 show the triangular plot beside the bus garage awaiting something to happen.
The Institute handed over £500 in the January of 1929 with work beginning at some point after that.
But, the park was nearly lost to a developer who wanted to erect a petrol station on the site in 1932, but that is best left to a chapter in the new Didsbury pubs book which tells the full story.
Location; Didsbury
Pictures; the green at Parrs Wood, 2015, from the collection of Liz Scantlebury**** and Didsbury, Manchester Corporation Parr's Wood Bus Garage, Manchester, N S Roberts, m67682 courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
*Parrs Wood .............. what was once and is now, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/01/parrs-wood-what-was-once-and-is-now.html
**Manchester Pubs- The Stories Behind the Doors – Didsbury, Andrew Simpson & Peter Topping, to be published later in 2019
*** Garden Entrance to City Parrs Wood Development Scheme, the Preservation of Amenities, Manchester Guardian, October 9, 1928
****Liz Scantlebury, http://www.lizscantlebury.com
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| The park in 2015 |
Once, and we are talking the 1970s, I would sometimes take myself off and sit in the park, partly hidden by the dense bushes and trees along the Parrs Wood Lane side.
At the time I was particularly intrigued by the entrance pillars on the north side, and still wonder if they were once replicated at the other entrances.
The historian in me also speculated on when the park was built, and as you do, I occasionally made a note to go looking in the archive.
But then as so often happens I came across the story, which is not quite what I had expected, and was a sideways discovery, while researching the pubs of Didsbury. **
 |
| The park surrounded with clutter and traffic, 2015 |
All of that changed, with the construction of the Kingsway which was opened in 1923, and the Corporation bus garage which was ready for business just three years later.
And so, in 1928 “the Royal Manchester Institution after some months of preparation and consultation with the Parks Committee announced at its annual meeting, that its scheme for the development of the corner of land where Kingsway meets Wilmlsow Road will be effected.
The scheme is to make out of the triangular plot of land a small garden which will be welcome to visitors of the city with some display of green”. ***
 |
| The plot of land, 1927 |
Aerial photographs from 1927 show the triangular plot beside the bus garage awaiting something to happen.
The Institute handed over £500 in the January of 1929 with work beginning at some point after that.
But, the park was nearly lost to a developer who wanted to erect a petrol station on the site in 1932, but that is best left to a chapter in the new Didsbury pubs book which tells the full story.
Location; Didsbury
*Parrs Wood .............. what was once and is now, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/01/parrs-wood-what-was-once-and-is-now.html
**Manchester Pubs- The Stories Behind the Doors – Didsbury, Andrew Simpson & Peter Topping, to be published later in 2019
*** Garden Entrance to City Parrs Wood Development Scheme, the Preservation of Amenities, Manchester Guardian, October 9, 1928
****Liz Scantlebury, http://www.lizscantlebury.com
Fascinating! A little corner, often observed but never much thought about!
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