Platt Fields Park

Platt Fields Park is a park off Wilmslow Road in Fallowfield, Manchester, England. It is home to Platt Hall, and was originally known as the Platt Estate or the Platt Hall Estate. It is one of Manchester's principal parks, and used to be known as "the lungs of the city". Over 43 languages are spoken in the park.

Description

The centerpiece of the park is a large pleasure lake, which is used for boating and fishing. The lake has an island sanctuary in the middle, as well as a lakeside visitors center and a boathouse. The park also contains Gore Brook and part of the Mickle Ditch.

The park contains a variety of gardens, including community orchard gardens, which contain ferns, roses and heathers. There is also an educational garden and a environmental area, as well as Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee gardens and an Eco Arts garden near to the boating lake. There is a Shakespearean garden located in the Ashfields part of the park in the south east corner that was designed to be from the time of Shakespeare. The Ashfields area also has an arch from the knave of Manchester Cathedral, which was previously located at Manly Hall for a time.

There is a labyrinth and picnic area, a Veterans pavillion and a pair of children's playgrounds. One playground is for toddlers up to age 5, with the other for kids up to the age of 9. Both are located near to the Lakeside Centre. In terms of sports facilities, the park has a pair of bowling greens and courts for basketball, five-a-side, roller hockey and tennis. Mini soccer pitch, cycle pathways, skate park. A planning application for a BMX track in the park was approved on 15 March 2007; it will be constructed at the south end of the park.

There are three dedicated show fields in the park, which have the infrastructure to host large and small scale national and local events. Events that it hosts include the Manchester Mela and Eid Festivals, as well as annual fireworks and bonfire displays. Until 2003 the site hosted the Manchester Flower Show. Facilities-wise, the site has a car park with disabled parking and toilets. The site also has a park office.

Platt Hall

The listed Platt Hall is a georgian style building that was constructed in 1746 at a cost of £10,000, replacing a timbered black and white building. It was originally an 18th century textile merchant's home. The hall is closed as of 2008 for major building work, and will reopen in October 2008.

Platt Hall contains the Manchester Costume Gallery, also known as The Gallery of Costume. The collection spans the era from the 17th century to the present day, covers both men, women and children, and includes both high fashion and the dress of working people. The collection is still growing, and includes present-day designer wear, sports and leisure clothes and underwear. The collection consists of over 20,000 items, and is divided up into a series of themes, which consist of "Designers", "Dressing Up, Dressing Down", "Clothes for Work", "Recycled Fashion", "Sexuality", "Materials and Making", "Close Up", "Sports and Leisure" and "Underwear".

History

The first known mention of the area is from 1150, at which time the "lands of Platt" were given to the Knights of St John by "Matthew, Son of William". Gore Brook is mentioned as being present at the time. The Platt family obtained the estate in 1225, and owned the land for the next 400 years. In 1625 it passed to the Worsley family, and was then a country park bordering on the Cheshire Plain, and called the Platt Hall Estate. They owned the estate until 1907.

By the early twentieth century, the site was a country park with a mansion, which was surrounded by a large and growing number of houses. In 1907 the estate was put up for sale by Mrs Carill Worsley. Upon hearing that the site was for sale, William Royle asked the Lord Mayor of Manchester to call a town meeting, at which it was decided to purchase the site for use by the public. The estate was purchased for £59,975 in 1908.

During a time of high unemployment during the winter of 1908 and 1909, over 700 men relaid the park, including planting banks with shrubs and trees, inverting the Gore Brook and creating a lake and island covering just over 6 acres. The park, named Platt Fields Park, was formally opened on 7 May 1910 by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Sir Charles Behrens. At some point over the following five years, a half acre paddling pool was constructed. The park was used for a variety of sports, including tennis, football, bowling and cricket. More work was carried out during another time of high unemployment, between 1919 and 1925, when the park and playing fields were levelled, and bowling greens and tennis courts were constructed, as well as a bathing pool. A speakers corner was once located near to the adjacent Trinity Church.

The park has the oldest Park Friends Group in the country, named "The Friends of Platt Fields Park", which was formed in 1990. The park had a tennis pavilion, which was built in 1926, but was demolished in January 2006 after being empty for several years while waiting to be converted for use by disabled children by the Social Services Department. The park also used to have a Pets Corner and Animal Park, as well as a children's playground, a cafe, and rose gardens and herbaceous borders.