St. John’s Gardens

For a city that has so much going on, I do feel that Manchester lacks a bit of greenery and a nice tranquil place to sit and enjoy a lovely Summer’s day. However St John’s Gardens does go someway to filling the gap. It is just off Quay street and is a pretty little garden with flower beds, benches and other greenery. It was originally built as the grounds for St John’s church which is now sadly gone. It is also the resting place for some 22,000 people which is hard to comprehend now. St John’s gardens is mainly used by office workers on their lunch break and is a place you can escape to for a bit of tranquillity in an otherwise noisy and busy city. Now I know it’s there I will be a frequent visitor when the weather is good.

This is a quiet spot to sit on one of the benches and admire the well kept grass, shrubs and flowers. World Museum visitors exploring the history of ancient Egypt sitting and eating their sandwiches are probably unaware of the amount of local history that surrounds them here.
St John’s memorial gardens opposite St Georges Hall is the site of an old church. Tens of thousands of bodies were buried at the site until the cemetery was closed and the gardens opened in 1904.
It’s a small but beautiful open green area that was designed to show off public works of art. The Victorian/​Edwardian statues commemorate people that have helped the City of Liverpool such as ship owners, school masters, politicians and soldiers. You will also find memorials to John Lennon and the inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. In all the garden has 23 memorials.

The number of times I’ve walked past, around, near, St John’s and I don’t ever think to walk through. So momentous the occasion is today, with the sun rays shining down at long last, I paced my way through to see what lies within this green haven.
It’s a park located in the city centre, so you’re not going to expect acres of land, a vast array of wildlife, kids running around and swings and sand pits. It’s a simple piece of greenery amongst the city centre block of flats, rows of solicitor buildings and the Spinningfields complex. I can see how it is the escape from the bustle, traffic and people you get if you just step onto Deansgate. It does exude a calming feel although I’m aware of what lies just a few second away.
At 10am there were a few dwellers on the benches taking this all in. It serves it purpose well. Living in one of these flats myself, this is my new back garden.

The bigger the city, the more popular the parks within become as the amount of people wishing to escape the drudgery of their lives spirals upwards. They often seem to serve as a rather depressing illustration of how damning the modern workday can be, as businessmen and women flock to them to add some green to the greys and browns they are so used to seeing.
St. John’s Gardens encapsulates the inner-​city park beautifully by managing to present a picturesque and calm sea of tranquility, despite being in one of the more hectic areas of Manchester. It’s just the right size for this sort of park; big enough to fool you into feeling distant from everything else, but small enough to keep it private. Places like these are few and far between unfortunately, so make use of them when you find them.

Where there is St James’s Park in London, there is St John’s Gardens in Manchester. This small and cosy public garden, tucked between Museum of Science and Industry, Quay St, and Deansgate, was created on the place of St John’s Church and burial ground. The site of the demolished church and 20,000 buried people is marked by a small monument at the park’s entrance.
The park is discreet enough to remain unnoticed for those who only walk in big streets. It is best accessed from Lower Byrom Street that runs past MOSI, between Liverpool Road and Quay Street. St John’s Gardens are particularly serene in summer and early autumn when roses bloom. Apparently, they practise tai chi there informally, but I’ve never seen it, so cannot testify. The gardens, however, should provide some inspiration to those interested in the old Manchester and ghost stories. At any moment of your walking in the park or frolicking on the grass, there are the remains of 20,000 people underneath you. The concept of vain life has never come to life so amply!