The Peace Gardens are an

inner city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...

square in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

, England. The Gardens themselves front onto Sheffield's

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

town hall, not to be confused with

Sheffield City Hall Sheffield City Hall is a Grade II* listed building in Sheffield, England in Barker's Pool, one of the city's central squares. It was built and is owned by Sheffield City Council but is now managed by the Sheffield City Trust, under a 99-year l ...

(a concert venue), or the Sheffield Old Town Hall at

Castle Market Castle Market was an indoor market in Sheffield city centre, England. The building lay in the north east of the present city centre, by the River Don, and was built on top of the remains of Sheffield Castle, which could still be seen via guided ...

History

The Gardens were first laid out in 1938, following the demolition of St Paul's Church. Originally named St Paul's Gardens, they were immediately nicknamed the "Peace Gardens", marking the contemporary signing of the

Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Germany ...

. The Gardens were originally intended to be replaced by an extension to the Town Hall, but due to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, this was never built.The Peace Gardens
,

Sheffield City Council Sheffield City Council is the city council for the metropolitan borough of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors. It is currently under No Overall Con ...

In 1985, the space was formally renamed the "Peace Gardens". The Sheffield gardens are a fine example of the network of similar gardens created between the two world wars and presage later gardens and community spaces in London and other urban centres. In 1997 work commenced to remove the former St Pauls graveyard, and the whole space was re-modelled. Water features and a central fountain were introduced, with the channels representing the rivers of Sheffield. The construction work was carried out by Tilbury Douglas Construction (now Interserve) under a Management form of Contract, with the design work carried out mainly by Sheffield City Council. The "topping out ceremony" was carried out by Prince Charles, and a plaque on Pinstone Street was unveiled to mark this event. The Peace Gardens were substantially completed by the end of 1998, then the Sheffield Millennium Galleries works commenced and the old egg-box council offices were then demolished. This allowed the remainder of the Peace Gardens to be completed in a second phase, which is also known as Millennium Square.

Features

It has

fountains A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or Spring (hydrology), spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. ...

at the centre, and cascades around the outside. These are to represent the flowing molten steel, which made Sheffield famous, and also the water of Sheffield's

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

s, the

Sheaf Sheaf may refer to: * Sheaf (agriculture), a bundle of harvested cereal stems * Sheaf (mathematics), a mathematical tool * Sheaf toss, a Scottish sport * River Sheaf, a tributary of River Don in England * ''The Sheaf'', a student-run newspaper se ...

, River Don,

River Rivelin The River Rivelin is a river in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It rises on the Hallam moors, in north west Sheffield, and joins the River Loxley (at Malin Bridge). The Rivelin Valley, through which the river flows, is a -mile-long woodla ...

River Loxley The River Loxley is a river in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its source is a series of streams which rise some to the north-west of Sheffield on Bradfield Moors, flowing through Bradfield Dale to converge at Low Bradfield. I ...

and

Porter Brook The Porter Brook is a river which flows through the City of Sheffield, England, descending over from its source on Burbage Moor to the west of the city to its mouth where it joins the River Sheaf in a culvert beneath Sheffield railway statio ...

, which were used to power the mills which drove

's industry. The site contains several memorials for citizens of Sheffield who served in wars, including in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

and another plaque commemorating Sheffielders who gave their lives in all conflicts, including the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. It also contains a memorial to Hiroshima, unveiled on Hiroshima Day, 8 August 1985, in the presence of three survivors of the atomic devastation.13. "The New Peace Gardens" in More Sheffield Curiosities by Duncan & Trevor Smith. Other memorials include the Holberry Cascades, named for local Chartist leader Samuel Holberry, the Bochum Bell, donated by Sheffield's German twin city Bochum, and a set of standard measures. The measures had previously been located by a wall alongside St Paul's Parade, just outside the Peace Gardens.

Gallery

File:PcGdnWar.jpg, War plaque File:PcGdn1936.jpg, Spanish Civil War Plaque File:Holberry2068.jpg, Holberry Plaque File:HeartoftheCityShef.jpg, Heart of the City File:MeasuresSheffield.jpg, Standard Measures of yard and metre

References

{{SheffieldCityCentre Tourist attractions in Sheffield Squares in Sheffield Gardens in South Yorkshire Peace gardens

History

Features

Gallery

See also

References