The Sheffield Botanical Gardens are

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

s situated off Ecclesall Road in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, England, with 5,000 species of plants in 19 acres (77,000 m²) of land.

History

The Sheffield Botanical and Horticultural Society was formed in 1833 and by 1834 had obtained £7,500 () in funding. The money was raised selling shares, permitting the purchase of of south-facing farmland from the estate of local snuff manufacturer Joseph Wilson. The gardens were designed by Robert Marnock and first opened on 29 June 1836. The ''Sheffield Iris'' of 5 July 1836 describes the gardens thus:

The walks assume all the intricacy and mystery of a labyrinthine maze, while the monkey cages, the bear’s den, the eagles’ habitation, water-works &c. give a variety and effect to the whole, calculated to interest the visitor for hours together.

12,000 people visited the Gardens on their opening in the summer of 1836. To attract people to continue to visit the gardens, the committee organised balloon launches. The first of these took place in 1837. On Tuesday 3 October, Margaret Graham made a second ascent from the gardens. Initially it was hoped that the gas filled balloon would carry her and Mr Charles Brown, but it would not lift until Mr Brown left the basket. Mrs Graham flew alone. Once aloft she ejected a monkey with a parachute which descended successfully to the ground. Mrs Graham landed near

Conisbrough Conisbrough () is a town within the City of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England. It is roughly midway between Doncaster and Rotherham, and is built alongside the River Don, South Yorkshire, River Don at . It has a ward population (Conisbrou ...

with some difficulty. Sheffield's Town Trust assumed the management of the gardens in the closing years of the 19th. century, when they repaid the shareholders the nominal value of their £5 shares. The Trust abolished the existing entry charge and since that time entry to the Botanical Gardens has remained free. Though the Town Trust are still the owners, Sheffield Corporation signed a 99-year lease on 18 December 1951, thereby taking over management. The most notable feature of the gardens are the

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

glass pavilions by Benjamin Broomhead Taylor, restored and reopened in 2003. Other notable structures are the main gateway, the south entrance lodge and a

bear pit A bear pit is an enclosure historically used to display bears, typically for entertainment and especially bear-baiting. The pit area was normally surrounded by a high fence, above which the spectators would look down on the bears. The most trad ...

containing an 8' tall steel statue of an

American Black Bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), or simply black bear, is a species of medium-sized bear which is Endemism, endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. It is an omnivore, with ...

called Robert the Bear. In the rose garden is a bronze sculpture "Pan: Spirit of the Wood", a gift in 1934 from Sir Charles Clifford, owner of the '' Sheffield Telegraph and Star'', to the city. The sculptor is not known. The gardens hold the national collection of the genus '' Sarcococca'', '' Weigela'' and the closely related ''

Diervilla ''Diervilla'', or bush honeysuckle, is a genus of three species of deciduous shrubs in the family Caprifoliaceae, all indigenous to eastern North America. The genus is named after a France, French surgeon Dr. Marin Diereville, who introduced the ...

''. File:Botanical Gardens (west side).jpg, Glass Houses File:Botanical Gardens fountain - geograph.org.uk - 1713051.jpg, The fountain File:Main Path in Sheffield Botanical Gardens.jpg, Avenue File:Sheffield Botanical Gardens, fountain in the Glass House.jpg, Inside glass house File:Sheffield Botanical Gardens, Pan Spirit of the Wood sculpture 2.jpg, Pan: Spirit of the Wood File:Botanical Gardens, Sheffield.jpg, View

References

Sheffield Botanical Gardens: People, Plants & Pavilions. R.A. Hunter 2007

External links

Friends of the Botanical Gardens, Sheffield FOBS) website
{{Authority control Botanical gardens in Yorkshire Grade II listed buildings in Sheffield Botanical Gardens Gardens in South Yorkshire Parks in Sheffield Grade II listed parks and gardens in South Yorkshire