St Thomas' Peace Garden (aka the Peace Gardens) is a small public park in

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, designated as a monument to

peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

and a memorial to all those killed in armed conflict. The Peace Gardens were designed around the tower and west porticos of St Thomas's Church, Bath Row, which was half demolished in the Birmingham Blitz in 1940 and never restored. The grounds were laid out in 1955 to commemorate the coronation of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

. They were redesigned in 1995 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II. When the world leaders came to Birmingham for the G8 summit in 1998, each planted a tree of a type representing their respective country.

St. Thomas' Church

Following victory in the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

in 1815, Parliament set up a Commission that was given £1 million to build so called ' Waterloo Churches' in an act of national thanksgiving in 1818. Two of the Commissioners' churches in Birmingham were designed in a neo-classical style by Thomas Rickman, St. Thomas' and St. Peter's, Dale End in 1825 (now demolished). St Thomas' was described at the time as 'of great simplicity, and in every respect consistent with the sacred purpose to which it is dedicated.' The neo-classical rather than gothic designs may have been the result of a rumour in the ''

Quarterly Review The ''Quarterly Review'' was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River ...

'', later denied, that the Commissioners wanted no more gothic churches. The reason may have been economic, however; Commission Minute Books indicate that Rickman produced two Early English designs which would have been more expensive than the neo-classical designs which were finally accepted. The foundation stone of the church was laid by the Bishop of Worcester on 22 October 1826 and three years afterwards the building was completed, being consecrated on 22 October 1829.

Birmingham Blitz

On the night of 11 December 1940, all but the fine tower of St Thomas' and classical west portico was destroyed by German bombs. The church was never rebuilt. The grounds were laid out for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 when the gravestones were removed and the dead reinterred at

Warstone Lane Cemetery Warstone Lane Cemetery, (), also called Brookfields Cemetery, Church of England Cemetery, or Mint Cemetery (from the adjacent Birmingham Mint), is a cemetery dating from 1847 in Birmingham, England. It is one of two cemeteries in the city's Je ...

Peace gardens

Tower of St Thomas in the Peace Garden, Birmingham west end

The gardens were re-designed as the Peace Garden in 1995 in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of

World War II 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 opposin ...

. The First World War Memorial

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

, which had been built as part of the

Hall of Memory Hall of Memory is a name used for some memorials, including: * The Hall of Memory, Birmingham, a war memorial in Birmingham, United Kingdom, honoring residents killed in World War I. * The octagonal chapel at the heart of the Australian War Memori ...

to designs by S. N. Cooke and W. N. Twist, in 1925, was relocated here when

Centenary Square Centenary Square is a public square on the north side of Broad Street in Birmingham, England, named in 1989 to commemorate the centenary of Birmingham achieving city status. The area was an industrial area of small workshops and canal wharves ...

was laid out 1989. Railings with doves of peace were erected, sculpted by Anuradha Patel. Within the Peace Garden is a memorial to British service personnel who were killed or injured as a result of nuclear weapons testing in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. When the world leaders came to Birmingham for the G8 summit in 1998, each planted a tree here. Each premier choose a tree that most represented their respective countries and they are now a living symbol of peace. The spire of St Thomas' Church is in need of extensive repair work, its stonework is deteriorating rapidly and the golden ball and cross from the top was lost some years ago. St. Thomas' Peace Garden forms the centre of a square bound by part of Washington and Granville Streets, Bath Row and Ridley Street. Following the major development of Lee Bank in the 1960s, the square was surrounded by many poor quality buildings including a large bingo hall, however a regeneration plan for the area has begun and there are a number of new apartments and offices surrounding the square.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Thomas' Peace Garden Parks and open spaces in Birmingham, West Midlands Peace monuments and memorials Peace parks Peace gardens Squares in Birmingham, West Midlands World War I memorials in England World War II memorials in England