Alexandra Park is a park in Whalley Range,

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England, on the border of

Moss Side Moss Side is an Inner city, inner-city area of Manchester, England, south of the Manchester city centre, city centre. It had a population of 20,745 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census. Moss Side is bounded by Hulme to the north, Cho ...

, on the border of

Fallowfield Fallowfield is a bustling area of Manchester with a population of 14,869 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it lies south of Manchester city centre and is bisected east&n ...

, designed by Alexander Gordon Hennell, and opened to the public in 1870. The lodge and gateways are the work of

Alfred Darbyshire Alfred Darbyshire (20 June 183 – 5 July 1908) was a British architect. Education and career Alfred Darbyshire was born on 20 June 1839 in Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford, Lancashire, to William Darbyshire, the manager of a dyeworks, and ...

. The park was developed by Manchester Corporation before the area was incorporated into the city, the site being purchased in 1864 from

William Egerton, 1st Baron Egerton William Tatton Egerton, 1st Baron Egerton (30 December 1806 – 21 February 1883) was a British peer and politician from the Egerton family. Within some personal and regional circles, he was also referred to by the shortened form of his sur ...

. The roads to the East and West sides of the park were named Princess Road and Alexandra Road, also in honour of Princess Alexandra.

Design

Two lodges at the Northern entrances were designed by

as homes for the park superintendent and the deputy park keeper. Only one, Chorlton Lodge, now survives. Hennell's design includes a raised walk, and a half mile lime walk wide enough for horse-drawn carriages, which are the only straight lines. All the other paths form circles and two large ovals, one of which encloses the cricket pitch, the other being used for football. A lake was constructed from two former

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, Clay minerals, clays, and silt. When Lithification, hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. M ...

pits. There is a sunken bowling green and there were originally extensive greenhouses. Alexandra Park supplied plants for the other parks in the city and plants and flowers for the town hall. A large collection of cacti was bequeathed to the city in 1904 by the widow of Charles Darrah. The curator of the collection Arthur Cubbold accompanied the bequest and a large cactus house, with five rooms of different temperatures, was built at a cost of £2,500. The cactus collection was moved to Wythenshawe Park around 1980.

Flora and fauna

A number of Red Eared Terrapins, a species of small turtle, are known to inhabit the lake in the park. Their provenance has been attributed to the huge popularity of the

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (''TMNT'') is an American media franchise created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), D ...

franchise in the 1980s and 90s, during which thousands of UK families bought pets of turtles which may have been discarded once the fad ended. In 2013 a post on the ''Friends of Alexandra Park'' Facebook group called for the family of Floridian Red-Eared Turtles in the lake to be re-housed as they were eating the fish.

Demonstrations

Keir Hardie James Keir Hardie (15 August 185626 September 1915) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, and was its first Leader of the Labour Party (UK), parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908. ...

organised the first known

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

May Day rally in the park on 2 May 1892 which attracted about 60,000 people. The park was the venue for the great Manchester

Women's Suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

Demonstration of 24 October 1908 with a procession from

Albert Square Walford is a fictional borough of East London in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. It is the primary setting for the soap. ''EastEnders'' is filmed at Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, towards the north-west of London. Much of the location work i ...

, and other suffrage demonstrations. On 11 November 1913,

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

Kitty Marion Kitty Marion (born Katherina Maria Schäfer, 12 March 1871 – 9 October 1944) was an activist who advocated for women's suffrage and birth control. Born in the German Empire, she immigrated to England in 1886 when she was fifteen. She sang i ...

planted a bomb that damaged the cactus house. A

speaker's corner A Speakers' Corner is an area where free speech public speaking, open-air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed. The original and best known is in the north-east corner of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park in London, England. Histor ...

operated at the Northwest gate. Local Quakers collected signatures at the park gates in 1916 calling for peace.

James Larkin James Larkin (28 January 1874 – 30 January 1947), sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party (Ireland), Labou ...

spoke at a demonstration on 14 September 1913 at a rally in support of the

Dublin lock-out The Dublin lock-out was a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers that took place in Dublin, Ireland. The dispute, lasting from 26 August 1913 to 18 January 1914, is often viewed as the most severe and s ...

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980), was a British aristocrat and politician who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s when he, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, turned to fascism. ...

attempted to campaign in the park against immigration in 1960.

Rock Against Racism Rock Against Racism (RAR) was a political and cultural movement which emerged in 1976 in reaction to a rise in racist attacks on the streets of the United Kingdom and increasing support for the far-right National Front at the ballot box. Betwe ...

organised several events in the park, one on 15 July 1978 featuring

Steel Pulse Steel Pulse are a roots reggae band from the Handsworth area of Birmingham, England. They originally formed at Handsworth Wood Boys School, and were composed of David Hinds (lead vocals, guitar), Basil Gabbidon (lead guitar, vocals), and Ro ...

and the

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band that singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto formed in Manchester in 1976. During their career, the band combined elements of punk rock, power pop, and pop punk. The ...

Entertainment

The park is the site of the annual Manchester Caribbean Carnival. Part of Manchester's Black History Trail crosses the park. In the 1970s, Children's Christian Crusade gatherings were hosted in the park annually. The park gave its name to the nearby Alexandra Park station, until the station's name changed to Wilbraham Road, on amalgamation in 1923, in order to avoid ticketing confusion. There was also a nearby

Alexandra Park Aerodrome Alexandra Park Aerodrome was the second purpose-built aerodrome in the Manchester area in England. The site was chosen by the War Department in 1917 because of its open agricultural nature, and lay between the neighbouring districts of Fallowfie ...

during WW1 and for a few years afterward. That site is now Hough End Playing Fields. The park gives its name to a nearby

council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

estate, developed in the 1960s. The previous Alexandra Park estate was the birthplace, in 1858, of

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst (; Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was a British political activist who organised the British suffragette movement and helped women to win in 1918 the women's suffrage, right to vote in United Kingdom of Great Brita ...

Gallery

File:Park Promenade.jpg, Promenade File:Former Park Keepers House.jpg, Chorlton Lodge, the former house of the park keeper File:June evening at dusk in Alexandra Park, Manchester 03.jpg, Sloped grassland in the park let to grow wild in order to increase biodiversity, June 2023 File:Model of the Cactus and Succulent Glass House glasshouse, that used to exist in Alexandra Park, Manchester 01.jpg, Model of the

Cactus A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

and

Succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

Glass House Glass house or glass houses may refer to: Architecture * Greenhouse, a building where plants are cultivated * Glass works or glasshouse, a manufactory building used for glassblowing * Glasshouse (British Army), a term for a military prison in the ...

that used to exist in the park, on display in Chorlton Lodge

References

External links

* * {{cite web, url=http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/200073/parks_and_open_spaces/188/alexandra_park/4, title=History and design of Alexandra Park, publisher=Manchester City Council, url-status=dead, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110414132342/http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/200073/parks_and_open_spaces/188/alexandra_park/4, archivedate=2011-04-14 Parks and commons in Manchester