The Sheffield Botanical Gardens are

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, an ...

s situated off

Ecclesall Road Ecclesall Road is a road in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, that runs for about south-west from Sheffield's city centre under the number A625. At Banner Cross, where the house numbers reach 1001, the road name changes to Ecclesall Road ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, 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 Historic counties o ...

, England, with 5,000 species of plants in 19 acres (77,000 m²) of land. The gardens were designed by

Robert Marnock Robert Marnock (1800–1889) was one of the outstanding English horticulturalists and garden designers of the 19th century. He was considered by his contemporaries to be the best exponent of the Gardenesque school of landscape gardening. Life Bef ...

and first opened in 1836. The most notable feature of the gardens are the

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

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

bear pit A bear pit was 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 traditional form o ...

containing an 8' tall steel statue of an

American Black Bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bear ...

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 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. 12,000 people visited the Gardens on their opening in the summer of 1836. 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 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 Contr ...

signed a 99-year lease on 18 December 1951, thereby taking over management.https://www.sbg.org.uk/history-1/ "History" - Sheffield Botanical Gardens Website The gardens hold the national collection of the genus ''

Sarcococca ''Sarcococca'' (sweet box or Christmas box) is a genus of 11 species of flowering plants in the box family (biology), family Buxaceae, native plant, native to eastern and southeastern Asia and the Himalayas. They are slow-growing, monoecious, eve ...

'', ''

Weigela ''Weigela'' is a genus of between six and 38 speciesAll of the species listed in the 'Selected species' section are accepted by The Plant List, but most are still under review, and therefore subject to changes in status. of deciduous shrubs in ...

'' 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 French surgeon Dr. Marin Diereville, who introduced the plant t ...

''. 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

Sheffield Botanical Gardens websiteFriends of the Botanical Gardens, Sheffield FOBS) website
{{Authority control Botanical gardens in Yorkshire Grade II listed buildings in Sheffield

Botanical Gardens 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, an ...

Gardens in South Yorkshire Parks in Sheffield Grade II listed parks and gardens in South Yorkshire