Cofton Park () is a

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

located in south

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England.

History

The 135 acres of land was acquired by

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom (e ...

in 1933 for £10,640 (equivalent to £ in ), from the trustees for William Walter Hinde. In his will, he bequeathed the residue of his estate “for the purchase of land…to be kept for ever as an open space for the benefit of the people of Birmingham.” It is home to Birmingham Park's Cofton nursery which provides displays of bedding plants for parks throughout the City. The park is also used for civic occasions, the city centre floral display, Heart of England in Bloom and gardening shows such the

Chelsea Flower Show The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the ''Great Spring Show'',Phil Clayton, ''The Great Temple Show'' in ''The Garden'' 2008, p.452, The Royal Horticultural Society is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural ...

and since 1996, BBC Gardeners’ World Live.

Pope Benedict XVI

Stage preparations, Cofton Park, 090910, cropped

During his visit to the United Kingdom,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

celebrated mass and presided over the

beatification Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...

, with a crowd of 51,626 people present at the 80,000-capacity Cofton Park near Longbridge,

, on Sunday 19 September 2010. Prior to the mass, music and prayer ceremonies were held at the park and were broadcast live on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

as part of their weekly programme ''Sunday Worship''. At the end of the mass, once Pope Benedict XVI had left the park to continue on to other engagements, students from Saint Augustine's High School in

Redditch Redditch is a town, and local government district, in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district has a population of 85,000 as of 2019. In the 19th century, it became the international centre for the ...

performed numerous soul-inspired songs for the crowd.

References

External links

Park's page
on Birmingham City Council site {{Birmingham parks Parks and open spaces in Birmingham, West Midlands Buildings and structures completed in 1933 Northfield Constituency