A very private garden
The Gardens were open to the general public on four Gala days per year; otherwise
admission was limited to shareholders and annual subscribers. General free admission only occurred after
the Town Trust assumed control of the Gardens in 1898.
Robert Marnock arrives
The Society appointed Robert Marnock, gardener of
Bretton Hall, Wakefield (now the Yorkshire Sculpture Park), to design the Gardens and
act as their first Curator; he started work on the 1st May 1834, at a salary of £100
per annum. He laid out the Gardens in the then highly fashionable Gardenesque style,
where each plant was dislayed to perfection in scattered plantings; this style had
evolved during the 1820s from Humphrey Repton's Picturesque style.
Marnock went on to design the gardens of the Royal Botanical Society, Regents Park,
and became their Curator in 1840; there at one stage he employed
the great William Robinson (who has so profoundly influenced modern garden design)
for the princely sum of 9 shillings a week. Marnock was one of the foremost
landscape architects of the Victorian era, and later in his life assisted Robinson
in designing his own garden at Gravetye Manor.
The Glass Pavilions are built
The Sheffield Society also held a national
competition to obtain a design for the glass pavilions, with Joseph Paxton of Crystal
Palace fame as one of the competition judges. Marnock won first prize (£10) for this,
but the design actually built was by the Sheffield architect B. Taylor
(second prize - £5), who also designed the Clarkehouse Road grand entrance,
in the Ionic style. The glasshouses are very important examples of curvilinear
glass structures, and are some of the earliest ever built. Originally,
the central pavillion was a tropical palm house, with the
two smaller pavilions housing temperate plants. All three were once joined together
by glass walkways in the "ridge and furrow" style of Paxton's glasshouse at Chatsworth.
The Gardens blossom and then decline
In 1844 a financial crisis resulted in the formation of a second Sheffield Botanical and Horticultural
Society, which bought the land and property for £9,000. After that the Gardens thrived under the strong
stewardship of two Curators - John Law and John Ewing. John Law built extensions to the east and west
pavilions, and the west extension housed and flowered the giant water lily, then called
Victoria regia. Law's plant lists are now collectors' items. The plantings in the great sweep of
glasshouses were very popular and attracted many visitors, especially when the water lily was in flower,
and the overall excellence of the Gardens was described in many horticultural magazines of the time.
Sadly, further trouble arose in 1898, when the Gardens were nearly lost
to speculators, most of the staff were laid off and the plant collections sold.
The Town Trust steps in
The Gardens were saved by the Town Trust, who took over their management, with a gift of £5,000, and
repaid the shareholders the nominal value of their £5 shares. The Town Trust instituted free entry for
all, which still applies today, and they are still the owners. For half the twentieth century they
managed the Gardens themselves, but on the 18th December 1951, management passed to Sheffield
Corporation on a 99-year lease, for a peppercorn rent of 1 shilling per year, rising to £1
per year in 1971.
The gardens flourish again under strong leadership
The Corporation augmented the plant collections, and particularly developed the Gardens as a centre
for horticultural education, notably during the Curatorship of Mr Don Williams (1968-89). He
broadcast gardening programmes on BBC Radio Sheffield, and with the staff organised popular tours and
demonstrations in the Gardens; these were complemented by the shows and exhibitions of the many local
specialist societies. In addition, the Botanical Supplies Unit disseminated plant information across
Sheffield via the nature tables of the city's schools.
Financial problems again
Sadly, financial restrictions over the last 20 years or so have severely reduced resources, resulting
in neglected Gardens and the loss of all the educational developments. The Friends of the Botanical
Gardens (F.O.B.S.) were set up in 1984, to continue the promotion of gardening knowledge, and to
support the Gardens. This they do by fund-raising, publicity, educational programmes and since 1993,
by undertaking practical work in the Gardens every week.
Glass, glass and more glass
The pavilions have also had considerable troubles of their own. In 1842, a giant hailstorm
smashed 5,700 sq. yards of glass. The east and west pavilion extensions were demolished in 1898,
and the glass walkways between the pavilions shortly after that. On the night of 12th/13th December 1942, the pavilions
were badly damaged by German bombing of the city. They were restored by Sheffield
Corporation in 1958, when Messrs. Mellowes and Co. used 10,000 panes of glass on the main pavilion, and
3,000 each on the two smaller ones. Latterly,
the main pavilion housed an aviary (1961) and the east pavilion an aquarium (1963). These uses ceased
in the late 80s, when the pavilions became dilapidated and were closed to the public.
English Heritage becomes involved
The Gardens nevertheless contain a wonderful collection of listed structures, all contemporaneous
with the original opening in 1836 - the pavilions (Grade II*, the Clarkehouse Road entrance,
South Lodge and Bear Pit (all Grade II). The Crimea War Memorial (1858 - also Grade II listed) was
moved from the Moorhead in the city centre in 1961, to a prominent position at the end of the great
central axis of the Gardens. The concentration of so many listed structures, and the preservation of
so much of Marnock's original design led English Heritage to list the Gardens as being of major
historical and architectural importance.
Aiming to restore former glories
In 1996 a partnership between the Town Trust (owners), Sheffield City Council (managers),
F.O.B.S. and the University of
Sheffield made a bid to the Urban Parks Programme of the Heritage Lottery Fund, for
complete restoration of the entire Gardens - buildings and plantings. The bid was
wonderfully successful, and an award of just over £5 million was announced in May 1997.
However, the applicants have to raise 25% matched funding (i.e. some £1.6 million) in
order to access any part of this enormous award. Some of the matched funding will be as
work in kind, but the bulk of the fund-raising is being done
by F.O.B.S. and the Sheffield Botanical Gardens Trust, a registered charity
(No. 1057845) set up by F.O.B.S.
Into the 21st century
All the organisations involved in the Gardens are
working together closely, and this with the huge Lottery award
means that the future of the Gardens is assured. This lovely and special place can and
will be preserved as a national treasure for future generations.
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