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

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England, designated as a monument to

peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

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 The Birmingham Blitz was the The Blitz, heavy bombing by the Nazi German ''Luftwaffe'' of the city of Birmingham and surrounding towns in central England, beginning on 9 August 1940 as a fraction of the greater The Blitz, Blitz, which was par ...

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 19268 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. ...

. 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 The Group of Eight (G8) was an intergovernmental political forum from 1997 to 2014, formed by incorporating Russia into the G7. The G8 became the G7 again after Russia was expelled in 2014 after the Russian annexation of Crimea. The forum ...

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 (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...

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 Thomas Rickman (8 June 17764 January 1841) was an English architect and architectural antiquary who was a major figure in the Gothic Revival. He is particularly remembered for his ''Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture'' ...

, 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 publishing house John Murray. It ceased publication in 1967. It was referred to as ''The London Quarterly Review'', as reprinted by Leonard Scott, f ...

'', 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.

Peace gardens

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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 to designs by

S. N. Cooke Samuel Nathaniel Cooke Jr. (26 June 1882 – 11 April 1964) was an English architect active in Birmingham, England in the early to mid 20th century. He was almost invariably credited as S. N. Cooke and his later work was carried out under the aus ...

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 square is used as a staging area for many of the city's main cul ...

was laid out 1989. Railings with doves of peace were erected, sculpted by

Anuradha Patel Anuradha Patel (born 30 August 1961) is an Indian actress of the famous Ganguly family. Early life Anuradha was born on 30 August 1961 in Mumbai. Her maternal grandfather is the Hindi veteran actor Ashok Kumar and her grand-uncle is Kishore ...

. 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 Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. 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 Lee Bank was an inner city area of Birmingham, England. It was part of the Edgbaston and Ladywood wards, inside the Middle Ring Road or Middleway, which surrounds Central Birmingham. Lee Bank's neighbouring areas are Edgbaston, Ladywood, H ...

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