Manor Park, Aldershot facts for kids
Manor Park is a lovely urban park in Aldershot, Hampshire. It's just a short walk from the town centre. This park has been open to the public since 1919. The old manor house inside the park is a Grade II listed building, which means it's an important historic place.
At Manor Park, you can find a fun play area, courts for tennis and basketball, and a cool concrete skate park. The skate park was designed by Fearless Ramps and opened in 2013. Today, Rushmoor Borough Council takes care of Manor Park. Since 2018, the park has also hosted the yearly Picnic & Pop Music Festival, which brings together about 5,000 local people.
Park History
Manor Park covers 63 acres of land. Aldershot's local council bought it in 1919. The park is very close to where the old village of Aldershot used to be. This area has a long history, going all the way back to Anglo-Saxon times. You can still see the original village green and the old St Michael the Archangel church near the park's edge.
The impressive red-brick Manor House in the park was built in 1670. It was once home to the Tichborne family. They had lived in an even older manor house in Aldershot Park before this one. Another large house was built in 1629 by an older branch of the Tichborne family. This building was later used as a place to help people in need.
After the Tichborne family sold the manor house, it became home to three generations of the Newcome family. Captain George Newcome, Aldershot’s first important local official, bought the estate in 1847. It was his descendant, Captain Newcome, who sold the park and manor house to Aldershot's local council in 1919.
For some years, the building was used as the Register Office for Aldershot. Many people got married there. One famous person was Violette Szabo GC. She married the Free French soldier Étienne Szabo there on August 21, 1940, after a very quick 42-day romance. In 1942, the New Zealand scientist Clifford Dalton also married Catherine Graves, an author and scientist, at the office. The Manor House became a Grade II listed building in 1963. Today, it is used for private offices.
A long path with old trees runs through the park. It's called The Major’s Walk. Major Newcome, one of the last owners of the Manor, planted these trees. Some of them he brought back from his time serving in the military abroad. The fenced duck pond in the park gets its water from a natural spring.
Heroes' Shrine
Inside Manor Park, there's a special garden area called the Heroes' Shrine. It has a large modern statue made of Portland stone. The statue shows Christ calming the storm. This stone was actually a piece that the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren didn't use when building St Paul's Cathedral. The artist Josephina de Vasconcellos carved the statue. The design was by F.W. Taylor, the Borough Surveyor.
Around the bottom of the statue, there's an inscription that says: “He cometh in righteousness to judge the world with his truth, he rebuked the wind and the sea, he maketh war to cease in all the world”. Messrs. Perryman & Co of Woking built the memorial for £3,200. Messrs. E. Finch and Sons of High Street, Aldershot, did the carvings on the statue and stones.
This area is Aldershot's national memorial. It remembers those who died in wars and also the Battle of Britain. It also honors the people killed in bombing raids across the UK during World War II, especially during The Blitz.
Originally, there were piles of stones here from buildings destroyed in 18 cities and 34 areas. These included stones from Coventry Cathedral and the Tower of London. Each stone had the name of the city or area it came from. Today, only a few of these stones are left, cemented into the ground. The Duchess of Gloucester officially opened the monument on May 5, 1950.
Near the shrine, there's a rough stone monument. It remembers those who died in World War I. The inscription on it says, “Their Name Liveth For Evermore 1914- 1919”.
In the 1990s, the Heroes’ Shrine was updated. The stones were moved to their current spots. Josephina de Vasconcellos, the artist who made the statue, was still alive. Even though she was in her 90s, she helped make sure her sculpture was restored correctly.
On November 8, 2018, Rushmoor Borough Council opened a Peace Garden nearby in the park. This garden remembers the Armistice of 1918, which ended World War I.
