a restful
space at the heart
of the
community…
Trinity
Street,
Halstead,
Essex
Halstead Public Gardens
Friends
of Halstead Public Gardens
Evolved in
2001 from the Management Group, originally involved in the
restoration of the Gardens, members of the Friends Group include
representatives of Halstead Town Council, Braintree District
Council, Halstead in Bloom and Halstead Conservation Volunteers;
the Friends would welcome new members to become more representative
of the community. The group hold local meetings on a regular basis.
If you would like to get involved and take up the opportunity to
help inform the arrangements for the management, maintenance and
future development of the Gardens please contact the Parks and Open
Spaces Manager on 01376 552525
Visitor
Information:
Open daily
from 7.30 a.m.
25th March
– 31st October,
gates
locked by 7p.m.
1st
November – 24th March, gates locked by dusk.
Free
Admission
Toilets
are located next to the park on Kings Road.
The
gardens are within a short walk of the town centre and High Street,
which has a mix of independent and national retailers. Saturday is
market day in the town. Site hire available for outdoor events. For
the safety and enjoyment of all park visitors, please do not bring
ball games, skateboards or dogs, (guide dogs are
welcome),
into the park. Cycling is not permitted in the park. However, cycle
racks are provided for the duration of your stay.
Planning your journey:
There are
various buses that stop near the Gardens. Visit
www.essex.gov.uk/journeyplanner
or
telephone Traveline on 0870 608 2 608 for timetables. The Gardens
are located next to the A131, which leads to Sudbury in the north
and Braintree in the south. Pay and display parking is available at
Chapel Street (behind Somerfield) and Butler Road.
Historical
Development
The public
garden was provided to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen
Victoria in 1897. The Queen had suggested that ‘any scheme should
be something to ameliorate the lives of the poor’ whilst the
National Trust for Places of Historical Interest proposed that
‘every locality should dedicate a plot of ground to the common good
and enjoyment of the people’. Funding for the Gardens was raised by
an initial subscription of £1,000 from George Courtauld,
supplemented by over £400 raised by local people and a bank
loan.
Halstead Public Gardens were opened in 1901 with a layout
that was intended to provide pleasing grounds in which recreation
and the quiet pursuits of strolling and relaxing could be enjoyed.
The maturing layout amply succeeds in this respect. Entry into the
park at each of the gates is through substantial boundary
plantings, which provide a backdrop within which a network of paths
link the key features many dating from the earliest days of the
park. Specimen trees have been set out and their broad canopies now
provide, on sunny days, areas of shadow in contrast to the areas of
open grass. Colourful annual bedding and roses also feature. The
park was fully restored for the benefit and use of the community in
2001 with the aid of a major grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund
together with Braintree District, Halstead Town and Essex County
Council funding.
The Gardens were designed by TW Sanders FRHS, FNAGA, 1855-1926,
president of the National Amateur Gardener’s Association, a
landscape designer, horticultural adjudicator, editor of Amateur
Gardening (from 1887 until his death) and author of the classic
Encyclopaedia of Gardening (first published in 1895). Sanders was
keen to display plants naturally and scorned designs, which he
considered to be ‘old-fashioned’ and overly contrived. TW Sanders
produced two sets of plans, one of which was selected in May 1899.
No drawing has yet been found to show the details of the park
layout but an original specification survives.
