|
Peel Park is a public urban park in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, located on the flood plain of the River Irwell below Salford Crescent and adjacent to the University of Salford. It was the first of three public parks to be opened on 22 August 1846, for the people of Manchester and Salford, paid for by public subscription. Peel Park hosted the University of Salford Students' Union first ever music festival titled Atmosfield,〔http://www.atmosfield.co.uk〕 which saw 1000 students descend onto the park on 30 May 2015. Peel Park is to undergo a significant £1.6m refurbishment after successfully bidding to the Heritage Lottery Fund.〔http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/salfords-historic-peel-park---9542477〕 == History == Early 19th-century reformers had become concerned about the consequences of enclosure and thought that public walks and gardens were the solution. Richard Walker, the Member of Parliament for Bury had spoken in Parliament about the lack of areas for recreation in his home town and in 1833 the Select Committee on Public Walks was set up to look at the problem. The committee noted that, owing to urban development and rising property values during the previous fifty years, "many inclosures of open spaces in the vicinity of Towns had taken place, and little or no provision had been made for Public Walks or Open Spaces, fitted to afford means of exercise or amusement to the middle or humbler classes". They gathered witnesses from dozen or so of the large manufacturing towns to try to establish remedies. One of their conclusions was that "having a place to which they (the humbler classes) might resort on a Sunday Evening would tend to promote that self-respect which is so advantageous to all classes". Although there were a number of parks in the UK, most of them were royal parks or privately owned estates, and the landowners could exclude those they did not approve of, as is illustrated by the following letter published in ''The Times'' on 10 July 1846:
The most prominent supporters of the campaign in the north of England were Liberal MP for Manchester Mark Philips, and the then Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel. Large sums of money were contributed to the fund by both these men and also by the local workers. In a letter to the ''Manchester Guardian'', published in ''The Times'' on 31 October 1844, the writer said;
After seven years of campaigning, Manchester set up the Committee for Public Walks, Gardens & Playgrounds. On 29 March 1845 the Committee bought the 32 acres of the Lark Hill estate from William Garnett Esq for £5,000. A design competition was held for the three parks — Queen's Park and Philips Park, in Manchester, and Peel Park in Salford. Each park was required to have playgrounds, including provision for archery and quoits, together with skittle and ball alleys, a refreshment room, one or more fountains, and retiring places. The competition was won by Joshua Major and Son of Knowsthorp, near Leeds, and the parks were laid out under that firm's supervision in 1845–46, by the company of Pim and Richardson, Nurserymen, of Higher Ardwick.〔 The three parks were all opened, with great ceremony, on 22 August 1846, Peel Park on the Lark Hill Estate being the first to be opened "for the enjoyment and recreation of the public" followed by Queen's Park in Harpurhey and Philips Park in Bradford, Manchester. Peel Park, named in honour of Sir Robert Peel, is now said to be possibly the world's first Public Park,〔(Salford City Council: Parks in Broughton and Blackfriars ) Retrieved on 2008-09-03〕〔(Papillon Graphics' Virtual Encyclopaedia of Greater Manchester: The Campaign for City Parks in Manchester and Salford ) Retrieved on 2008-09-06 〕〔(University of Salford: Peel Park ) Retrieved on 2008-09-07〕 although it may not even be the first public park in England as Derby Arboretum, which was given to Derby Town Council on 16 September 1840, claims this title.〔(Derby Arboretum: England's first public park ) Retrieved on 2008-09-08〕〔(About the Arboretum: England's First Public Park? ) Retrieved on 2008-09-09〕 Originally the mansion on the site, Lark Hill Villa situated on the higher ground overlooking the park, served as the refreshment rooms for the park, but four years later the building was converted, and opened in November 1850 as the Royal Museum & Public Library (now the Salford Museum and Art Gallery).〔 The library is said to be the first unconditionally free public library in England.〔(manchesteronline: Eye witness in Manchester ) Retrieved on 2008-09-05〕 Following a great wave of public grief after Robert Peel's unexpected death in 1850, a commemorative statue was erected in the park, paid for by public subscription.