Platt Fields Park

Platt Fields Park has a long and colourful history. The first mention of the Platt Estate is in 1150, when a certain 'Matthew, Son of William' conveyed the lands of Platt to the Knights of St. John. Reference is made in the deed to Gore Brook, which runs through the estate.

In 1225, the estate became the property of the Platt family and who then occupied the lands for the following 400 years.

The most ancient feature of the estate is a portion of the 'Mickle Ditch,' or sometimes called Nico ditch, which in its entirety measured over 5 miles and started at Ashton Moss and enters Platt Fields on the eastern side near to Platt Hall. First reference is made to the ditch in 1200. Today the purpose of this ditch is unconfirmed.

The estate came into the possession of the Worsley family in 1625. The most famous member was Lieutenant Colonel Worsley, who was born in 1622 and became the first member of parliament for Manchester and one of Oliver Cromwell's major generals. His remains lie in Westminster Abbey. At this point in time, the Platt Hall Estate was a country park on the borders of the Cheshire Plain.

In 1907, William Royle heard that Platt Fields Estate was up for sale. He asked the Lord Mayor to call a town meeting. The meeting was packed with residents of Rusholme and a resolution was passed recommending the Corporation buy Platt Fields site for public use. They did so by purchasing the land from Mrs. Carill Worsley, the last owner of the estate, at a cost of £59,975 in 1908.

At this time, Platt Fields was an old fashioned country park attached to a mansion and surrounded by the ever increasing homes of the city workers. The once open country had become a mass of houses, becoming thicker every year.

During the winter of 1908-09, when there was high unemployment, over 700 men were given work on laying out the park, inverting the Gore Brook and planting banks with trees and shrubs.

The main feature of the park was the construction of a lake and island that covers a little over 6 acres. Platt Fields Park was formally opened by the lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Behrens, on 7 May 1910.

Over the years the park has been modified and shaped into the park we know today. The 1915 City Parks Report cites the park to be home to 'lively, crowded and exciting times on Saturday afternoons and summer evenings.' Tennis, bowling, football and cricket were enthusiastically taken up by Manchester's masses, including children and young people. Hundreds of 'little ones engaged in the delightful pursuits of splashing and wading' in their own half acre paddling pool.

Significantly, between 1919 and 1925 when unemployment was again high, the parks committee provided work for local people, levelling the park and playing fields, forming the bowling greens, tennis courts and bathing pool. The part of the playing fields overlooked by Trinity Church was at one time a speakers corner. Crowds came to the park on Sunday mornings to listen.

Platt Fields Park was also home of the annual Manchester Flower Show, a tradition until 2003 when the park began to hold all manor of events and Festivals in keeping with the wishes of the local community.