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Whitworth Park
 Today Whitworth Park
is a haven of green and relative peace and quiet
beside one of the busiest roads in Manchester.
It offers a place for relaxation and reflection in the
midst of the hospital and university district. A
constant stream of buses and university students pass
by it all day long.
 The park sits beside
Oxford Road between Denmark Road and Moss Lane
East. It has changed considerably over the
years. In 1844 a house called Grove House sat
beside Oxford Street (now Oxford Road) close to the
location of what is now Denmark Road.
 In 1889 the Whitworth
Institute was established in memory of the famous
engineer and manufacturer Sir Joseph Whitworth.
The goal of the institute was the "cultivation of
taste and knowledge of the fine arts of painting,
sculpture and architecture." The Institute
purchased Grove House and converted it into an
exhibition hall. They also purchased the
adjoining "Potters Field" which became Whitworth
Park. It was turned into a "Pleasure Garden"
complete with a boating lake, a band stand, and formal
flower beds. The images below show the park in
the early years of the 20th Century.
 The scene above is
of the boating lake at the west end of the
park. You are looking east towards Oxford
Road with the Exhibition Hall peaking out from the
trees on the left and the spire of the Union
Chapel to the right of it. Below is the same
view today.
   Above and below: The statue of 'Christ Blessing the Little Children' by George Tinworth (1904)   ******************* In 1904 the Institute
handed the park over to Manchester City Council on a
1000-year lease for a nominal rent of £10 a year and
today the city's Leisure Services are responsible for
its upkeep. The trustees extended Grove House
culminating in its present appearance in 1908.
   Above you can see the round-topped window arches shown in the postcard images earlier on this page. (The maps below
are shown with the generous permission of Eric
Rowland the creator of the genealogy web site - Artus Genealogy Resources.)
Below: 1930  Below: 1935  The formal nature
of the park can be seen in the image below, circa
1940. The statue among the trees is 'Christ
Blessing the Little Children' by George Tinworth.
 In 1913 a statue of King Edward VII by John Cassidy was unveiled on the eastern margin of the park facing towards Oxford Road.  In 1958 the University
of Manchester took over the Whitworth Institute and
their building became the Whitworth Art Gallery.
Both the gallery and the park belong to the University
of Manchester. The Manchester City Council is
the lessee of the park. Today's Whitworth Park
is a pale shadow of its former self. The lake is
gone as is the statue of 'Christ Blessing the Little
Children' and many of the formal garden features have
disappeared.
**********************
A tour of the park in March 2010      The park's neighbour on the western boundary is the Manchester Academy.  What appears to be
the foundation of a former building. Between
here and the Manchester Academy in the background
the boating lake was once located.
 The boating lake is long gone but these ducks appear to be waiting for it to come back.    ******************** More postcard
images of Whitworth Park shown with the permission
of English Heritage.
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