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Fletcher Moss Gardens

Fletcher Moss Park Aerial view

Introduction

Fletcher Moss Park is park gardens and part wildlife habitat. The amenities include a rockery, rose pergola garden, heather garden, ponds, a new Wellbeing garden and a wildlife meadow. There is also an interesting selection of trees and shrubs. The nearby Old Parsonage is a formal garden.

Location, Area, Boundaries, Landform and Setting

Fletcher Moss Park is part gardens and part wildlife habitat. The original four hectare site, shown on the 1848 Ordinance Survey map, lay south of Stenner Lane and close to Didsbury village. The grounds were subsequently enlarged to 8.5 hectares by including the meadow that stretches west to the River Mersey.

Park

The park now offers a range of recreational, ornamental and educational amenities including the more formal garden plantings, at The Old Parsonage, a pond, an interesting selection of trees and the wildlife meadow.

Gardens and Pleasure Grounds

There is a Willow Carr in the wetlands designated a site of biological interest. The gardens include a rockery created by Robert Wood Williamson and extended in the 1950s and an alpine house in The Old Parsonage, a rose pergola and a heather garden. The rock garden is protected by walls and the gardens are mainly on a south-facing slope, both of which facilitate the growth of less hardy species. Royal ferns, marsh marigolds, skunk cabbage, Gunnera and some species of iris surround a puddled-clay pond at the foot of the rockery.

School groups participate in planting the meadow with wildflowers under the supervision of the Ranger. Forest Schools use the woodland and meadows.

The trees include Chusan palms, tulip tree, mulberry, dawn redwood, swamp cypress, Chinese dogwood, Adam's Laburnum, common walnut, Oxydendrum arboreum, dwarf conifers and many others.

Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts

Access contact details

Fletcher Moss Park and Parsonage Gardens are open every day of the year from dawn to dusk. Entrance is free. Dog restrictions apply in some signed areas.

The visitor facilities include gardens, alpine house, a selection of interesting trees, ponds and a meadow. The RSPB has activities there. There is an all-weather tennis court and it also hosts Parkrun.

More information can be found on the Manchester City Council website.

Directions

More information can be found on the Manchester City Council website.

Owners

Manchester City Council

Town Hall, Albert Square, Manchester, M60 2LA

Other Websites

History

19th Century

The four hectare grounds of the Old Parsonage and The Croft were developed by the late-19th-century on a site to the south of Stenner Lane.

20th Century

In the early-20th-century the estate was owned by Robert Wood Williamson who sold it to Alderman Fletcher Moss in 1912. He in turn donated the estate, together with his nearby home, The Old Parsonage, to Manchester Corporation in the 1919.

The Croft is the founding place of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). This came about when Emily Williamson, wife of Robert, became concerned about the extensive use of bird feather to decorate women's hats, meeting other women at The Croft to protest against the trade which threatened to make some bird species extinct. The Society for the Protection of Birds gained a Royal Charter in 1904.

Manchester City Council enlarged the park to 8.5 hectares by adding the meadow which extends from the gardens for quarter of a mile to the Mersey. In the 1940s hothouses were built to house an orchid collection, no longer in existence, and in the 1950s the rockery, originally designed by Robert Wood Williamson, was extended.

21st Century

The gardens have held a Green Flag award since 2000.

An alpine house in The Old Parsonage Gardens was restored in 2010.

Period

  • 20th Century (1901 to 2000)
  • Early 20th Century (1901 to 1932)
  • Edwardian (1902 to 1910)
  • Post Medieval (1540 to 1901)
  • Victorian (1837-1901)
Associated People
Features & Designations

Designations

  • Green Flag Award

Features

  • Orchid House
  • Description: This was built to house a donated orchid collection.
  • Earliest Date:
  • Latest Date:
  • Rockery
  • Description: The rockery was created before 1912 and extended in the 1950s.
  • Latest Date:
  • Bed
  • Description: The beds include a wide variety of herbaceous plants, shrubs and a formal box garden.
  • Rose Garden
  • Description: The rose pergola garden was created in the former bowling green.
  • Pond
  • Description: The pond lies at the foot of the rockery and is surrounded by a variety of marsh plants: Royal ferns, marsh marigolds, skunk cabbage, Gunnera and some species of iris. Another dipping pond lies within the meadow/woodland.
  • Tree Feature
  • Description: Trees in the park include Chusan palms, tulip tree, mulberry, dawn redwood, swamp cypress, Chinese dogwood, Adam's Laburnum, common walnut, Oxydendrum arboreum, dwarf conifers and many others. There is a Willow Carr.
  • Private House (featured building)
  • Description: The Old Parsonage and The Croft.
Key Information

Type

Estate

Purpose

Recreational/sport

Principal Building

Recreational

Period

20th Century (1901 to 2000)

Survival

Extant

Hectares

8.5

Open to the public

Yes

Electoral Ward

Didsbury East

References

References