Handsworth Park

It lies 15 minutes by bus from the centre of Birmingham and comprises 63 acres (25 hectares) of landscaped grass slopes, including a large boating lake and a smaller pond fed by the Farcroft and Grove Brooks, flower beds, mature trees and shrubs with a diversity of wildlife, adjoining St. Mary's Church, Handsworth to the north, containing the graves of the fathers of the Industrial Revolution, James Watt, Matthew Boulton and William Murdoch, and the founders of Aston Villa Football Club and the Victoria Jubilee Allotments site to the south opened on 12 June 2010.As the Civic Gospel of municipal improvement spread from centre of Birmingham into the growing suburban estates of Handsworth, its local government leaders saw a public park as a benefit for the district.Following the setting up of an education board and a free library, the adoption and proper kerbing of roads, street lighting, tramways and the construction of sewers, influential voices in the district began to speak of the need for a 'lung' in the city.Such self-interest was present – used unashamedly to strengthen their case among the practically minded citizens of Handsworth – but opposition to the Park from that quarter was at times so intense that calculative motives alone would not have carried the project through.The site of the garden was previously an irregular hollow, but the executed design carries on the axial line of the park entrance and featured as its centrepiece a bronze sculpture of a child holding a lamb atop a Portland stone plinth.Consultant for Birmingham City Council, Dr Hilary Taylor, observed: There is no doubt that Handsworth Park is a successful design, one where everything from the basic landform to the elements of planting and ornament were the outcome of careful consideration, both of the site and the requirements of the local community.There is a melancholy quality, conveyed particularly by the dark tree cover, the poor maintenance and lack of care, and—less easy to resolve—the modern intrusions of leisure centre and car parks.
1904 OS map
St Mary's glebe before the Park
The Civic Society Garden
On occasions - such as in this January 1962 scene - the boating pool froze over, allowing people to walk to the central island
Winter in Handsworth Park
The park from the air, in 2008. St Mary's Church is bottom-right
HandsworthBirminghamCoordinatesEnglandSt. Mary's Church, HandsworthJames WattMatthew BoultonWilliam MurdochAston Villa Football ClubHistoric EnglandRegister of Parks and GardensCivic GospelLondon and North Western RailwayHandsworth Wood railway station6th Earl of DartmouthcricketSons of RestKirkintillochGlasgowBirmingham City CouncilGirl GuidesScout JamboreeThe Birmingham Civic SocietyPortland stonePerry ParkPerry BarrVaisakhiSandwellCannon Hill ParkNational Heritage List for EnglandWilliam HaywoodAdderley ParkBillesley CommonBleak Hill ParkBrookvale ParkCalthorpe ParkCofton ParkCotteridge ParkEastside City ParkGrove ParkHighbury ParkHighgate ParkKingfisher Country ParkKings Heath ParkLickey Hills Country ParkLightwoods ParkNew Hall Valley Country ParkMoseley ParkPerry Hall ParkPype Hayes ParkQueens ParkSelly Oak ParkSenneleys ParkSheldon Country ParkShire Country ParkShort Heath ParkSutton ParkSwanshurst ParkWalkers Heath ParkWard End ParkWoodgate Valley Country ParkBotanical GardensMartineau GardensSt Thomas' Peace GardenWinterbourne Botanic GardenEdgbaston PoolHarborne ReserveMoseley BogPlantsbrook Local Nature ReserveSandwell ValleyBrandwood EndKey HillLodge HillPerry Barr CrematoriumWarstone LaneWittonBartleyBrookvale Park LakeEdgbastonFrankleyLiffordWitton LakesBirmingham Parks Police