〔Wyke (2005) p. 195〕 This was the beginning of a collection of bronze and marble statues of public figures, to be erected in the park, all of which were produced by the sculptor Matthew Noble. The collection included depictions of Queen Victoria, Albert, Prince Consort, Joseph Brotherton MP 〔Brotherton was a very popular MP for 24 years, a campaigner against child labour and one of the founders of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce〕 and Richard Cobden.〔(Salford: Love to know - 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' ) Retrieved on 2008-09-05〕 The statue of Queen Victoria was erected in front of the Salford Museum and Art Gallery in 1857, to commemorate the royal visit of 1851 to Manchester and Salford, when she was welcomed by a crowd of eighty thousand people in the park. The statue was unveiled by the Queen on her second visit in 1857 by which time a stone arch decorated in the Indian style (the Victoria Arch, illustrated above) had been erected in her honour at the entrance to the park. The commemorative statue of the Prince Consort was erected after his death in 1861. In November 1866 the River Irwell burst its banks, flooding much of Lower Broughton. The flood was said to be "more extensive and devastating in its effects than perhaps any that has occurred in this locality within the memory of living man". Three men were drowned and many others, including the keeper of the park, had to be rescued from the upper storeys of their homes. As part of a general renovation of the park a granite flood obelisk was erected in 1867 with a flood marker on two faces showing the height of 8 feet 6 inches, reached by the water on 16 November 1866.〔(Monuments and Sculpture Association ) search for MR/SAL15 and click "Full Catalogue Record". Retrieved on 2008-09-05〕 The Salford Royal Technical School was built in the park in the latter years of the 19th century, opening in 1896,〔(REPORT OF THE LEAD MEMBER FOR PLANNING TO COUNCIL ON 21st MAY 2008 ) Retrieved on 15 September 2008〕 and the artist L.S. Lowry studied art there in the 1920s.〔(The Lowry: Lowry's Life ) Retrieved on 15 September 2008〕 A number of his works feature views of the park including; five sketches (''Peel Park Sketches 1-5)'', two pencil drawings named ''Bandstand, Peel Park, Salford'' (1924 & 1925), ''Over the Terrace, Peel Park''(1927) and two paintings named ''Peel Park, Salford. (1927 & 1930)''〔(The Lowry: LS Lowry Paintings and Drawings ) Retrieved on 15 September 2008〕〔(Industrial Powerhouse: In Lowry's footsteps; by Royston Futter ) Retrieved on 15 November 2008〕 The Salford Museum and Art Gallery built up a major collection of his works from 1930, and housed them until August 2000 when they were moved to The Lowry at Salford Quays.〔(The Lowry: LS Lowry ) Retrieved on 15 November 2008〕 In 1937 the Victoria Arch was declared unsafe and demolished〔 and in 1954 the statues of Robert Peel, Richard Cobden and Joseph Brotherton were dismantled and put into storage, to make way for an extension of Salford Technical College.〔Wyke (2005) p. 199〕 In 1969 the Peel and Brotherton statues were sold to Christopher Richards of Gawsworth Hall, Gawsworth, Cheshire, and placed in the grounds of the hall where the Peel statue still stands. The Brotherton statue was bought by Manchester City Council fifteen years later and now stands on the newly created Riverside Walk, close to Albert Bridge looking across the River Irwell towards Salford.〔(Public Monument and Sculpture Association: National Recording Project: JOSEPH BROTHERTON ) Retrieved on 2008-09-09〕 The whereabouts of the Cobden statue is unknown. The only statues remaining in the park today are the two depicting Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort. The Technical School became a college of advanced technology in 1956, and part of the University of Salford in 1967. A number of other university buildings have since been constructed on the site.〔 In 1954, Peel Park was featured in the film Hobson's Choice as the courting place for characters Maggie Hobson (Brenda de Banzie) and William Mossop (John Mills). A report to Salford City Council on 21 May 2008 recommended that Peel Park and the adjacent David Lewis Recreation Ground be included in The Crescent Conservation Area:〔
In January 2014 a successful bid was made to the Heritage Lottery Fund for Stage 1 of a Parks for People grant and major work was begun on the park to fulfill Salford City Council's stated vision to "create an attractive, well used park for 21st century living providing a place for enjoyment, inspiration, reflection and a source of local pride...restore Peel Park as far as possible to the structure of 1890, reintroduce some of its historic features by reestablishing the links between recreation and learning through a programme of activities and links with the Salford Museum and Art Gallery". The second stage bid was submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund early March 2015, which, if successful, could provide over £2m to restore the park and provide a park keeper. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Peel Park, Salford」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|